Lynn Raye Harris

Sometimes, when we are still unpublished, we think that if only we could get The Call, everything would be easier. We’d have an editor and our books would be on the shelves. And, yes, while this is true and it is a most wonderful thing, there is still work to be done. The kind of work that when you get it as an unpublished writer, you are discouraged and think you’ll never get there.

But I have to tell you that part of your life as a published author is rewriting. Successfully, regularly, and when asked. I have recently done a lot of rewriting. And right now, I’m rewriting the novella that’s due in two weeks. Why? Because my editor wanted my internal conflicts to be better. I thought they were pretty good in the 25 pages I sent to her, but she was right as always and they could be better.

So I chucked those 25 pages and started again. Now, I have only days until it’s due and a lot of pages still to write. Which means I will be scarce, but I’ll check in and report on my progress when I can.

Remember, if you’ve recently gotten a rejection with a suggestion for massive rewrites, don’t be discouraged. Published writers have to do it too. And so will you, so get used to it now and get busy.

(And can you believe that tomorrow is December already? OMG!)

I turned in my revisions last night at about midnight. Since my editor is in the UK, that means they’d be sitting in her inbox when she arrived in the morning. What a relief to get them gone! The work isn’t done until she tells me it is, so no getting my hopes up that the book is finished yet. There may be some more work to do.

In the meantime, I have a sheikh novella to write! My lovely editor called me this morning to talk about him. I suspected there would be work to do there, and of course I was right. The novella is a new format for me, so it’s also a learning experience to try and pack all the power and emotional punch of a Presents into 25k. That story is due in about 3 weeks now, so guess who will be busy and scarce once more?

But I’m excited about the holiday this week! What American doesn’t love Thanksgiving? A day dedicated to eating and spent with family? Can’t wait. We’re going to my mother’s house, and one of my brothers will be there with his family too. I’m making my famous Cajun stuffing, and I believe I’m in charge of cranberry sauce too. Tomorrow, my mother and I are going shopping together for many of the fixins (a Southern word, for my international readers, that means ingredients).

Of course I’m going to have to find a way to write during all this festivity. And I will. I’ll write early, write late, and write whenever there’s a free moment.

I’m still looking for my winner last week! Cynthia Gander, where are you? Email me for your book!

And, speaking of books, Cavelli’s Lost Heir is officially out in the UK now! If you live in the UK, and you happen to see my book on the shelves, could you snap a pic? Email to me at lynn AT lynnrayeharris DOT com, and I’ll send you a couple of my lovely bookmarks!

Hey, y’all! Sorry to be absent lately, but I’m working hard on revisions and I also have a novella to finish. Add in the upcoming holiday rush, a new book release (Dec in the UK and India, Jan in the US and Australia), and I just don’t know where the time goes! All I know is it seems as if I have a lot going on lately.

But, why don’t we liven things up a bit around here? It’s time to give away a signed copy of Cavelli’s Lost Heir! Leave me a comment for a chance to win. And tell me what you’re doing to get ready for the holidays!

UPDATE: The winner is Cynthia! See the comments below for details!

1. So I finished the revisions, sent them off around 2AM, and collapsed in bed. Except sleep wouldn’t come. Sometime after 4, I fell asleep.

2. Got up to have lunch with a friend (though it was really breakfast for me). Spicy beef salad, yum.

3. Came home to answer Interview questions sent by my editor for UK M&B magazine.

4. Hope I don’t sound like an idiot since I’m a bit sleep deprived.

5. Uh, one of these questions is suspiciously like having to write a synopsis. I’ll do it anyway.

6. Proposal needs to be finished. What is the hero’s deep, driving problem? I don’t know yet!

7. Lunch with writer friends is fun. Especially when we get into a discussion about the words we can use to describe certain, ahem, things.

8. I hate euphemism after a while.

9. Looking forward to the weekend. Mother cooking dinner for us. This is always nice.

10. Soon, it’ll be time for yard work again. I don’t look forward to that. *sigh*

11. I LOVE my job. Even if I’m sleep deprived from time to time.

What’s on your mind?

