I've spent the past two weeks reviewing resumes and reading cover letters. 159 of them, to be exact. This is not a process I enjoy. I don't like categorizing people. I worry that someone I'm putting in my "eh, maybe" pile should really be in my, "hmm, interested" pile. I'm constantly moving people back and forth between piles. Then I feel guilty so I move them back where they were originally. Then I worry that I'm biased toward someone because I knew someone with the same name who was terrible and . . . .you get the idea.

It's a never ending loop of second-guessing myself (much like writing itself, ironically).

Back when I was actively querying, I read a lot of agents blogs who talked candidly about the process. I noticed a surprising number of similarities between the experience I had scanning cover letters and looking for applicants to interview, and the experience agents have scanning query letters and looking for pages to request.

Based on all the cover letters I read, here's the tips I came up with. What do you think - do they apply to query letters as well?

• The best first way to get my attention was with professional documents and communication. I was floored by how many resumes I got that were just lists with no formatting. How many cover letters I got that were just paragraphs typed into Word - not even in general letter format with a salutation and sign-off. Most weren't this bad, but a lot were full of errors. The cover letter addressed to the wrong organization, a word used wrong, and overly snarky tone, etc, etc. So when one popped up that was clean and easy to read, that followed all the (very) basic formatting rules, that was professional, it was like a breath of fresh air. I took notice, and I looked closer. 
• Watch out for the pictures in gmail. If you use gmail, and you have your picture attached (or your pic is attached to your Google account), and you send an email to me, your picture is what I see first. If it's a professional head-shot, that can be a great thing. If it's you drunk at a club with your friends, not so much. Not only is that true for any email address ending in @gmail.com, of course, but tons of email programs are run through gmail now, with their own custom domain. Mine's one of them.
• Be careful how personal you get.  I want to know things about you -- I want to know a lot of things about you. But the number one thing is, can you do the job?  Prove that first, and then give me the basics about you, but only as they relate to this job. Tell me you're detail-oriented and punctual. Don't tell me you love Disney movies, and over-achieved in high school. Tell me you have a working knowledge of SPSS. Don't tell me about all the wine you drink, or that you got stomped on by an Elephant while on a semester abroad in Thailand.
• Don't give me a website where I can find more information about you. I was surprised that this one bothered me. I have no problem with persona websites, and no issue with the ones listed with the other contact information on the resume. I did have a problem with cover letters that directed me to go to such and such website for information on the applicant. I'd rather you just give me the information up-front than send me on a fact-finding mission.
• Write well, write well, write well. The applicants who got the most attention were the ones who wrote the best letters. I skim - everyone does. But if you're writing is excellent, my eyes will stop skimming and focus in on the words. I'll get a better sense of who you are and what skills you bring to the table. You'll hold my attention longer. I'll remember your name better.
• Of course, even if you sent me a cover letter that was professionally formatted, free of drunken pictures and TMI, that gave me all the info I needed in one clean, organized place, and somehow made the whole thing sing, you still have to be able to do the job. And for writers, of course, that means you still have to be querying a kick-ass story. 

What do you think pirates? Would you follow these tips when sending a cover letters? How about a query? Do you think there's more room for creativity in query letters? Have you had success by doing the opposite of any of these? What other tips would you include for writings doing either a query or a cover letter?

Okay, my good little pirates, are you listening? Go buy this book: Sarah Maclean's ONE GOOD EARL DESERVES A LOVER. I'm including the link so you can go immediately and bypass my gushing because I know how nauseating it can be for me to go on and on about the brilliance of a novel.

But this one is pretty damned brilliant.

This easily has the most fascinating heroine I have ever read. I love her. She's adorable. She's such a little nerd who can name every bone in her body--and she's the utter "straight man" of delivering dialogue. She will say something, perfectly in earnest, and you will howl when you read it, fall off the bed, scare the dogs, and keep laughing. Then you'll stay up until 3 a.m. still reading the book. Even if you don't do that sort of thing. You won't be able to help yourself.

Because Lady Phillippa Marbury is odd. In the best and most entertaining ways.

She is going to marry in a couple weeks, but being the devoted scientist she is, she wants to research FUN. Basically all the things that won't happen after she is married because she knows her fiance is a sweet and simple guy. Very basic. And she thinks of him at best as a friend. But what she wants to know about is ruination, specifically coitus. So she has sought out London's best expert, Cross, who is one of the partners of a famous gaming hell, The Fallen Angel. He's positively famous for his...coitus.

Cross, of course, wishes she would stop saying that word. He also wishes that his clothes were a bit more cooperative about pulling themselves on his body when he discovers a proper lady in his room, correcting his ledgers and asking about coitus. He also wishes she would leave and never, ever return. But you know what? You don't always get what you wish for. For Cross, his life will never ever be the same since Pippa stepped foot in it. Ah, love.

