Query Quandary and Snow Day - Part 3

I'm home again today - icebound. The county is still trying to clean up the mess. So... it's another writing day! (big grin)

I started work on my query last night. It's MUCH harder than it should be. I've got a 1st draft. It's not what I want to send, but it's a starting point. Writing the log line was easy, it's writing the pitch that is difficult. My head is full of story details. All of which, of course, I think are important. How do you put down what's critical and make it stand out from the crowd? I began my quest to find the answer last night, and I came up with these helpful resources:

Nathan Bransford has terrific information on his blog. Listed on the sidebar below the "About Me," you'll find information regarding basic formatting and examples of good query letters.

Cheryl Klein has "The Annotated Query Letter from Hell" posted on her website. This made me laugh!

Agentquery.com has a page called "How to Write a Query."

Chuck Sambuchino's blog has a page about queries. If you scroll down to October 16, 2008, there is an entry called "Breaking Down the Query Letter."

VerlaKay's Children's Writers & Illustrators Message Board has a thread called "Query Letters that Sold." There are some very good examples posted.

Both VerlaKay and SCBWI boards will allow you to submit your query for critique (eek!). I'm not sure I want my drafts to be critiqued in such a public manner.

If you know of other online query resources and examples, please share. I would appreciate it. Thanks!