As I write this book, I’m always working on scenes that might not feel quite right and I’m always rewriting them. I rewrite the book as I go these days; I tried the fast draft before, and then the revision, but that’s hard.

Heck, it was damn hard to rewrite half a book at my editor’s direction twice, especially when I thought it was fine both times. But writing is rewriting, so there you are. As much as we might like to turn the book in and say it’s done, perfect, send it to print, the reality is there will probably be changes.

You have to be prepared to make them. But, at the same time, don’t get so bogged down in rewriting scenes that you don’t move forward. Because if you don’t finish the book, you can’t sell the book and you can’t have a career as a published author.

Simple advice, but my brain is completely drained from the marathon writing sessions I’ve been putting in. Oh, and today it’s official: one month to deadline. What are you up to?

I believe today’s post will be appearing at I Heart Presents. I’m talking about revisions and working with an editor. Stop by and ask me a question!

UPDATE: As of 8AM central, it wasn’t there yet. Keep checking. If not today, then hopefully tomorrow. But Amy told me today….

UPDATE AGAIN: It’s there! Click on over…

Do you get a lot of it? Because I don’t seem to lately. I go to bed at a reasonable hour (sort of) and then I lay awake thinking about what I need to do, what I want to do, and what is going to happen. Not a lot of fun to be tired and have your mind race.

When morning rolls around, the hubby gets up for work. And I can’t help but get up with him. Right now, his parents are visiting. And there’s a whole relationship with coffee that I thought I understood but apparently don’t. I love my coffee in the morning, don’t get me wrong.

But my FIL is SO worried about it, like I’m going to oversleep and he will have to sit there without it for hours on end, that I make sure I get up and put a pot on. I just can’t listen to the endless questions every night — “Will you make coffee in the morning?” or “Is there going to be coffee in the morning?” or “Are you making coffee?”

As IF.

So, even if I haven’t slept well, I have to get up and make the coffee. Add in the stress of revisions, submissions, and waiting for news and you have an insomniac writer. Guess I could work on the next book idea…..

Do you have trouble sleeping? What do you do for it? Do you have a crazy FIL who obsesses about coffee? Let’s talk. Just wake me up if I’m dozing….

“One should never criticize his own work except in a fresh and hopeful mood. The self-criticism of a tired mind is suicide.”
Charles Horton Cooley

So that’s pretty much my frame of mind right now. You? What are some of your favorite writerly quotes?

Here’s another one I like:

“I have rewritten–often several times–every word I have ever written. My pencils outlast their erasers.”
Vladimir Nabokov

That one’s been on my mind a LOT lately. I read a quote over on Jane Porter’s blog the other day that sort of says the same thing. It’s so good, and I agree so much, that I’m copying it for you here:

Getting a new book going is hard for me. I have all these ideas but putting the actual words down on paper is like wringing water from a virtually dry dishtowel. Just not a lot there. Maybe there’s never been a lot there. Books, I realize, are written word by word over long periods of time. Even on my good days, when words rush out in paragraphs, I’ll probably have to edit those down by slicing pages at a time.

Wringing water from a virtually dry dishtowel. Oh man, do I know that feeling! Sometimes it’s exactly like that. Other times, you type so fast but your hands can’t really keep up with everything coming from your head. I’ve had both and everything in between.

And yet, as I told my writer friend on the phone this afternoon, I can’t imagine doing anything else. No matter how tired I am, no matter how many nights I stay awake until 6AM the next morning writing like a fiend, I am SO happy. And so lucky. She agreed. Pretty much your worst day writing beats your best day doing anything else. Yeah.

Today, I’m going to lunch with my friend and just chilling. It’s a good feeling. What are you up to today? Writing plans? Other plans? If you’re a reader, what have you read lately that just knocked your socks off?

Yeah, so I’m writing. Lots’o drama. Hopefully not melodrama…..

Thanks for visiting me! Sorry I don’t have much to say at the moment. I’ll be back soon!

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?