Lynn Raye Harris

I have just learned that SPANISH MAGNATE, RED-HOT REVENGE will be an August 2009 release in the US as well as the UK!! Yay!!

Did you decorate for Halloween? I have two pumpkins, uncarved. I bought candy. I think that’s good enough. What about this place, hmm? It’s in West Virginia. There are over 3000 pumpkins, and a group of volunteers carves them (ya think?). You can read more about it here.

When I was a kid, I used to look forward to Halloween so much. I didn’t live in a suburb, but in the country. My mom had to pile us into the car and take us driving around the countryside for candy. These days, kids have such safe choices — neighborhoods banding together, malls, churches, etc, that hold Trick or Treat for kids. I think that’s great.

Indeed, Halloween has turned into its own season now. The decorations, parties, greeting cards, etc. It goes on and on. When I was a kid, costumes were chintzy — K-Mart or Wal-Mart things with those horrible plastic masks that you couldn’t see through or breathe out of. I can’t remember any of the costumes I had. I do remember one I threw together though.

I wanted to be Samantha from Bewitched so much. My mother had this flowing black coat that made me think of Samantha’s coat. I borrowed the coat, and a blonde wig (not that I wasn’t blonde already, but my hair didn’t look like Sam’s). I think I wore a pair of my mother’s shoes (they were too big, naturally). That was my costume, LOL. I imagine I looked seriously odd, but I was happy.

What was your best costume ever? Will you be dressing up for Halloween today? What was your favorite Halloween candy? I loved candy corn, though I can’t stand the stuff now.

I read a lot of books I love, and I don’t usually talk about them because there are review blogs that do a much better job than I can. But last night I started a book I could NOT put down. Marjorie M. Liu’s Tiger Eye. It’s the first book in her Dirk & Steele series. I’d been hearing about this series for a long time, and I finally decided to give it a try. OMG. Could. Not. Stop. Reading.

I didn’t finish. Alas, sleep became a necessity, but tonight — must finish. This book is different than anything I’ve read lately. Not a vampire in sight! And this was a debut novel back in 2005. Holy sheesh, the woman’s power with words! I saw her at RWA in San Francisco a few times, but I hadn’t yet read any of her work. Good thing, because I might have stammered in awe.

What gives this book the page turning quality? The words, yes. But also the style. There’s a question on every page that you want the answer to, often quite desperately. (This wouldn’t work if you didn’t care about the characters.) That’s what I hope to do with my writing. To make the reader care and to ask questions to which she simply must know the answers. It’s a continual learning process, but I do hope I’ve succeeded.

Have you read any really fabulous books lately that knocked your socks off? Or do you have a favorite author who always delivers? (I have those too, but I love branching out. I also have Kresley Cole on the TBR pile. I’ve never tried her, so I look forward to it.) What’s the best book you’ve read lately? The most unusual book?

I discovered Twitter recently. It’s a site where you write these short little blurbs about what you’re doing. And you follow other people doing the same. They follow you. You communicate. It’s cool because you aren’t necessarily communicating directly with anyone. I am, of course, following other writers, some publishers, a few reviewers. Some people are more prolific than others, that’s for sure.

eHarlequin uses Twitter to update what’s going on — I like this because I know when there’s a blog I need to read. They also announced my Call on Twitter, and my guest blogs. Totally cool.

The posts are short, no more than 140 characters, and easy to do in the course of your day. A post is called a “tweet.” The setup is easy, and it’s easy to get going. Finding people is more difficult, or was for me anyway, because I refused to let Twitter access my email for addresses. Still, I’ve managed to find plenty of people, and they’ve found me.

If you decide to give Twitter a try, look for me. My user name is LynnRayeHarris. Follow me, and I’ll follow you. So far, it’s interesting. I don’t spend much time at it; I think the nature of the short tweets helps keep it manageable.

Do you use Twitter? Do you think all these networking sites are a waste of time? Did I mention you can send Tweets using your phone? And that an American graduate student Twittered his way out of a Middle Eastern jail this past spring? What’s next, hmm?

Congratulations again to Tami Brothers! She won the $25 Gift Card and will soon be shopping for books! Stay tuned for other giveaways in the future…..

Tami Brothers is the winner of my $25 B&N Gift Card giveaway!! Yay, Tami! Thanks to everyone who participated, and to my hubby who did the random blind pick for a winner.

The MNF party was a success, and I was up too late (yes, watching football) and cleaning up. Therefore, no brilliant post at the moment.

Besides, you probably want to know who wins the B&N Gift Card. I’ll announce that sometime today. In the meantime, you still have time to sign up (see Yahoo Group in the sidebar). Last chance!

