Writers Helping Writers: Lisa Collier Cool

Ever since I bought How to Write Irresistible Query Letters, I’ve been a fan of the book’s author, Lisa Collier Cool. That book was a great help to me as a beginning writer and later as a full-time freelancer, giving me needed help in writing query letters. It also presented a collection of successful queries, a welcome addition for those of us interested in how others write query letters.

Last month, I picked up my copy of Parade Magazine and found there “The Dog That Changes Lives,” Lisa’s article about therapy dogs. In case you missed the piece, you can read it here.

I decided to write and ask Lisa about the query letter that sold the article. She was most generous in her response, agreeing to share her query with readers of this blog. I was much impressed with her query. It is a fine example of an effective way to interest an editor of a large national magazine in an article idea.

Below, you’ll find both our emails and her query to Parade:
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To:
Lisa:
I loved your article this week in Parade. Congratulations!

As soon as I read the article, I knew I wanted to ask you about the query you used to sell the piece. I’ve been a freelancer for about 30 years and I also have a blog, Words into Print, about writing (it’s at  ldaley.wordpress.com) where I try to help others get published. I’m wondering if you would be willing to share that query letter with readers of my blog.  Yours is a great example, I think, of a short inspirational piece that not only packs a lot of emotion in relatively few words but also gives vital information to the reader.

(My daughter works at a health care facility in Charlotte and she tells me about the great impact that therapy animals have on patients there).

I do hope you will agree to share your query and I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you, Lisa

Sincerely,
Laverne Daley
Cordova, Tennessee
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Lisa’s answer:
Sorry to be so slow in replying.  Thanks for your interest in the Parade story! Below is a copy of the query letter, which you are welcome to include in your blog, as long as you credit me as the author.

Best,
Lisa

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Therapy Dog Proposal to Parade

I’d like to write about a remarkable therapy dog named Boo, who has an uncanny ability to sense what each person needs–and work what some call miracles.  At Maryknoll, a NY retirement home for nuns, some of whom suffer from Alzheimer’s, Sister Jean was lost in her own world of silence and spent her days clutching a stuffed animal for comfort.  No one could get through to her until she met Boo, who sat by her side radiating sympathy and love at each session.  Little by little, the sister responded.  First she stopped bringing the stuffed toy to sessions, then she amazed everyone by uncurling her tightly clenched hands so she could stroke his soft black fur.  She started smiling when he arrived, with his trainer, Lisa Edwards, and recently, spoke for the first time in years, saying, “Hello, Boo.”

Lisa and Boo also volunteer at a library program, in which kids read to therapy dogs.  When a little boy was struggling over the words, so embarrassed by his mistakes that he was close to tears, Boo knew just how to break the tension.  He began clowning around, sniffing the boy’s shoes and tickling his ear with his whiskers and cold nose, which got the kid giggling.  After that, he decided reading was fun.  Another child felt that Boo was so enthralled by the book he was reading aloud that the kid came back week after week to the library so that the dog could hear the rest of the story.

What makes Boo an unlikely hero is that he has disabilities.  He doesn’t see too well, often bumps into things, and moves stiffly.  And as a puppy, he was such a slow learner that it took an entire year to housebreak him.  When Lisa first enrolled in a therapy dog training program, he was the class dunce and was practically laughed out of the program.  Only by chance did she discover his amazing gift of empathy: At a pet store, Boo dragged her over to two sisters, shopping with their mom.  Then he stood there, glowing with joy as the squealing kids tugged on his tail and petted him.  That convinced Lisa he had the right temperament to be a therapy dog and she vowed to do whatever it took to get him certified.

Boo’s work at the nursing home and library has NO publicity of any kind.  He also volunteers at several other programs, including one for developmentally disabled adults.  He was recently a finalist for Therapy Dog of the Year.   I’ll look forward to your reaction to this idea, which I’m sending to you first and exclusively.  I’ve won 18 awards for journalism and my work has appeared in Reader’s Digest, the Wall Street Journal, Ladies Home Journal, Woman’s Day, Glamour, Self, Redbook, O the Oprah magazine, and many other national publications.  You can see some of my clips on my website: http://www.lisacolliercool.com.

Best,
Lisa Collier Cool
Award-winning journalist

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You will agree, I’m sure, that hers is a fine query letter. We congratulate Lisa on her continuing success, and offer sincere thanks for her generosity. LD

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A Bit of Writer’s Block Advice and An Announcement

Here’s a bit of perspective about writer’s block from an interview with novelist Alice Hoffman (author of Incantation, Here on Earth, The Story Sisters and many other novels, books of short fiction, books for children and young adults, plus many nonfiction pieces).

When the interviewer asked Hoffman if she ever had writer’s block and if so what she did to overcome it, this was her response:

I didn’t believe in writer’s block until I had it — twice in terrible periods of my life. Both times the only way out for me was to start writing, and through the process of writing, something appeared. i decided I would write five pages a day and not look at them for three weeks. Part of having writer’s block is feeling it’s worthless or you’re worthless and you can’t do it right. {You have to tell} yourself, “I’m just going to write, and I’m not going to look at it. I’m not going to judge it.” By the time you look at it, there may be something inside of it you can use.”

The interview, “Writing Her Way into the Story,” by Elfrieda Abbe, appeared in the July 2009 edition of The Writer. Read the entire piece for a look at what Hoffman has learned along the way since her first novel was published when she was 21 and still a student at Stanford University. It’s a very informative piece that we can all learn from.

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Now for the announcement. Come back to this site soon for a Guest Post by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen, a full-time freelance writer on Bowen Island, BC, Canada. Laurie’s post won’t be about writer’s block but about how to become a more productive writer. Her post should be up early next week.

© 2009 by Laverne Daley

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Found: Another Helpful Website for Writers

Today I came across another great website for writers. I found it to be very helpful for freelancers; I think you will too.

WordCount–Freelancing in the Digital Age is the brainchild of Michelle Rafter, a reporter and blogger who regularly covers what’s happening at newspapers, magazines and Web-based news organizations. She launched the website last year to chart how digital media is changing what is news and how we write about it. She also writes about the art and science of writing and how to run a freelance writing business.

Here are just two examples of what I found valuable at her site: “10 things a freelance writer can do today to feel better about the economy and your place in it,” and “10 things J.K. Rowling taught me about writing.”  I’d like to cite one item from each post.

From No. 6 in the first article:

“Go through your contacts. Look at your Rolodex, Outlook, LinkedIn connections or Facebook friends. Reach out to any who’ve taken a new job or moved to a different company to say hi or reconnect. Not every communication has to be specifically about work, but you never know when a sample “How’s it going?” could open the door to an opportunity.”

Here’s the first lesson she learned from J.K. Rowling:

1. Persistence counts. Rowling got the idea for the Harry Potter in 1990 and spent 17 years working on it before finishing in 2007. Seventeen years — that’s as long as it takes to go from kindergarten through high school.

The takeaway: You may start out loving a project but the day may come – days, weeks or months into it – you’re so bored, frustrated or fed up you want to scream or put it away forever. But look what can happen if you gut it out.”

Whatever your writing interests or your level of experience, I suggest that you go take a look at Rafter’s website. I think that you, too, will find it a valuable help in your writing business.
© 2009 by Laverne Daley

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