Actions > Words

I know, I know.  I should have started this process a long time ago.  I cannot even begin to formulate what an awful school year I had and how I allowed that to interfere.  But, I am now ready, even if I am scared to death.  It is a frightening prospect to make oneself vulnerable. I think that is why I love museums and music and other forms of art so much.  The artist cuts open his/her veins for us and shows us what's inside.  I guess I am about to really take that leap.  I've been talking about my book.  But it has been sitting on my flash drive, unloved for a while.  This summer must be the summer.  Walking instead of just talking.  Now, I need a little feedback.  Below, I have included a copy of a query letter I am set to send to agents this week.  Tell me honestly, does the story synopsis I have written have a good enough hook?  Is there something there you would want to know more about?  Just tell me - I'm opening my veins for all to see.



Dear Potential Agent (who will love me and my work),

I’d like to present to you a synopsis of my first novel, High Reality. It is the story of a mid-career English teacher working at low performing inner city school.

High Reality is a 40,000 word story set at Michael Collins High School located in a current day immigrant-filled Detroit area neighborhood.  The main characters in the story are Zoe Greene, a married English teacher, and David Tilford, a divorced Art teacher.  Aside from teaching English, Zoe is also the Student Council adviser and the teachers’ union vice-president. The two have successfully kept a two-year extra-marital affair secret, though their secret is under threat due to external circumstances beyond their control – reality television.

The school has been chosen to be the filming location for a reality show that is supposed to highlight the challenges in teaching in a high poverty, low-English proficiency neighborhood.  Of course, the reality of the reality show is that it will be edited to heighten any drama to boil quickly and manipulated from behind the scenes to urge people to behave their worst.  This manipulation mixes with the real life racial and ethnic tensions that have besieged the school for years, ultimately resulting in a drive-by tragedy.

I am a veteran teacher (16 years) who has spent her entire career teaching American Literature in a school similar to the one in my novel.  Because of my experience, I believe that my story attains an authenticity without being bogged down in overly technical educational terms.  This is a story that will appeal to both teachers and non-teachers.

I am also a mother to a wonderful and bright seven year old son, who is high functioning autistic.  His father and I adopted him from China in 2005.  My inability to get pregnant is a trait my main character Zoe and I share.

The manuscript has been edited by a Long Island freelance editor who spent nearly 30 years in the publishing industry.

In the fall of 2011, I was published for the first time.  In October, RED OCHRE LiT (http://www.redochrelit.com/index.html) published my first short story, “Tea With a Friend,” a fictional account of my meeting with my son’s birth mother.