As expected, my plan to talk about Twitter just sort of evaporated. Events of the weekend overtook me. Namely, my hubby’s obsession with the World Series. May I just say I do not care? Oh, I do actually enjoy it a teeny bit when it’s the LAST game. But this was game three. Not pivotal so far as I’m concerned.

And yet the man had to watch it. The game was rain delayed, which meant it started late. And then it finished really late. Probably 1 AM Central. I don’t know because I went to bed. Hubby stayed up for the whole thing. (Though tonight he decided to go play on the computer instead of finishing Game 4 — odd, hmm?)

I have to admit, however, that I do find an almost 46 yr old pitcher too cool for words. Jamie Moyer of the Philadelphia Phillies. This is his first World Series, which I find fascinating given his record with the Majors, and he’s a lefty. THAT’S what interests me about baseball. Human drama.

That’s probably why I love baseball movies but don’t much care for baseball itself. Baseball movies have so much drama, don’t they? Bull Durham is my favorite, probably followed by The Rookie. I also love For the Love of the Game and The Natural. A League of Their Own is pretty cool too. I am not so much a Field of Dreams fan, however.

Is it just me, or is this World Series stuff mostly a Mars thing? Because, aside from Jamie Moyer, I just don’t get it. I’d rather watch paint dry. I’d rather watch paint dry than watch most sports, come to think of it. I get excited when the stakes are HIGH. Last year’s Superbowl? Too cool. Loved it. I suppose, knowing me, if the Phillies get within true striking distance, I’ll get excited because I want the ancient (by sports standards) guy to win.

So, opinions about sports? About the World Series? Football? (Please take a moment to think of me tonight; Hubby is having a Monday Night Football party. I’m sure I’ll eat the food, say “rah rah” and disappear.)

Tomorrow is the drawing for the Gift Card!! Don’t forget to signup for my newsletter for a chance to win! (See sidebar.)

Today, I feel the need to unplug from the computer for a while. Oh, I do not kid myself this will be a total unplug from sun up to sun down. I know me.

But I’m feeling a bit too much like I’ve got too many plugs draining power, you know? And I need to write this book.

So I’m going to make a very concerted effort to be somewhere else with my Alphie, or the laptop in a place where I have to pay for Internet (and therefore won’t). Once I reach my goal, I’ll be back to see what y’all have been up to!

Do you ever feel the need to unplug? Are you successful at it, or do you still manage to let the energy be drained away as you try to keep too many things going at once?

Monday: The beauties of Twitter. Unless I change my mind.

Today’s post is over at We Write Romance. Come on over and tell me what you think about Beauty and the Beast!

Sometimes, you just gotta look back. I know that you, my dear readers and friends, may be getting tired of my reflections, but I can’t help myself. I have lots of email loops, and I’ve been steadily announcing my sale on them. And then I see things like this:

My sale on the Golden Network news page.
Southern Magic’s scrolling Congratulations banner on the home page.
My NAME in the sidebar on the I Heart Presents site as an author!!
My name on the PAN authors section of the Heart of Dixie!
And I’m attending the Southern Magic luncheon in a little over a week as an author.

It just keeps going, and it’s so exciting. There are new loops to join, new webpages to be a part of, and I’m excited about it. So where do the reflections come in?

Well, one of the comments that keeps popping up from people is “What a year you’ve had!” And I stop and think, “Yeah, I guess I have.” Because for me it seems longer, like I’ve been working for it for a long time. (I have, and the writers know this, though it’s still been an incredible year.)

So where was I one year ago at this time? I was a PRO member with NO submissions out. I was trying to finish my mss for the Golden Heart, and the Presents contest wasn’t even on my radar yet. I was like so many of you, slogging along and working hard and hoping to get somewhere soon. I remember that my husband said something to me about selling in 2008 — and I said no, it wouldn’t happen that fast because I didn’t even have a submission out. I had to submit, and then wait forever, and then maybe sell. It might happen in 2009, I said. If I was lucky.

If someone had told me I’d have sold a book a year later, and that it would be in a line I wasn’t currently writing, I’d have scoffed. But there is a lesson here.

Be open to possibilities, believe in yourself, have realistic expectations, and don’t stop trying. Because you never know where the path will open up and when your year will become amazing.

Tomorrow, I’m blogging at We Write Romance. I’ll remind you to stop by.

What are your goals for 2009? Are you entering the Golden Heart? Or is it one of your goals to enter next year? If you aren’t a writer, what goal do you have for the coming year?