Lynn Raye Harris

A recent incident shocked me enough to realize that I need to remind any aspiring authors reading this to make SURE you vet the information you’re getting before launching into a plan of action for conferences and/or submissions. Sometimes we accept the advice of well-meaning but misinformed people without knowing they are misinformed. It always pays to check for yourself.

While you’d think it wouldn’t need to be said, here are some things you do NOT want to do:

1. Do NOT stalk editors and/or agents. Planning your time so you can “bump” into someone, and then refusing to go away, is not the correct course of action. Of course you need to be prepared, because there will be those elevator meetings sometimes, but don’t haunt the restroom door in the hopes of running into someone. Or the buffet line.

2. Do NOT misspell names on your query. Names are kind of unforgivable since you should be able to check and double check the correct spelling — especially if you’ve gotten a business card from the individual. I once got a letter from a utility company that referred to me as Mrs. Barris. Jarring. And if you want to compare yourself to another author, use caution — don’t say J.R. Rawling when you mean J.K. Rowling.

(Seriously, this should be obvious, but you’d be surprised.)

3. Do NOT take as gospel every word said by the woman sitting next to you at your RWA chapter meeting — even if she does seem to know a lot. If you’re a PRO member, download those PRO booklets and read, read, read. Then ask questions of published authors (or experienced PROs) you TRUST to give you good advice. Check and double check, because if someone tells you to stand outside the restroom door or linger in the buffet line looking for a publishing professional, it’s probably not the best advice.

(I did once listen to something someone told me when I was very green, even though my gut told me otherwise. The result was a rejection, of course. This was a long time ago, and believe me I learned.)

4. Do NOT send the same query for the same book to the same agent who just rejected it. Rework the query or submit somewhere else. Wish I could find the link, but I read a post last week about someone who kept submitting a query for an adult novel (not that kind of adult!) to a children’s book agent. She finally got frustrated and wrote back telling him to stop because she didn’t represent that type of book, which she had politely tried to tell him over the last several months. His reply? That she was an agent and therefore he would keep querying her because it was his job to query agents about his book. Talk about clueless! And, oh yeah, agents know each other. You can bet his name is now making a viral loop through Agentland as we speak. And not in a positive way.

5. Do NOT think you know it all. I’ve met these people and it’s frustrating as heck. I know I don’t know everything, but I’m pretty sure this stuff I just said is true. But you be sure and double check it before listening to me, you hear?

What kind of crazy advice have you ever gotten? Good advice? What sort of horrible hi-jinks have you seen at conferences? We’ve all heard the manuscript under the door story, but have you ever seen its equivalent? Thankfully, I haven’t, but I know at least one person who I think would do it. Sadly, some people don’t listen.

From Publisher’s Lunch:

And yet I still want a Kindle. But, yes, I’m not an ebook connoisseur at all. I don’t like reading on my computer. I have to read my drafts that way, and friends’ drafts that way, so I don’t want to read a book for leisure. The Kindle, OTOH, I thought might help me branch into ebooks a bit. Hmm, still very interesting that this technology isn’t spreading the way people once declared it would. As I saw on a Tweet from Stephen Fry recently, (paraphrasing) Kindles and ebooks won’t replace real books any more than elevators replaced stairs. It’s simply another tool to use, that’s all.

What are your thoughts?

I can’t think of a single thing to post today. I’ve not been doing much, just reading for friends, thinking about where my story is going, cleaning out the refrigerator, grocery shopping — you know, mundane stuff. I think I need to be going 90 miles a minute to have any focus, you know? Isn’t that weird?

But I think it’s true. I always do my best work under the metaphorical gun. Give me pressure, and I’m off to the races. Tell me I have all the time in the world, and I’m lollygagging along on a pleasure cruise. I need deadlines and structure to succeed. I think many of us do.

So, yeah, I have some tasks that need done, but I also need to set myself a deadline while I wait for my editor to tell me if my latest proposal would be better served as firestarter. Best to work forward steadily and maybe get more accomplished than all this thumb twiddling is doing.

But, good news, my chapter meeting is the weekend! That always motivates me.

What motivates you? Do you need pressure? Or do you accomplish just as much when you have a lot of leisure time?

So did you watch Castle last night? It’s about a best-selling bad boy mystery writer who ends up partnering with a female detective to solve a case. Someone is murdering people based on his books, so this is how he gets involved. And when they solve that case, he gets himself a position accompanying the detective for research purposes because he killed off his fictional detective and she’s the inspiration for a new one (so the series can continue, of course). (If you missed the episode and want to watch, you can do so for free here.)

Frankly, though it was over the top, I liked it. And I think it has potential. But what’s totally hilarious to me, and to all the writers I know, is the portrayal of the writing life. Nathan Fillion, aka Richard Castle, is a bad boy rock star kind of writer. He’s got book launch parties in swanky places, lots of money, a pen with which he signs bimbos’ chests (do they really read?), and a bad attitude about his fame. He’s friends with the mayor, and he sits around playing cards with Stephen J. Cannell and James Patterson. (And someone said the woman at the table was Faye Kellerman.)

He’s so well connected he can get anything done, even leapfrog the slow and frustrating process of getting CSI results from the lab. Which of course pisses off the detective. He has money to burn and enough self-love to make him charming in spite of himself. (And, we suspect, a core of misery.) Somehow, in between all this partying and fun, he’s managed to write a whole lot of bestselling mysteries that are known for their attention to detail. Even the medical examiner is a fan.

But what I really love is the writing = glamour aspect. The portrayal of Castle’s life just reinforces what the public already believes about writers. Rich, connected, got it made. I ROFL, of course, because I am none of these things. People at my husband’s work actually thought he was going to retire now that I’ve sold a book. Excuse me while I roll around on the floor in hysterics.

