It's her 23rd song to do so.
Source
Just some information that I thought would be kinda interesting to share here.
Dear XXX,
I am a great admirer of the fiction you’ve represented, with particular regards to Adam Levin, as his own works continually push me onwards in desiring to become an author; in fact, I was first made known of your presence through a Chicago Tribune article on Levin. I am also a Vollmann and Franzen fanatic, both of whom I’m aware you’ve represented.
Hugh Willoughby, Duranga Sinclair, Eddie Japan, and seven other highly eccentric child prodigies live out a term at the Cousteau Association beach house, a Key-West-based research facility and occasional (not-so-occasional?) party spot. Established for young geniuses eyeing the marine biology bullseye, the house allows for fraternization with like-minded others, explorations into marine scholarship, and your classic, mostly contained bouts of trouble.
Hot off the heels of a crash involving their research vessel and subsequent Cousteau Association Board parole, the crew finally receives permission to brave the high seas once again. When a dive-and-observation reveals a rare octopus pinged with a crude tracking dart, however, their goodwill brings them into the clutches of poacher Smithfield Wave and his band of marauders.
Post- the marauder abduction of one of their much-loved own, the prodigies must race against the clock to preserve the untainted ocean, rescue an integral missing piece of their wunderkind puzzle, and save themselves from the fury of the Association Board as they ride out an unexpected Karmic wavelength that rinses them clean in the surf of life's cosmic beauty. The very nature of existence is questioned as they ford through a wild and surreal adventure brought on by their chance meeting with the knows-he’s-bad Smithfield, whose mania and existential crises threaten to collapse the novel itself.
BEACH HOUSE INTERLUDE (105,000 words) is a literary adventure in the vein of Adam Levin’s The Instructions, Thomas Pynchon’s The Bleeding Edge, and the films of Wes Anderson. At turns comic and heartbreaking, the novel explores the meaning of love, the necessity of empathy, and the soft hollows of the human condition.
I currently reside in a small Michigan town and study English with a Concentration in Creative Writing at Michigan State University. I work in the Michigan State Library (where better?) and, when I’m not writing, spend my days strumming guitars and thwacking tennis balls.
Thank you for your consideration,
XXX
I’ve tried doing my research on this, but so far haven’t had much luck regarding contemporary genre word counts, any advice on this would be appreciated.
So I read an article on Billboard's website that mentioned Ghosttown as being Madonna's 36^th song to hit the Adult Contemporary chart in her career. Since it still has not reached the Hot 100 I started thinking about this other chart and what the 35 other songs would be. I looked for a list but I didn't find one, so I scrolled through a few different sources and came up with the following, which I'm gonna put into a table:
| song | year | peak |
|---|---|---|
| Borderline | 1984 | 23 |
| Lucky Star | 1984 | 19 |
| Like A Virgin | 1984 | 29 |
| Material Girl | 1985 | 38 |
| Crazy For You | 1985 | 2 |
| Angel | 1985 | 5 |
| Dress You Up | 1985 | 32 |
| Live To Tell | 1986 | 1 (3 wks) |
| Papa Don't Preach | 1986 | 16 |
| True Blue | 1986 | 5 |
| Open Your Heart | 1986 | 12 |
| La Isla Bonita | 1987 | 1 (1 wk) |
| Who's That Girl | 1987 | 5 |
| Causing A Commotion | 1987 | 37 |
| Like A Prayer | 1989 | 3 |
| Express Yourself | 1989 | 12 |
| Cherish | 1989 | 1 (2 wks) |
| Keep It Together | 1990 | 32 |
| Vogue | 1990 | 23 |
| This Used To Be My Playground | 1992 | 4 |
| Rain | 1993 | 7 |
| I'll Remember | 1994 | 1 (4 wks) |
| Secret | 1994 | 2 |
| Take A Bow | 1994 | 1 (9 wks) |
| You'll See | 1995 | 5 |
| Love Don't Live Here Anymore | 1996 | 29 |
| You Must Love Me | 1996 | 15 |
| Don't Cry For Me Argentina | 1996 | 21 |
| Frozen | 1998 | 8 |
| The Power Of Good-Bye | 1998 | 14 |
| Beautiful Stranger | 1999 | 23 |
| American Pie | 2000 | 21 |
| What It Feels Like For A Girl | 2001 | 27 |
| Hung Up | 2006 | 29 |
| Jump | 2006 | 21 |
| Ghosttown | 2015 | 18* |
What do you think about seeing this list? It's different because some of the bigger pop hits are missing, and at least a few of her ballads actually did better here than they did on the Hot 100 chart. There were a few surprises for me when I was doing this (no Oh Father or Bad Girl), and the nine weeks Take A Bow spent at #1 may be the longest run she ever had on a Billboard chart - I'll have to look into that because off the top of my head I'm not sure. I know TAB was number 1 for 7 weeks on the Hot 100 and that was her longest run there.
https://preview.redd.it/0r1tkvxeyp981.png?width=1282&format=png&auto=webp&s=8bbf0555af78d19ea024c5aefd33964ebf712e52
"Message in a Bottle (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)" has reached a new peak of #18 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart (USA) and debuts at #24 on the Canada Adult Contemporary chart!
