Queries and potty training

For me, writing a query feels quite a lot like potty training my three-year-old.  There's improvement, there's accidents, and a lot of times it feels more like I'm moving backwards than forwards.  Here's a confession: I query very slowly, in batches of five or ten, and I haven't sent out a batch for quite a while.  I just can't get my letter to have a good balance between characterization, poetic writing, and plot.  Sort of like my three-year-old has a hard time balancing playing, remembering he needs to go to the potty, and remembering he needs to tell me when he needs the aforementioned potty...

At least my queries aren't literally as messy, and they don't make laundry.  And someday I'll get one I can be proud of.  Just like someday my three-year-old will get back to wearing only one pair of pants a day...

Elmo speaks three languages!  And we haven't bothered to figure out how to change it to just English!  So he's very...educational.  Just like queries!