MOST writers don’t live this charming, exotic life. We are ordinary people with ordinary incomes. Being a published writer doesn’t make you rich. It makes you like everyone else out there, worrying about expenses and hoping to make enough to cover them. Or, in my case since I have a wonderfully supportive hubby with a good job, making enough to cover my writing expenses, save for our retirement, and take some lovely vacations.

Even if I had Castle’s money and connections, I doubt I’d want to do any of that stuff he does. I’d much rather be holed up in my office, working on my next book, than chasing criminals or attending ritzy parties.

Did you watch Castle? What did you think? Do you like shows about writers? My mom loves Murder She Wrote. Jessica seems to have a more ordinary life by contrast, and yet everyone the poor woman knows always gets killed. The shows are campy, but fun. Castle was a bit campy too, but I think it can get better. (My first choice, of course, would be to have Fillion back on the set of Firefly, but I don’t think that will ever happen now. Darn TV execs. They’ll probably cancel this one too, just as soon as people fall in love with it.)

I’m still feeling at loose ends, and in spite of the good advice to relax and fill the well, I find it difficult to do so. So is it any wonder I’m working on Chapter 4 even before I hear from my editor? *g*

In honor of the number four, I’m sharing four things with you.

1) A FABULOUS post from Presents author Penny Jordan on an article she read that validated many of her feelings about the stories she writes. And all I can say, having read the article and her post, is YES. This is exactly what I feel about my heroes and the stories I create (and it’s as true for the romantic suspense I was writing as it is for my Presents stories).

2) Agent Nathan Bransford had a wonderful post on Thursday about the Ten Commandments for a Happy Writer. I really loved this and wanted to share!

3) The Guess the Bookshelf contest is still going on! My shelves are there, so come on over and see if you can figure it out. There are prizes!

4) Presents author Trish Morey has a free read on eHarlequin! Come read The Italian Billionaire’s Bride.

I just finished the proposal for Book 3 and sent it to my agent. And now I’m at loose ends. Not entirely at loose ends, since I need to write the rest of the book, but loose enough for a couple of days while I think about what comes next. It’s an odd and happy feeling. Odd because I’ve been non-stop for awhile now. Happy because I have some time to breathe. I told the hubby last night that I could actually cook a real dinner for us now!

We’ve been having expedient things, like crock pot items, Lean Cuisines, and soup. I could make something — spaghetti and meatballs? Jambalaya? Meatloaf? The possibilities are endless.

I can also go to the store and buy groceries. I’ve been putting that off for a while. And then there are the dreaded taxes that still need to be done, and doctors appointments I need to make. There’s also that little matter of weight loss I was working on and got side-tracked with when I had to plant my butt in the chair day after day. It’s seriously time to get back onto the treadmill.

Oh, and television! I haven’t watched anything in forever, it seems. But I feel guilty, really, because I feel like I’m supposed to be working. And I know I will be again very soon, so I guess I should try and enjoy myself while I have a few moments.

Do you feel lost at the end of projects? When you finish a writing project, do you dive into the next one or take a break?

PS I’m participating in another eHarlequin guessing game! Guess the Bookshelf is going on right now! Pop over and see if you can figure out which bookshelves belongs to which author….(it’s kind of hard, I think!).

1. Synopsis writing. Seriously, it sucks.

2. Why? Because I don’t KNOW what happens yet, darn it!

3. Wrote a synopsis for new book. Hate it. Book will not even remotely resemble synopsis. I know this from two books written for an editor now. Thankfully, she didn’t freak out either time.

4. Writing a synopsis, even when I won’t follow it, crushes down on my enthusiasm for the story like Dorothy’s house on the wicked witch.

5. Must get over this and write story anyway.

6. Proposal nearly done, in spite of traumatic encounter with evil synopsisaurus.

Got any tricks for the synopsis? Any tricks for tricking yourself while writing it? Do you follow it once you’ve slaved over it? I used to try, but that only made things worse, so now I figure it’s kind of like Captain Barbossa and the pirate code — guidelines to be followed when convenient or expedient. Or to be tossed aside when something better comes along.

I got the news on Friday that my second book was accepted! CAVELLI’S LOST HEIR will be a Dec 09 release in the UK; US still to be determined. I’m so thrilled! The first book is the most special, of course, but to get past those sophomore fears and actually turn in something coherent and decent — and have my editor like it — is amazingly gratifying. I really thought I’d written the worst book ever when I sent that baby off. I’d been trying so hard and staring at it forever that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees anymore.

(Though part of me optimistically kept insisting that it was good. And, while writing it, I DID love it. It was after, when I thought that what I saw in my head and what I got on paper were two different things that I went a little nutty.)

Writers, this is a lesson. It really is true that you are often a poor judge of your work — or a harsh judge, perhaps. We are harder on ourselves than anyone else is. We’ll take praise, be happy over it, and brush it off while remembering every single word of a rejection or a contest judge’s negative comments. You simply must get past those and press on if you are to get anywhere in this business. (Remind me I said this when I get my first negative review.)

Now, I’m working on a proposal for Book 3, and hoping to get that done today or tomorrow and off to my agent. CAVELLI’S LOST HEIR had a princess as a secondary character who I just fell in love with. She is the heroine in the proposal, so hopefully I’ll get to tell her story. Naturally, she’s getting her very own prince — and he is delicious! Prince Nico Cavelli was a bad boy — but I think my new prince is even badder. I do love a bad boy, especially when he’s being reformed.

Do you like bad boys? Princes? What are your favorite kind of themes or plots when reading?

PS Soon, my new website should be launching! I’m so excited about it! Keep visiting me because I’ll start giving away goodies soon to celebrate. And thanks for sticking with me thus far.