Heels Down! Query Up!

I learned how to ride a horse when I was in my early twenties. Dawn, my trainer at the time, tried her darnedest to teach me the concept of 'heels down' ('Eyes up' is the rest of the phrase, but I don't want to go into the excruciating detail of how long it took me to learn that one! Let's just say that I ate a LOT of dirt before I got it). But I never really understood what she was talking about. Yeah, try teaching an old dog new tricks. Fast forward to a new trainer at our facility, Carol. Carol said the exact same words, but in a different way, plus she forced my heel down and adjusted my leg.


Holy Moly! I got it!


A side note: When riding English (and I think Western, too, but don't quote me on it) the ball of your foot sits on the stirrup, BUT to draw your leg around the girth of the horse you must lengthen your leg. To do that end, you drop your heel, which stretches and lengthens all the muscles from your calves through your hips.


Now, I will never have the beautiful equitation leg that Jody has--she's built differently. I have short round muscles on short stubby legs, and she has long lean muscles on relatively normal length legs. Short and round will never be as pretty as long and lean on a horse. I got over it a long, long time ago--NOT!


--If you want to practice this technique simply place the ball of your foot on the edge of a stair and then slowly drop your weight in your heels. To get the full effect, bend at your hips and knees slightly. Then post rhythmically for an hour and see how sore you can get. And silly doctors don't think horseback riding is aerobic! They need to get ON a horse and post for fifteen minutes, then they'll change their tune!! Ha!


Back on topic, sort of: I bet your were wondering how I was going to segue from horses to writing, right? There is reason to my segue madness, trust me . . .


How did I finally, trust me, we are talking a couple of YEARS here, figure out how to drop my heels. Carol told me the same thing Dawn did, but--here it comes--in a different way.


How does this relate to queries?


Queries are a necessary evil that writers must face. We have to garner the interest of an agent to gain entrance through the hallowed doors of most publishing houses. Thus, we must query.

And over the years I have queried various stories. I've learned some secrets, (no, there isn't a special handshake--*snort* I WISH!) and insight about this process, but it wasn't until I read a blog entry of Jennifer Jackson, an agent for The Donald Maass Agency, that it finally made sense. She didn't compare it to horses, but instead to food, my other love in life.

Queries are the appetizer in the agent meal. They should whet the palate and excite the agent. The synopsis is the bones of the meal--bare and straight forward--showing the ability to the writer to tell a good story and round out a plot.
And the five pages that many agents want, balance it all out with details that hint at the writer's style and hook of the story.

The query also provides the agent with valuable subtext in ". . . the way a writer perceives their own work. Their attitude about both writing and publishing (often separate considerations). It can show their attention to detail and their level of professionalism. It can reveal whether the writer has done their research . . ."


Though queries are a necessary evil, writers would do well to learn from each and every one she writes because her query might turn a NO form rejection letter into a MAYBE partial request.

So, next time you write a query, think about it as the Onion Blossom at Outback Steakhouse. Fried with a hint of heat in the coating, a tender onion on the inside and the dipping sauce to end all dipping sauces. MMM, fried food. . .

Write On!