It’s amazing how much I can get done when then there’s something a little bit trickier holding the #1 spot on my to-do list.

That pretty much sums up my week right there. Seriously, my apartment is super clean. I think the only chore I didn’t do was laundry, and that’s only because I don’t yet have enough for a full load (and I am not wasting quarters if it’s not a full load). I also put together a few entertainment ideas for my brother’s wedding this spring, brainstormed some new blog ideas, and balanced my checkbook.

I even remembered to do push-ups on multiple occasions this week (see my list of New Year Resolutions).

So what, you ask, was this task at the top of my to-do list that was left undone?

The answer would be a query letter.

Why are these so hard? Is it the emotional pain of boiling down the work you’ve been slaving over to less than 1% its original size? Is it the mental pain of summarizing about two hundred pages into two paragraphs? Or is it the intimidation factor that this letter is your foot in the doorway to the publishing industry?

Based on the many articles I’ve seen pinned advising writers how to tackle query letters, I think these reasons are all very real for most writers, but in this particular instance I’m pretty sure it’s the second one.

I had the same problem with English papers. I know once I get started I’ll be fine, but my brain gets a little antsy at the thought of actually sitting down and committing to the task.

For example, I think about tackling this task that should require at least a few hours of careful consideration and crafting, and my brain says,

“Wait, if you spend two hours on that now, you won’t have enough time to go grocery shopping before it gets dark.”

Or

“The longer you leave that sticky spot on the kitchen floor, the nastier it will get.”

Hence the super-productive week.