One of my assignments this week was to write a query letter for my current manuscript. Yes, I do mean the manuscript that I've only been working on for one month and that is nowhere near completion.
I wrote my first query letter for FADED AS MY JEANS as a class assignment in February 2005. Then I wrote a new one for another assignment in May 2005. As the months went on, I ended up writing so many versions that I can't even remember them all. It wasn't until January 2006 (for yet another assignment) that I finally made the final version that went out to agents. It was a good letter and I got a lot of response from agents with it. (So far, I haven't had an offer for representation, but that little letter got me as far as it could.)
It was kind of exciting to write my letter today. It needs work, of course, and I anticipate that it will go through lots of changes in the next few months. But writing it was good for me. It gave me the feeling that this is really happening. That I might really be able to do something with this character and this story that someone will want to buy.