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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Happy Holiday Contest!


 Hee. Okay, a little premature. But it will be here before we know it.

I want to give my readers a special Christmas gift this year, but it's going to take a little input from you. On the first Friday of December (Dec 2nd), in lieu of my usual Query Trackers Making Tracks interview, I'll be welcoming Mr. Patrick McDonald (QT's always kind and helpful creator/moderator) to sit inside the interview box.

What I need from you, is a list of questions to ask him. There are the obvious ones: how Query Tracker came about; how long it took to develop; how many people were involved in the beginning phases; etc... But I want to make this interview fun.

Here is Patrick's bio taken from the Query Tracker website:


The idea for QueryTracker came to me in 2007 as I sat with a fellow writer discussing the difficulties involved with the query process, especially the problem with keeping accurate records of who we queried and who we hadn't.


As a day-time computer programmer, once the idea was formed, actually executing it was only a matter of time. Thus, a few months later, QueryTracker was born. It was the first site of its kind, and continues to lead the way in the query management arena.

Although I don't write much any more, when I did, I focused on contemporary fiction, with an occasional sci-fi or fantasy thrown in now and then.
Currently, I am collaborating with a friend on a YA fantasy (though, to tell the truth, he's doing most of the work.)


These days, much of my time is spent adding to and improving QueryTracker, with my dreams of publication lived vicariously through QT members.

After reading that, what questions come to your mind?

Here's where the contest comes in: Anyone who leaves a question below in the comments (OR you can email a question: anita at aghoward dot com) that ends up being used in the interview will go into a drawing. I'll be giving away one full year's Premium QT Membership, and will announce the winner next Wednesday (Oct 5th).

Want to know what a Premium Membership entails? Hop over here for a gander.

The comment section of this post will be closed midnight central time this coming Saturday (Oct 1st), and I'll stop taking entries then. So put on your thinking caps, or your Santa hats -- whichever gets those creative juices flowing -- and post those questions!

Best part of all, no matter who gets their name drawn, we each get to enjoy learning more about a brilliant advoacate for writers. So we're all winners. (No Charlie Sheen pun intended). That's the Christmas gift part.

Now, I'm off to sample some eggnog. It's always in season. (◕‿-)

13 comments:

  1. What a cool contest! BTW, I LOVE QT :o) I'm so looking forward to this interview--especailly since I'm about to enter the query trenches (again). My question for Patrick is the following:

    Some of the comments left on agent profiles are brutally honest and/or emotionally charged. Have you ever been asked by an agent to remove those comments? If so, did you?

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  2. Woohoo! That one is AWESOME, Angela. Yay! I'm totally going to use it. So your name's in the drawing. :) Good luck, sweet pal!

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  3. Hmmm. I'll have to think about a question for this...

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  4. Hey Jessie-lou. I would love your input. THough I doubt you want the membership, miss book coming out in May and another on the desk of a wonderful inspirational house. Yep, you're going places, pal. :)

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  5. This is fun!! Ang, your question rocks!! She should win just for thinking of that.

    I'll situate Melvin in his little cap and see what he comes up with.

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  6. easy on the eggnog! ;p j/k Sounds like a fun interview---I'll put on my thinking cap and come up w/something~ :o) <3

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  7. Bethany~ I know, right? Angela's question is AWESOME. Can't wait to see what Mel comes up with. Hee

    Leigh~ What, not Santa hat? LOL. Thanks! I need all the help I can get.

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  8. What a great idea for an interview and contest award! You clever young goat, you.

    My question shall be: Have you ever considered letting authors choose the look of their frowning/smiling status faces from a gallery? I would be prefer my frowning face, for example, to have an insouciant, devil-may-care expression that shows that I Will Rise Again! Right now it's too durned sad and beaten-down looking.

    [More of a suggestion than a question, but hey, I always break rules.]

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  9. Pony girl~ Haha. I like that. I'll figure out a way to use it. Your names in the drawing, pal!

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  10. You already know I adore QT - met you there :) Great idea for an interview! My question would be - How do you keep your agent contact information updated? Do they inform you of changes or do you hunt this information down?

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  11. Thanks Mindy! You're in the drawing, too. Great question. :)

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  12. Okay, I'll play, although I already have a premium membership. (If I win, I promise to pass it along!)

    Questions for Patrick (feel free to use one, both, or neither of these, Anita!): 1) How can QueryTracker users get the most out of QueryTracker? 2) What is QueryTracker's best little-known feature?

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  13. Hey, thanks for playing, Krista! Got your name in the drawing, and I'll definitely use both of those! Great questions. Thank you. :)

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