Queries are thorns.

Maybe I should say the process to writing a query is a thorn--the result, you hope, will be a rose. I think that works.

As you know, I've been working on a query letter. It's not the easiest task in the world. First of all, I know my book way better than anyone in the world at this point, so when I'm trying to condense the now 120,000 word thing there are a lot of things I may leave unanswered without realizing it. My subconscious fills in the blanks while I'm writing, therefore I don't see what questions objective readers would have.

This is where my friend Shelby comes in. I let him read the query I posted [here]. He could pinpoint all the things I hadn't referenced. He had questions for me, and I could answer them easily enough, the point was, I hadn't done this in my query. At first it makes you feel like a bad writer. Or at least, I did. Especially after you write query after query and none of them are quite spectacular enough. : / I'm still at the point where I feel like a bad write because I'm not able to do this whole 'query thing' easily.

I feel as though, part of what makes it difficult, there is no 'universal' query. All of them are as unique as a writers style. Maybe I'm wrong though. lol.

I rewrote my query again. It is very short. Is that a bad thing?

Barren Reed, a pirate and notorious enemy of the government, never thought searching The Orient for his father's treasure could kill him.

 For Barren, it isn’t greed that motivates his search for the treasure, but his nightmares, which seem to be telling him something vicious lies in place of Jess’s so-called “treasure”. His fears turn out to be correct when he discovers the treasure is cursed and may kill, not only his wife and closest friend, but his entire Elvish race. Barren must destroy the treasure before everyone dies, but there is one problem—the device cannot be destroyed without killing its assailant. Barren must make a choice—cease to exist himself, or watch his world waste away.

I've reread and reread it, and I cannot think of anything else I'd place here. Or anything I would elaborate on, again...I still know my book better than anyone...so maybe people have questions?

On an almost related note, and I'm sure most would agree, you should never tell a writer, "I just want you to be realistic"...I think we've all been told that. Realistic about what, honestly? We're all writers, publication doesn't 'make' us writers, so I wonder why so many people tell me to be realistic about "becoming" a writer when I already am one. Granted, I know they are referring to 'making it' in the publishing world...but that is also a reality of our own. No one else is going to understand the process, the hard work, the dedication it takes for something like getting a book published.

It's really funny, those of us who have queried, and research the markets, we all know the difficulty it takes to get a foot in the door, we of all people know best! Outsiders, however, aren't as clued in, and still think becoming an author is an unrealistic goal...and yet the writers stick with it.

I don't believe things are impossible. Things only become impossible when you give up.