Lynn Raye Harris

I’ve been watching the news about Gustav with growing dread and a sense of panic. When Katrina hit, I was in Hawaii. I don’t think any of us knew what to expect then. Did I mention I have family there? A brother and his family, aunts, a grandmother, a cousin. They are north of New Orleans in a town on the edge of Lake Ponchartrain. Last time, they were lucky. This time?

I don’t know, but my brother isn’t leaving yet. He’s waiting to make a decision. And I look at this picture and say, “What in hell is there to wait for? A miracle!?” My grandmother is in a nursing home, and they’ve already evacuated. The aunts and cousin? No idea. We aren’t close, so I don’t know.

So keep New Orleans, and all of lower Louisiana most especially, in your thoughts. I’m hoping for a miracle too. But I don’t expect it. I hope my brother piles the family in the car today and decides to come to Alabama. We’re waiting with open arms and a safe haven.

Ah, Fall is just around the corner. It’s one of my favorite times of year because guess what — it’s boot shopping season! Yay, boots! I love boots. In fact, I was surfing a few favs today and trying to decide which ones I need first.

What do you think of Uggs?

Pretty cool, huh? Next, because I’m seriously into heels, is this beauty:

(Though I don’t have wide calves.)

Then there’s this adorable ankle boot:

An Oxford:

A high-heeled pirate boot:

A gorgeous Kenneth Cole half boot:

Leopard boots — yeah, baybee!

Whoa, need I say more?

Well, I suppose I could go on and on. I didn’t find any red boots, though. *sigh* Would red leather boots be cool or what? Okay, now in truth, I can’t have all these boots — Hubby would kill me if he saw THAT bill. But I love looking, and I love shopping for shoes. Indeed, I’ll hit the local DSW (with my previously mentioned $10 certificate) and see what I can find there.

What do you think of these boots? Is Fall boot shopping season for you too? What’s your favorite boot here? Or, run over to Zappos or DSW and find a boot you like, then share it in the comments! Let’s talk boots, y’all!

Well, my brain is on autopilot and skimming between topics, so it’s a seriously good idea to just spout some stuff.

*The cabinets are getting empty. Must shop for food. Soon.
*Oooh, chapter retreat coming up in October!
*Murder mystery party — with chocolate and pedicures!
*Hubby is a WoW addict. This is good when I’m writing. Bad when I’m not.
*Since I’m always writing, it works out.
*Is it really 11 months until the next RWA National conference?
*Company returning next month.
*Birthday coming. Wow, I’m going to be THAT old? Twenty-nine again!
*How did the time pass so quickly?
*I forgot to have kids. Seriously, just damn well forgot. Hubby forgot too. Maybe we should have reminded each other.
*Why do my characters drive me insane?
*Is it normal to hear voices?

*Oh, wait, I’m a writer. It’s normal.
*Ooooh, got a $10 certificate from DSW! Shoe shopping, here I come!
*After I finish revising.

So what’s on your mind today? Got any cool certificates or gift cards to go shopping with? *g* If you like to give gift cards, which are your favorite ones to give?

A revision letter is both a terrible and wonderful thing. On the one hand, it means an editor gets your voice enough to suggest changes that will, hopefully, make your work better. On the other, it means you’ve got work to do.

As unpublished or uncontracted writers, revision letters aren’t a part of daily life. Many writers are trying to find their style and voice and dream of the day when an editor makes the wonderful call that says, “I want to buy your book.”

And yet, as you learn when you cross to the other side of the fence, the grass isn’t greener. It’s still grass, and you still have work to do. Revision letters are a part of the, er, yard work (hmm, should have thought this metaphor out a bit more…).

It can be easy to get discouraged when this is new to you. You think you’re the dumbest writer to ever fire up a lap top. You wonder why you can’t just get it right the first time. Sometimes, you need to walk away and think about it. Other times the ideas are flowing fast and furious and you just know you’re nailing it this time.

I’ve been in both states, believe me. Tonight, after frowning over the work yet to do, I picked up Sherry Thomas’s Delicious. And there, in the acknowledgments, this new author who has received many accolades for her work, talks about a 16 page single-spaced revision letter from her editor on the very book I’m holding in my hands. Um, I think I’ll stop worrying myself to death now.

