I’ve been thinking how some chicken moms just don’t seem to get it.  They lay their eggs in the silliest places.  I mean, really!  What chick would want to hatch here?

In case you can’t tell, that’s a cat crate.  And something tells me that any fluffy little chicks who hatched out of these eggs would make fluffy little hors ‘d’oeuvres for one happy kitty.

I’m not sure this ‘nesting spot’ is a vast improvement.  One of our chickens likes to roost on the side of this wheelbarrow in the evening, and I guess she’s just too lazy to go lay her eggs in the coop.

Whenever I see this, I hear a crunch in my mind as the wheel runs over the egg.

The question that I ask myself, then, is what kind of chicken am I?  When I go out on agent submissions this week with 13 Demon Days, will I lay those query eggs wherever I can find a flat spot?  In querying terms, I’m pretty sure a ‘flat spot’ translates to any agent who has an email box.  Or, will I try to give my little hatchling the best possible chance?  Giving my query the best chance is a pain.  It means passing up on really cool agents who are just not right for my project.  It means researching the rest so I have some idea whether we’d be a good fit, and personalizing my query.  That may sound like no big deal, but it actually translates into hours of work.  But when I wonder if it’s really necessary, I picture my cat’s face when she spies a flully little yellow chick . . . and I get back to my research.

A couple spots that I’ve found hugely helpful in the search are the fun and fantastic Mother. Write. Repeat. and the equally fun and super informative Literary Rambles.  If you’ve got any other spots you go to for agent research, post them in the comments.  I and my query eggs will thank you!