Lynn Raye Harris

I think I must be a maniac. I’ve started another book. I’ve barely recovered from the last one, and yet an idea cropped up. I’ve written about 1500 words, so not much at all, but enough to get the idea simmering.

It’s hard waiting to hear back on the book I just sent, but I’ll distract myself with a new one. I think. I just have this antsy, can’t sit still feeling. I can’t putter around the house, catch up on the laundry, breathe, go grocery shopping, or any of the things I’ve neglected. No, must start another story. I have delusions of grandeur that I’m like Nora’s soul sister or something, but yeah, right. *g*

Must calm down, must put on the wisdom cap and know I’ll be waiting a while. Must think straight, must decide what is best to write at the moment. Must not neglect San Francisco preparations in crazy hazy desire to write new story….

What do you do when you’ve finished writing a book? Start another one right away? Or take a break and enjoy life a little bit first? How do you get off the treadmill?

I went shoe shopping the other day. I brought home two pairs of high heels. Hubby says, “You didn’t used to like shoes so much. What happened?”

I know I tilted my head like a puppy hearing a funny noise. And then I reminded him about my close first-name relationship with the Italian shoe guy in Germany — the man would set shoes aside in my size, and then whisk them out for me whenever I came in. I bought several nice pairs of Italian leather shoes. *sigh*

But when we moved to Hawaii, I gave up shoes. I wore flip-flops, or slippahs as they’re called there, for three years. I am now back to living where I need shoes. Hence my shoe-shopping the other day. And RWA National is coming up; definitely need shoes.

Seems as if I’ve landed in the right local chapter too. There is a cult of the shoe in Heart of Dixie. I love it.

The shoe I want is here. I believe it’s safe to say I won’t be owning this shoe anytime soon. In fact, when I told hubby about it, he gave me the puppy head tilt. And then he said I was crazy, off my rocker, nutso.

Yes, I crave a pair of Christian Louboutins that cost $900. Hubby doesn’t think I need them. The good news (I hope they fit right…) is that I’ve scoured the web and found a pair that look just like that — for under $60. They aren’t Louboutins. But if you see me wearing them in San Francisco, let’s just pretend like they are.

Any shoe fetishes to report? Designer clothing? Other expensive things that seem a bit frivolous? (Yes, I can’t imagine WHY that shoe costs 900 bucks, but it’s a lovely thing. Nude heels are all the rage, you know.)

Not yet, but he’s going to be. In the Harris house, we have a cat who likes to knock things over. He’s very good at it, too. He’s broken lamps before. Routinely knocks over water bottles. Do NOT leave a glass of wine out. He’ll knock it over and then try to bury it. So what did he try to knock over that nearly got him killed?

I have a piano (nope, can’t really play). On top of the piano I have some knick knacks. One is a lovely young lady playing a piano. I didn’t think much of it until my mother said, “Uh, you might want to look that up. I think it’s pretty valuable.” It’s a Lladro, a piece of Spanish porcelain, and it’s very beautiful.

Still, I wasn’t thinking it would be like astronomical or anything. So, I find the cat on the piano with his paw on the Lladro. The figurine is making a sort of glassy chunking noise as it moves over the top of the piano. I yell and toss the cat into a room to chill. Then I research.

OMG, the twerp almost knocked $1200 onto the floor where it would have shattered and been worth ZERO. I’m thinking of killing him. Or maybe I’ll just move the figurine.

So, have your kids or pets ever broken something valuable? Ever ticked you off severely because you CANNOT have nice things!? (Wasn’t it Bill Cosby who said that? We can’t have nice things because of you…) Has something gotten broken and then you realized after the fact that it was valuable? Grrrr.

Maybe tomorrow this blog will return to its regularly scheduled writing-type posts…. Idiot cat.

Hmm, after several months of non-stop work, I find myself bookless. Bookless as in I don’t have a book to write. What shall I do? Work on the lawn? Do the laundry? Clean the house?

Um, NO! I’m going to catch up on my reading and WRITE another book!! Like most writers, I don’t lack for ideas. I have several. I could write the next book in my romantic suspense series, or I have another idea for a Presents novel. Probably, it’ll be the Presents I get to work on.

Why? Because I had SO much fun writing the last one and I want to do it again! Writing that book was like coming home. Crazy, but true. I’m a little bereft at being done with Alejandro and Rebecca’s story. (Though maybe I’m not done at all — revisions, you know.)

I’ll probably also finish the proposal to the next RS — just because I love the story and want that blueprint available.

Writers: what do you do when you finish writing a book? Immediately start a new one? Revise the old one (I should mention there were two drafts of TSMR to this point)? Take a break and play? Cry and miss the characters? Want to blow them up? (That was me with HOT PURSUIT.)

Thursday, I typed The End to THE SPANISH MAGNATE’S REVENGE. It was sometime Thursday evening, and I went downstairs doing the Rocky fists in the air thing. Hubby said, “So you finished?”

Nothing is better than the feeling you get when you finish a manuscript. But, the work is never over. Friday morning, I printed it out for the first complete read on paper. I knew I’d have to revise — that’s part of the process for me — and I knew by Friday afternoon, I’d be depressed with what I had to do.

Friday afternoon, yep, I’m depressed, convinced I can’t write and I’m going to embarrass myself by sending this manuscript to my editor. But I’m determined to get to work on it, of course. I will fix it, I will! It won’t defeat me! I’m the writer, it’s the creation. Yeah!

