Michael Collins had no idea what he was going to do with his life until he was dragged, kicking and screaming and at the behest of his educators, until the wild and wooly lifestyle of the freelance writer. Cocktail parties followed; fountains of champagne flowed.

My passion is ...

philosophy, comics, and aspiring to write fiction.

I know too much about ...

no subject. You can never know too much.

My parents always told me ...

to get a real job.

My childhood ambition ...

was to be a paleontologist. Then I wanted to be a physicist. Then an astronomer. Then a mechanical engineer.

Jobs & Careers > Resumes & Cover Letters How to write a query letter that gets you noticed

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Every first-time author faces that dreaded (or greatly anticipated, depending on your level of confidence) first submission. New authors have the deck stacked against them in all corners of the publishing world, but there is a way to avoid having your manuscript lie in a slushpile for a year while you chew your fingernails off with nervousness: the query letter. The query letter is important for all writers, whether writing that Sword and Sorcery epic they've day-dreamed about for years, or trying to strike it rich by pouncing ion the latest non-fiction trend, a query letter is a fast and e...

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