Lynn Raye Harris

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As unpublished or uncontracted writers, revision letters aren’t a part of daily life.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?

more cat pictures

So I’m working on revisions again. *sigh* Thank GOD for the Presents and Modern Heat authors at conference who told me this is normal and not to feel like a big dummy! The encouragement I found in those ladies has really made a difference in my confidence this time around.

But that’s not the diversion. The diversion is my very first newspaper interview. Today, a reporter and photographer came to my house. I was terrified — until I met them. The interview took two hours, and we laughed and talked and had a good time. I have every confidence this interview will put a positive face on romance writing. I don’t know when it will be available but as soon as it is, I will post the link.

It’s interesting to talk about novel writing with people who don’t write novels. And yet, the reporter is a writer because she’s a journalist. A different type of writing, but still writing. So we were able to understand one another very well. For instance, we both cringe when someone reads our work while we’re in the same room. Don’t know why, but I’d rather be in another room if you want to read my story. I guess I don’t want to see puzzlement on your face. Or worse, disappointment. She felt the same way about her stories. I found that comforting.

The photographer had a trunk full of equipment he brought inside and set up, complete with this huge umbrella thing that helped with lighting. I felt like a movie star! Thankfully, I’d changed out of the writer’s uniform of pajamas and into something more attractive. I even took a shower and put on makeup. Definitely not the way I usually write. In fact, she asked me what my routine was. Here it is: wake up around 6:30, kiss husband goodbye around 7:15, pour coffee, go to office and write. In pajamas. With hair scraped back in a bun. Shower around 2 or so — sooner if stuck in a scene. I always shower so the hubby doesn’t think I sat around all day in my pajamas — even though I do. I figure if the man goes to work and lets me stay home and indulge myself this way, the least I can do is appear presentable when he gets home.

Unless I’m on deadline and then all bets are off.

If you’ve ever been interviewed, how did it go? Were you scared? Did you think of something later that you should have said? So far, I haven’t, but who knows how I’ll feel tomorrow.

Determination and caffeine got me through this round of revisions. Oh, and a hubby who didn’t mind going to get the takeout every night this week. And who actually did a load of laundry last night. And now, since in another hour I will have been awake 24 straight, I think I better go to bed. I’m too old for all-nighters….

more cat

Still revising, y’all. Someone throw me a rope before I drown…..

Hope to be back Wednesday or Thursday.

Once again, THE SPANISH MAGNATE’S REVENGE is going under the knife. My lovely editor has suggestions for me, which you know for a fact I’m going to try my darndest to incorporate. Of course I would have loved a phone call that said, “Perfect, wonderful, fabulous — here’s a gazillion dollars!” Ha, it’s called a delusion — I mean fantasy — for a reason.

No, there are things that need fixing. And I mean to fix them. So, I’ll likely be scarce for the next few days. Between this, conference prep, and my silly cat who needs constant nursing and attention, I’m booked solid.

What’s up with you?

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….

You know that saying that inspiration is 90% perspiration? (Hope I’m not mixing my sayings up!) Well, I sure do know something about that right now. Two books in the works. One is a revision for a full request. After I chopped out 72 pages, I darn near cried. Then I set to work rewriting them. Now, the end is in sight. HOT PURSUIT is almost done with the 3rd rewrite. I will not rewrite this book again without direction. I finally feel at peace with it. If an IP tells me I need to do something to it, I will. But the revisions for me are over. Well, almost over — have to finish first.

Secondly, I’m working on my Harlequin Presents. I love these characters!! They are so much fun in a delicious, angsty way. Who knew that I’d find such a natural fit (or so it seems to me as I write) in Presents stories!? I thank Harlequin Mills & Boon daily for having the Instant Seduction contest. Without that incentive, I’d still be talking about how I was going to write a Presents someday. You just never know where you’ll find yourself, where your voice will want to go. Don’t ignore that voice when it speaks to you, that tingly feeling you get when you just *know* something is right. It’s there for a reason.

This weekend is the 11th Annual Heart of Dixie Readers’ Luncheon in Huntsville, Alabama. I’ll be there, hanging with my chapter mates and other visiting authors, having fun and meeting new people. I believe we’re partying Friday night for a certain chapter mate who just sold to Mills & Boon. Woo hoo!

Next Wednesday, I’m guest blogging over at The Last Word, a blog by my fellow Golden G8r, C.J. Redwine. And throughout it all, I’m writing. Because writers write. Right?

Any moments of perspiration to share? Triumphs at the keyboard? Favorite inspirational sayings?

Wow, has it really been a week since I posted? The days flew by. I had several things going on in Chez Harris, plus I have to write about that sexy Spanish magnate. Which I have been doing!

The story is coming along quite nicely thus far. It’s fun to write about a strong emotional conflict without a gun or dead body in sight. But I still need to finish the revisions on HOT PURSUIT. *sigh* There aren’t enough hours in the day sometimes!

Is it really only 3 months until National? My SF diet is not going so well. Must get busy on that. I’ve been using my treadmill, but it’d help if I could cut out the Chinese takeout. And the pizza and wings. I blame the hubby for those.

But I have no choice. The dress is bought, the matching purse is found, and I MUST appear with them on RITA/GH night. So, in between writing about sexy Spaniards and sizzling Spec Ops guys, I need to lose fifteen pounds. Piece of cake, right?

How’s your week going? Accomplishing any of the goals you set for yourself? Lost any pounds? Done any conference clothes shopping yet? Wrote anything new?

*Not really, but I’m blonde and I’m multi-tasking this week.

I saw a quote recently that really made me stop and think. It was in a magazine, but I can’t remember who said it.

Perfectionists always lose.

Yikes! But so true, because a perfectionist is never satisfied. And if you’re never satisfied, you never let go of the work. I know this from experience. I am cursed with the perfectionist gene, though it’s selective (for instance, I’m not obsessive about having a perfect house — well, I kind of am, but I know I have to give up and invite people over or I never will because things aren’t perfect — hence my party this Friday that I’m trying not to obsess over).

And I’ve also had to learn to stop trying to perfect the writing, to send the darn thing out and see what happens. I do this remarkably well when deadlines are attached. But let me have all the time in the world to “fix” my work, and I’ll keep fiddling with it. There’s always a better way to say something, always a better idea.

But you have to learn to let go.

Are you a perfectionist? Do you have trouble letting the work out of your sight? What tricks do you use to stop yourself from fiddling? If you aren’t a perfectionist, how do you know when the work is ready? What is your benchmark for determining it?