On QueryFail, Or, The Lilybed of Grief

Cross-posted from the Deadline Dames, where you can find more writing advice, giveaways, and cute kittens! (Okay, I’m lying about the kittens.) Check them out!

There’s a fairy story Speshul Snowflakes like to tell themselves. It goes a little something like this:

Once upon a time, Arte was Pure and Preshus. Suffering Artistes had no thought of Filthy Lucre; they slaved away over their Precious Werks. They Wrote with Snow-White Quills dipped in their own Preshus Blood, and they starved Gracefully t