The First 250

Over the past year or so I've entered a few online contests and without fail, they want a query, and the first 250. Sometimes you get lucky and they want the first 500 or the first five pages. But most of the time, it's the first 250.

That amounts to about the first half page of your book. Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to catch the judge's eye with those first 250 words.

And you know what it's taught me? That not all my words are necessary. I can leave out a few "thats"--or mo...