You Need to Celebrate Yourself as a Writer, Announcing the Winner, and Keep Those Queries Coming

Several weeks ago, I hosted my own book party to celebrate the launch of my latest novel, The Honesty Index. I debated doing so, thinking it might seem too self-promotional or worse, self-involved. And maybe it was both. 


But you know what? I'm a freelancer. If I don't celebrate myself, who will? (And besides, I sold 34 copies of the book at that event--plus had a chance to hang out, talk, and laugh with several dozen of my favorite women! So it was win-win.) 


Celebrating yourself as a freelancer is one of the topic's on my two-part interview series on The Writer's Place, where Nancy Christie is observing "Recognize your Accomplishments Day." Check it out here. 


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And the winner is..."Kar!" (Thanks to my first grader, Ryan, who once again chose the winner of the giveaway.) Kar said her favorite reason to freelance is "working outside in the fresh spring air, drinking iced tea and still meeting my deadlines." (Love that, BTW.) Kar, please email me at kelly at becomebodywise.com with your snail mail address and I'll get a free copy of Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success in the mail to you ASAP. 


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Finally, keep those query letters coming! I'm doing another Query Critique Week again during the month of June. I'll offer personalized feedback on a select number of pitches here on the blog. Here's how to play: 

1. Send your one-page query (for an article, nonfiction book proposal or novel) to kelly at becomebodywise.com by Monday, June 11, 2012. Make sure you put "Query Critique Week" in the subject line. 

2. Cross your fingers and hope that your query gets picked to be critiqued here on my blog. (I'll only be able to choose a few.) And don't worry, I won't identify the writer of the query. I would, however, like permission to include some of them in an upcoming ebook on writing more powerful successful queries.  

3. Tune in throughout June for ongoing query critiques! 

So send them in ASAP...the earlier you submit yours, the more likely I am to choose it for critique.