And then hubby comes home. He’s a little late, but sometimes that happens and I didn’t think much of it. Until he gave me a bag with two bottles of wine, a card, and a dozen roses. Awwwwww! I was so touched. He knew how much it meant to me to finish this book, and he was proud of me. *sniffle, sniffle*

I’m halfway through the revisions and feeling much better. But it all started with roses and a card (and wine!) from my sweetie. I enjoyed the flowers all weekend, the card is sitting with the congrats cards that my chaptermates sent for the GH and Presents contests, and the wine disappeared.

Being a writer can be a solitary business, but it’s great to have the support of the ones you love. Even when they don’t quite understand why you have a glazed look or why you didn’t hear the question they asked you three times already.

Have you ever embarrassed your loved ones by saying something along the lines of, “So, if I kidnap the sister, how do I get the yacht to crash?” in a public place? Guilty as charged….

Today, check out my guest post about my writing journey over at the I Heart Presents site. I talk about what it’s like working with an editor.

And, in related news, I typed The End to THE SPANISH MAGNATE’S REVENGE last night. I’m so thrilled! Now, must think a bit on it, and then off it goes.

THE SPANISH MAGNATE’S REVENGE is almost done. I’ve been buried in the ending. I always get this way — grumble, groan, moan along the way, and then I hit somewhere before the black moment and the ball starts rolling so fast I can barely keep up. I write as much in the last few days as I did in the first few weeks. It’s crazy, but apparently that’s my process.

I owe emails. I owe blogs. I owe time to family and friends. I cannot escape the grip of this story. But it’s almost done. Soon, I’ll emerge from the cocoon and wonder what’s happened around me.

Hope you writers are getting much done!!! Does this happen to you, btw? Is there a certain point where the story takes you over so completely that eating and sleeping and showering are extreme impositions?

Sunday, hubby and I went to my parents’ house for dinner. The appearance of a lone firefly at dusk precipitated a crisis as we began to discuss fireflies (or lightning bugs in the South). Hubby grew up in upstate NY. As a kid, he remembered catching jars of fireflies and being fascinated with them.

I remember the same as a kid growing up in the South. The field beside our house would be lit up like a small city with fireflies. I would stand and watch, along with my brothers, fascinated. Yes, we caught them in jars and tried to keep them. I think any kid who kept a firefly overnight knows they don’t last in a jar. *sigh*

So where are they now? Why do you only see one every now and then? My house backs up to good ol’ Alabama woodland. I stood last night after we came home, waiting to see the woods light up. I saw ONE.

Do you think our perceptions as kids were skewed, that we only thought there were tons of them? Or do you think our modern environment has done something? The chemicals we use on our yards, the sprays for mosquitoes, the proliferation of chemical environmental control in our homes?

I just don’t know. I tried looking it up and got a variety of answers. 1) Mosquito chemicals are specific to mosquitoes. 2) Firefly habitats are disappearing as man encroaches. 3) Dry seasons aren’t conducive to firefly life cycles. You need rain and moist vegetation for fireflies to breed.

I don’t know, but it feels like a magical thing, especially for children, has disappeared from our lives. Do you remember fireflies? Did you grow up seeing millions of them light the night sky? Or did you grow up without them? If you remember them in the thousands and millions, do you ever wonder what happened to them?

Just curious….

Aside from hot alpha males with attitude and heroines who whip them into shape? Travel. Exotic locations.

Finally, all that time in Europe is paying dividends! (Although it paid plenty of dividends when I lived and traveled there — priceless experience.) But now, I get to revisit those places I loved while I create the world of my Harlequin Presents story.

I didn’t stay in the Gritti Palace (pictured) in Venice, but it’s the inspiration for one of my hero’s hotels. The Gritti Palace starts around 500 Euros a night. Can you imagine?

There was a time, when I lived there, when that would have cost about $350. Today, it’s nearly $800. I don’t think I’ll be staying there anytime soon.

But I can imagine it! I can view the pictures and see my hotel come to life. I can imagine the luxury of that place, the service, the gorgeous views from that terrace. I’m doing armchair traveling to write this story and I LOVE IT! Why didn’t I do this sooner?

I always wanted to write for Presents. But I stubbornly kept putting it off. Until the Instant Seduction contest. I can’t thank HM&B enough for having the contest. I’d still be saying someday, and I wouldn’t be armchair traveling through my old guidebooks and getting inspired by pictures of sumptuous rooms and table settings.

What do you write and why do you love it? Do you love to armchair travel? What’s the best vacation you ever had? The coolest place you ever lived?

**Best Vacation: Venice
**Coolest Place I lived: Toss up between Europe and Hawaii

If it’s summer break, I’m not having any of it. I’m working. I have a book to finish, and it’s rolling along pretty good — so far.

I totally love it when a book starts to write itself. I love sitting down at the keyboard and knowing the only impediment will be how fast my fingers can keep up with what my mind creates. That’s not to say it’s all easy. No indeed. I still have those stretches where one set of ideas reaches a conclusion (at the end of a scene or chapter, maybe) and I need to figure out which direction to go for the next set.

Yes, I know, if I were a plotter who outlined extensively, I’d know where I was going. But chugging along is part of the process for me. I really love that enjoyment of discovery along the way. It’s like getting on a train and going for a trip to a place you’ve never been. If I bought a video of the trip before I went, and then watched it through, it wouldn’t be as exciting for me.

I love this part of being a writer. What I don’t love is the pain of self-doubt, the misery of waiting for responses to submissions, the sheer terror of going to the mailbox. I could do without those bits, thank you.

Right now, I’m on the downhill slide. My goal is to be done before 1 July. Then I have a trip to New Orleans over the 4th, back home for shopping for National, then the National conference at the end of the month. Once I get home again and recover from that, it’ll be September. Whew, this is a busy summer! Where’s the break?

How about you? Any big plans this summer? Any writing plans?