Thank you, John M. Cusick

I try not to judge people, but I've never said I won't judge a book.

And since many of the stories I write fall into the teen/YA category, I find myself, often, in the teen/YA section of the library. I came across a book today, called Girl Parts, by John M. Cusick. I don't know anything about it, although I do know that John M. Cusick is also a literary agent. In fact, I queried him the other day, just for kicks. I don't think he'll get back to me, but his interests are in line with mine, and I thought to myself, Why the heck not?

I opened the front cover of his book and read the dust jacket. It looked intriguing, to say the least. The first line of the book didn't completely hook me, but there, on that first page, sentence number seven called to me. I'll put sentence number six here, too, so you have some context.

It was quiet. The analog clock went teck.

Okay, okay, I know there's nothing supremely literary about those two sentences, but I heard the angels sing, I swear I did. John M. Cusick used (correctly) the word analog, to describe a clock that has hands on it. That's an act I thought everyone did until I read a book (by a different author, one that I can't even remember the title of) that used the word pre-digital to describe a clock with hands. Pre-digital? Really?

So judge I will, and I deem this book worthy of at least a little of the time I have so little of. And I just want to say thank you, John M. Cusick, for making my day. I borrowed the book, and, should I enjoy it, I'll recommend it to all my friends. (And please, spend a little time on my query letter while you are at it. I'm a first time novelist who really, really wants to spread the love of a good book around.)