They're bloody hard to write, aren't they? And, with Miss Snark no longer venting her spleen upon all and sundry I have no-one else to turn to for help and advice except all of you wonderful people on the Intarwub.

So, after the cut, I've put the text of the query letter I want to use in my initial subs to agents/publishers/random people on the street who may have read a book at one time. What do you think?

( If you can be arsed, that is... )

Any words of wisdom are gladly received!

I’ve got a new project sneaking into my head. Because, you know, I really need a new project.

Anyway, this at least partially, comes under the heading of ‘LJ Knows All’. I’m going to try to make a list of books – I’m more interested in fiction than non-fiction – that deals with transvestite or transsexual themes or characters. I don’t want to include books that are specifically aimed at a transgender audience but more those books which deal with these themes in books aimed at a general audience. I’ve got a few already, just off the top of my head, so I’ll put these down as a starter. And, when I get a chance, I’ll add links to Amazon for them, or something like that.

Myra Breckenridge by Gore Vidal
Myron by Gore Vidal
Steel Beach by John Varley
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Luna by Julie Ann Peters
The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer
Gerald/ine – Monica Jay

So, any other suggestions?

As part of the re-writing of Down Among the Yla, I am re-writing one of the characters to speak only in Old English words (ie words that were in use before French and Latin words started to get co-opted.) I'm doing pretty well with it all, but I'm coming unstuck in one particular area. That of the insult. I'm specifically looking for an OE synonym for 'idiot' and preferably one that is still in some sort of reasonably common usage today. Can any of you incredibly clever people-types out there in LJ-land help me?

I don't ask for much do I?