And I've only described the book to page 13. It just gets better (or worse, if you're the characters) from there. I had absolutely no idea how these two characters were going to end up together, but I knew it was imperative they did so. They needed each other. And these characters try to screw it up right up until the last few desperate pages. It's a nail biter. Even though it's a ROMANCE and the very definition requires these two row together at the end.

But for a bit you do wonder. The hero does his best to screw this up.

It was pretty magical. I loved the sexual tension and the chemistry between the characters; I loved how well-drawn the characters were; and I *ADORED* Pippa. She was adorable. And smart and witty and sweet--and so worth reading about her happy ending.

So go get the book. Ensure that Ms. Maclean is going to continue to write brilliant, lovely, touching (and sexy!) books for many years to come.

What are you reading this week? Or what are you most looking forward to reading this year?

1. I wrote 20 pages in a 4 hour period
2.  I began the book and finished it in the same session. 
3.  I revised the whole book in one sitting

1.  Staring into space
2. Reading a book
3. Pre-writing a scene
4. Making a list of possible scenes, character goals, et al, in order to help you think what should be coming next in your book
5. Storyboarding
6. Talking about your book with CPs or random strangers who stupidly stopped long enough to ask you if something was wrong
7. Taking up another hobby: quilting, beading, crocheting, drawing, painting, baking—if I’m listing them, I have done them
8. Reading craft books—this is deceptive because it’s not a fun book, but a work book
9. Napping (or if you’re one of those writers: exercising)
10. Deleting the last ten pages of your manuscript because you realize it’s all wrong

I have adored Julie Anne Long's books since WHAT I DID FOR A DUKE, and her newest one, A NOTORIOUS COUNTESS CONFESSES is no exception.

It is exceptional, however.

Adam Sylvaine, the vicar in Pennyroyal Green, is an exceptional hero. He's just an honest-to-goodness kind man. The type of Christian you would want to be a vicar; the kind of Christian you wish more Christians would be like. I wasn't sure I would like him too much, because nice Christian men tend to bore me with the fornication front--and the heroine, a former courtesan and now widowed countess, isn't really the type to put up with prudish behavior. But Adam isn't prudish--he's just a flesh-and-blood godly man who can't help loving the one woman in Pennyroyal Green he should not fall in love with.

Meanwhile, the poor widowed Countess Wareham has come to Pennyroyal Green because...well, she's broke and she needs to make a new life for herself. She tries to blend in--at first--but her dubious reputation has followed her and all the women of the town shun her. It takes the work of the vicar to step in and help her make friends with the lady's group--and they reluctantly let her in their circle after she passes a few critical, hilarious tests.

This book is loaded with secondary characters who add to the book rather than cause a distraction, but they don't overwhelm the hero and heroine, who keep the reader on her toes, wondering if they're going to kiss or not...or more. Because every time those two get into a room, the temperature goes up twenty degrees when they look at each other. I found myself fanning myself as I read the book. But before anyone can go up in flames, something horrible happens--usually hilariously horrible--and you're torn between sighing happily or laughing your butt off.

But that isn't why I'm recommending the book. No. It's not those things. It's the end--the end where the moment was so BLACK it was coal and I wanted to know how this is going to happen--and the scene in the church was the reason for this book. I cried. It could have gotten real preachy and awkward--there was some Bible quoting going on--but it wasn't. It was perfect. Well done, Ms. Long!

I think Adam Sylvaine was the best hero of 2012--and if you haven't had a chance to read this book yet, please put it at the top of your list. I cannot wait for the next installment--and I'm still rooting for Olivia and Lyon. Oh, how do I love me a series!

Who's the best hero you've read this last year? What are you reading this week?

 

So I've been working on the new story and the original snippet of the idea started with my heroine. I was sitting in Debra Dixon workshop at RWA Nationals in Orlando and she challenged us to write an opening line for a story. Out of the blue a heroine came to me almost fully formed. 

Likewise, the path she would need to undertake to grow came around not long after. I can see her story in my mind and know how she should begin and end. The plot too has been swirling around in various forms.

 

What I don't have is my hero. 

I've been drawing a big goose egg when trying to flesh him out. Who he is and how exactly their stories come together just isn't coming to me. 

I even forced myself this weekend to write the meeting scene between them. And you know what? The guy who appeared was flat. Also, totally not the type of guy I'd been thinking my heroine needed. 

He wasn't an alpha. 

Can you do a non-alpha hero in a paranormal? LOL! Scratch that question. I'll try to stay on one topic first. :)

 

So I have...a beta hero I can now see rising up to alpha status when the story calls for it. 

But he still feels flat. 

So my dear crew, my questions for you today are: 

 

When you've fully formed your protagonist, how do you manage to make the love interest equally compelling? What happens when the character that starts to write themselves isn't what you had in mind at all? Besides character worksheets (because we all know I'll never get past filling them out in order to actually write) do you have any suggestions for rounding  out my poor flat hero? 

*Note - This song came to my mind for this post, but after listening to it again and looking up the lyrics I think it might have totally inspired me.