The response to the mass email has been fantastic. I blame you people for my lack of a recent post. I've heard back from people who used to work at publishers, from people who have published their own books, and from friends saying they know no one in the industry, but wish me luck.

So now I have the book out to a few people to read, I've sent three queries out, and I'm trying to write a synopsis, a 3-4 paragraph summary of the plot. I've had problems doing that so far. Everything I have written sounds hackneyed, thought my novel is not hackneyed. Does that make sense?

It's a similar problem I had with writing my two-sentence synopsis. It just comes out as a list of things that happen. I need to delve a little deeper and find the motivation and the comedic turns of events that make the story engrossing. yes. That's all I have to do. Just that.

I'll post it tomorrow when I'm done writing it.

Next: The Mass email to friends and family

I have sent out the first 60 pages of my book to a friend who had promised to pass it on to her agent. Additionally, I sent a query to a friend of a friend, an agent in L.A. We will see what happens.

My next strategy is to send out a mass email to many of my contacts to see if anyone knows of any literary agents, or anyone who has a literary agent. Chances are you, gentle reader, will get one such email from me within the next few days. I will report back on the success or failure of this effort.

The story of the cellular biologist

As I was writing the book a week and a half ago, someone suggested I move up a mention of the raw milk story earlier in the book so that it would appear in the first 60 pages. Since raw milk and raw milk cheese is kind of hot right now, I figured that would be a good idea.

So I decided to make Carl's roommate a raw milk cheese enthusiast. But I wondered, would a biologist who actually studies milk (of the bovine variety) dare to drink raw milk or eat raw milk cheese that had only been aged 30 days, against FDA regulations?

I needed a biologist familiar with raw milk to help. I asked my wife if she knew any biologists. My brother-in-Law Tim is a Biology major, but I needed someone more focused on cellular biology. Polly said, "Yes, I know a biologist. I don't know if she'll remember me."

A quick Google search and she found the woman's name. We called her. She answered. When I described the question of whether this guy would actually risk consuming raw milk and that sort of thing, she said, "This is right up my alley."
Turns out she knew plenty of scientists who drink raw milk and eat raw milk cheese. Turned out to be a great resource. Chalk it up to guided serendipity. I told her I'd send a copy of my manuscript as soon as its done.

Continued tweaking on the Book Description

I have renamed my book. It is now called Raw. I also tinkered with the description some more to fix some parallel structure problems and add a reference back to Carl at the end to make it feel more coherent.

My book, Raw, is a comedic novel about Carl Krauthammer, a 38-year-old who drops everything to do with his life and moves to Manhattan, Kansas. His move uncovers the town's deepest secrets, including an underground dairy dealing in illicit raw milk cheese, a militant wing of La Leche League that performs light domestic terrorism, and a formerly-respected author who thinks Carl can help him restore his missing mojo. It's a complete novel of approximately 73,000 words.

I am also considering adding this line:

I know what you're thinking. Set in Manhattan, Kansas? Raw milk cheese? Militant lactivists? How many times must we endure this old story? But I urge you to please take a look.

Is it too flip?

I was supposed to be done with my book today, based on my anal-retentive schedule I made a couple of months ago. Instead, it looks like it will be completed by the end of the week. As my friend Whitney Terrell said a long time ago, "The changes you will make at this point will not change an agent's decision to take on your book." They'll either like it or not.

My plan is to send out query letters along with the first 60 pages. Seems logical. It's not like they will throw out the query letter just because I enclosed some of the work.

So my plan is to get the query letter and the sample out beginning Monday. I have had feedback from 6 or 7 people who have said they will pass it on to their agents. That's great news. A friend of a friend may be the way to get this thing published.

Next I will tell you the story of how I found a biologist to help me work raw milk into my book earlier than previously planned.

According to a new study, 86% of Americans are satisfied with their jobs. In fact the average job satisfaction rate has not dropped below 82% since the study started in 1972. So how does a story's headline to an article describing the study read? "American Workforce Surprisingly Satisfied."

Nothing about the results are actually that surprising. Perhaps it's the headline-writer who isn't satisfied. No wonder. Think about how thankless the job must be? You do your work right and no one notices. Do they give out a Pulitzer for excellence in headline crafting? I think not.

And when you do it wrong, everyone notices. Here's an example: "Clinton, Edwards butt heads."

I'll bet the world's headline-writers fall in the 4% who are extremely dissatisfied with their jobs. Maybe even worse than coal miners or honey wagon drivers.