"I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor's Version)" debuts on both Billboard's USA and Canada Adult Contemporary charts at #26 and #34 respectively! It does this without being serviced to any radio format, likely due to many stations replacing the original.
"Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version)" reaches a new peak of #33 on Billboard's Canada Adult Contemporary chart several months after release! It likely would have already entered the USA Adult Contemporary chart if the chart had more positions; the USA chart has 30 while the Canada chart has 50.
Updated to better capture the tone of the story, and to add samples. I'd love to hear from anyone interested in a beta read or a critique swap! --E.J.
Mickey Patrick needs to get something off his chest: It’s a seventy-five-pound chipmunk sorcerer that smells like tartar sauce.
Actually, it’s the fact that he needs to fix his life. Mickey is overweight, undersexed, miserably married, and paralyzed by a deep-rooted fear of conflict. He spends his days as a dispirited retail cashier lamenting missed opportunities, his nights sitting around in sweatpants playing video games and dreaming of old flames. No longer is he a proud young man of talent and charisma with his sights set on Broadway and a love for bad jokes (like the one about bounced checks and angry jackrabbits). These days, he’s just…Beth’s husband, a sad-looking chunky dude with a messy beard who’s stuck in neutral while his wife drives his life.
But when a frantic Beth steps out of the shower one morning and demands an emergency visit to Planned Parenthood, Mickey learns they have much bigger problems than he’s ever considered, and the cracked foundation upon which they’ve built their rocky relationship begins to crumble. Now Mickey must remember who he once was in order to capture who he still could be, and with help from his tight-knit little tribe of family and friends (one for whom he harbors a long-burning flame), he must summon the strength to embrace his greatest phobia—Confrontation—to finally get what he wants out of life and love.
JUST BETH’S HUSBAND is a 98,000-word character study, family dramedy, coming-of-age, and redemption story that navigates the emotional strangleholds of an uneven marriage, the long-term effects on victims of child abuse and bullying, and the psychological tolls embedded by regret and depression. With humor, warmth, romance, and pop culture references sprinkled throughout, Mickey’s journey is a winding road of victories and defeats that ultimately centers on one, defining question: Can he ever recover from his biggest loss of all—his loss of self?
SAMPLE 1 (250 words)
SAMPLE 2 (420 words)
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vS_vDV0kPRdHIssshdaTh2Kbc97HBps63PnTJb8W-nyRMabPcmYKX1AO6x2B
... keep reading on reddit ➡Hi! I'm applying to AMM in January and would love eyes on my query. Truthfully, I might be overthinking things--I thought I had it, but previously, I took the 250 word guideline to mean the entire query and just found out the story blurb itself should be 250, which makes mine short. Any help is appreciated, thanks!
Dear [recipient],
TO ORDER THE SUN is a 90,000-word contemporary fantasy with sci-fi elements that will appeal to readers who enjoyed [COMP1] and fans of [AUTHOR1]'s queer-centric writing. It features a polyamorous sapphic romance.
If science podcaster Thea Summers can’t find a permanent job soon, she’ll have to return to the literally burning California town she once fled. But she isn’t worried. Not with her nature spirit best friend’s intervening magic on the ready. Arden is immortal and hell-bent on making a home in a world that no longer belongs to her. She will do anything to keep Thea by her side.
But powerful magic leaves traces, and Arden is neither her forest’s best-kept secret nor always benevolent. Injured by a begrudged human, she vanishes, leaving her magic to unravel—and take Thea’s life with it. Now the interviewers once excited to employ Thea no longer remember her, and the bills Arden glossed over come due. Even her podcast, the hopeful project of her heart, drops into obscurity.
Thea will go to any length to save her friend and the home she’s built, from working with magical beings she doesn’t trust to deceiving a millionaire scientist with big plans for the planet. But she can’t run from magical consequences forever.
And the more she struggles to hold onto what she loves, the more she questions if it was ever real at all, when it came so easily undone.
I am a field biologist by day who has worked in enough awe-inspiring places to make a nature spirit jealous.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
