{"id":230,"date":"2026-04-21T22:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T22:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/?p=230"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:39:12","slug":"frankly-my-dear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/?p=230","title":{"rendered":"Frankly, my dear"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Cherry blossoms are everywhere. Fragile pink clusters, their sweet fragrance reminding me how beautiful the world can be. Spring storms threaten them at every turn, and yet, they somehow persevere.<\/p>

It\u2019s such a relief to once again be able to sit in a caf\u00e9, and make plans for the summer garden. After taxes are filed, I swear my soul magically renews itself. I feel, at last, the weariness of winter melt away and things become exciting one again.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Earlier this month I attended the Writing Day Workshop<\/a> in my city, and pitched live to an agent for the very first time. It was a long day, certainly, but I met a new writing compatriot, and my live pitch got me a request, so I consider it well worth the ticket!<\/p>

I also just had a new poem published with Michigan City Book Review<\/em><\/a>, which had such a wonderful response. It doesn\u2019t take much to make a writer happy, you know, we cling to any scrap of praise like it\u2019s our last meal. So to everyone who read, reposted, or said a kind word, I\u2019m very grateful. It makes it feel like words are still worth writing\u2014even if they\u2019re only poetry.<\/p>

I\u2019ve officially crossed into \u2018Querying Veteran\u2019 status recently. It is now my second year in the trenches, and I\u2019ve finally stopped sending out queries for The Last Dawn<\/em><\/strong>. I adore my evil little book, but at this point I think it\u2019s simply going to have to take a back seat while I let agents finish reading it.<\/p>

Instead, I want to put all of my focus on drafting this summer. In order for me to be effective (and keep what remains of my sanity) querying simply must stop. I\u2019m very eager to get The Patron<\/em><\/strong> finished and ready to query in the fall, so this is as good a time as any to pivot.<\/p>

I\u2019ve learned a great deal querying so far, and I feel fairly confident in my ability to pitch and package my work, so I\u2019ll be going back into the trenches next fall with quite the arsenal.<\/p>

That\u2019s all I really have to say on that point. There is, amongst hopeful writers as a whole, an endless abyss of querying discussion that benefits us very little. Truly, most of the valuable advice can be gleaned via a quick google search. Everything else is just anxiety talking.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Recently, I watched \u00a0Gone with the Wind<\/em><\/strong> for the first time.<\/p>

There\u2019s that moment, the one where Rhett (Clark Gable) delivers the legendary line, \u201cFrankly, my dear, I don\u2019t give a damn.\u201d<\/p>

And I absolutely choked.<\/p>

Despite my writer’s brain, and all the foreshadowing, I had hoped. Just as Margaret Mitchell no doubt intended.\u00a0<\/p>

It made me consider my own storytelling again. How could it not? I love a doomed narrative. I love characters who make bad decisions. There was no way I wasn\u2019t going to adore every moment of Scarlett O\u2019Hara, who is in so many ways, sister to my own Hetta Rathmore.<\/p>

Occasionally, I worry overmuch about happy endings. Everyone wants one, and true, it\u2019s a balm to the soul to read a story that leaves us with our heroes riding off into the sunset.<\/p>

I worry, sometimes, that I\u2019m failing my readers by not offering them such comfort.<\/p>

But as Rhett walked away into the fog\u2014and I held my breath, waiting for him to turn back\u2014I realized something powerful.<\/p>

Heartbreak can linger so much longer than a sunset.<\/strong><\/p>

And who hasn\u2019t guiltily decided to press a tender wound?<\/p>

Wistfully\u2014SMH<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cherry blossoms are everywhere. Fragile pink clusters, their sweet fragrance reminding me how beautiful the world can be. Spring storms threaten them at every turn, and yet, they somehow persevere. It\u2019s such a relief to once again be able to sit in a caf\u00e9, and make plans for the summer garden. After taxes are filed, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,13],"tags":[34,65,25],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-short-fiction","category-writing-life","tag-author-updates","tag-fiction-writing","tag-querying","post-preview"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samanthahund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}