Tim's advice was:

Allyson Beatrice grew up in blah blah. She didn't always have purple hair. Then talk about how you came out to LA and got invovled with fandom. Tried to save a spaceship while working for mad scientists who do the same thing, but in real life. GET ON IT.

Heh, good advice, Allyson. Nifty blurb!

Heh. I just remembered to ask Scott about Creature Double Feature. I just went up to him, pointed my finger in his face, and said, "Creature Double Feature! Sunday or..."

A wave of disgust crossed his face.

"SATURDAYS! What kind of amateur question is that. It was Saturdays, and it could have been on at noon, but I think it was 1:00."

Allyson, good advice from Tim, but that's more of a full bio - I think what the agent wants is the blurb.

Save the LA sotry for the full one.

Are you serious? Saturday? Really? I was like, seven years old when that was on channel 56. MOTHRA!

Save the LA sotry for the full one.

Oh god. THEY'LL WANT MORE?

hee.

I'm working on a short outline.

Deb, should I three-hole punch this and send it off as a manuscript with the bio, outline, and source list included as part of that package?

Or should I just punch the manuscript and have the outline, sourcelist, and bio as separate pieces?

Allyson: Creature Double Feature [link]

He was less disgusted when he realized it was someone else asking. He's got ~10 years on you, anyhow.

No, no, don't three-hole punch anything! A manuscript should always be loose, only bound with a rubber band, unless the agent or editor specifically requests otherwise. It should be, from the bottom up:

Manuscript at the bottom

synopsis, if requested

bio, if requested

cover letter, at the very top

All of it wrapped in a nice hefty rubber band or two.

What Deb said. I've also been told it's a good idea to place a sheet of colored paper between the synopsis and the manuscript, just to make it easier for the editor to separate the parts. And if the ms is skinny enough, I think you can use a binder clip instead of a rubber band. Just no staples or other binding.

I think the bio looks great, BTW.

And, y'all please tell me to stop endlessly defending my decision to write commoner heroes over on my Regency list. It's not like I didn't know going in that I'm swimming against the tide on that one. And while it is annoying to hear people say they'd never read a story with a commoner hero because they want the fairytale aspect (what's not fairytale about starcrossed love with a happily ever after, I ask you, and it's not like my own preference for the commoners means I never read books starring dukes), I'm not making them more likely to read my book once it's published by arguing about it. And it's not like there's no one on the list who agrees with me, either.

It's just so hard for me to keep my mouth shut, even when I know the only sensible thing is to shut up and write, and let my stories demonstrate the utter sexiness of the common man.

Yes, on the coloured paper, and also yes on the big giant binder clip, but no piercings.

Susan, I am clueless on the commoner problem, because for me, sexy is sexy, and who gives a shit about the title?