How do you deal with revision letters? If you have yet to receive a revision letter, how do you think you’ll handle it?

Romance writer courts publishing success

This one has a picture. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but this article got picked up by the AP national news wire. It’s been appearing in places like California, Louisiana, and New Hampshire. The link above is Connecticut.

If you’ve found your way here due to reading the article and going to my website, thank you for visiting. I hope you’ll come back. To my regular readers, thanks for being here. I appreciate you checking with me every day.

Today, I’m working on revisions to THE SPANISH MAGNATE’S REVENGE. What are you up to?

You can read the Decatur Daily interview with me here or here.

The Wordpress switcheroo is on hold for now. Not because I don’t adore WP, but because I don’t have time to figure out what’s up with my webhosting and WP talking to each other. I would love to point you to my new WP blog with the dot WP addy, but then that would simply confuse a lot of things when I get it working on the domain. So, sigh, no new blog for now. Hope to fix that soon…..

Ahem, so here I was trying to figure out what to post about today. (Wordpress is LOVELY! But I may have trouble with my domain for reasons that are techie while I am not. *sigh* So stay tuned. For now, I’m still here.)

But anyway, I got a Google notice that my name had been used. Hopefully not in vain, LOL. So I followed the link.

At a post titled “A Touch of Romance in Photojournalism” you can read technical terms like you’ve never read before (or at least I hadn’t) and learn how the photographer took my pictures for the newspaper interview.

I have a new To Do list:

1. What the heck is he talking about? Must learn this stuff. What is a snoot? I thought I knew, but apparently not. Is an octobank a type of octopus?

2. Lose more weight. Oh dear Lord!

3. He says I’m not an old hag. Must keep up with not being an old hag, however I managed it. Definitely see a treadmill in my future!

4. Photoshop is my friend. When I get my publicity shots done, and I’d love to use this photographer because he’s great and he obviously loves what he does, airbrushing will be required. Yikes.

Do you like getting your picture taken? Is Photoshop your friend? Do you, like me, want to be airbrushed?

I think I’m going to make the switch to Wordpress, but don’t worry, I’ll be sure to point this blog to the new one. It’s been surprisingly easy to play with creating a new blog, and importing this one into it. If all goes well, I hope to introduce the new site next week. And, big news, but it will take the place of my current website. As much as I love my website, it doesn’t reflect what’s going on in my writing accurately anymore. The dark colors and hot military guy are crowding out the tycoons and exotic locations.

So, playing around, but I think the switch will happen.

In other news, had a fabulous interview in the Decatur Daily today. Except I can’t give you a link because they only allow subscribers to read the articles. I think that’s a mistake, one that the New York Times finally admitted when they returned their site to an all free one, but this is a local paper and they have their own ideas.

What’s going on in your neck of the woods? I’m trying to create a new site, keeping up with the press lately, and working on my novel. It’s been a busy August…..

I’m thinking of switching this blog to Wordpress and using my domain name instead of the blogspot name. Because with WP, you can have a multi-page site, unlike with Blogger.

OTOH, I hate change when I’m comfy with something. And I’m comfy with Blogger. If you’re reading, you probably blog. Which platform do you use? Have you switched from one to the other? Which do you like best and why?

I’m not sure when I’ll get around to this, or if I even will. I kind of hate the idea of moving everything and then not liking it. And I don’t like learning curves. I don’t have time for them, you know?

So what do you think of blogs as promotional tools ultimately? Recently, I read that the Fog City Divas are going to stop blogging. The authors are too busy writing to keep up with it. I always thought being a part of a group blog would be easier than what I do here, which is post erratically and on wildly different subjects (whatever is floating my boat, in fact). I periodically ask this question because I’m constantly wondering about it. Is the search for something new to say worth the trouble every day? Can you get just as much mileage from visiting blogs and leaving comments?

I wonder. If you dropped by to read my interview yesterday, thank you! I hope to have another interview link to post soon.

Please join me over at Romance Writers on the Journey and learn about my writing journey thus far! I’ll be answering questions, and my gracious hostess Keli Gwyn has prizes to give away. Give me a shout out!