Lynn Raye Harris

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?

Today’s post should be over at I Heart Presents. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter and be entered in the drawing for a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card!!!

(If the post isn’t there first thing, keep checking. It’s supposed to go live today.)

UPDATE: The IHP blog is behind due to server maintenance last week. Not sure when The Call story will go up now. But click over to read about one of the runners-up in the Feel the Heat contest!

UPDATE AGAIN: The Call blog is live!! Go check it out!

I’m working on a new book (because I HAVE to; no more writing when I want because I want) and the one thing that always stumps me is beginnings. I can imagine so many of them. And I often rewrite them two or three times (sometimes more, sometimes less). In SPANISH MAGNATE, RED-HOT REVENGE, the first chapter has changed from the winning entry that appeared on the IHP blog, but much is the same as that first set up.

But I can and have chucked entire opening scenes and redone them. I’m on the third incarnation of the latest book’s opening. This one will stick, but it’s a matter of getting those motivations clear and moving forward from there. I also have trouble with POV. Not with staying in it or making switches clear (noo, had that beat out of me years ago), but with choosing when to switch. Because switching reveals things about the other character. Do I want to reveal it just yet? Or do I want to hold on for a while and keep it a mystery?

Still, it’s fun to start a new story. The possibilities are so wide open as you head into the opening scene. I always start with conflict (it’d be boring otherwise) but I can think of so many settings for that conflict. You could start in a palace, a prison, on a yacht, in a cafe — so many choices. So long as there’s conflict. That is the one irreplaceable ingredient to your opening.

What kind of beginnings do you like? Dramatic? Action packed? Quieter, character-in-crisis moments? Sheikhs swooping in on horses to kidnap unsuspecting heroines? (Ahem, never mind, that was yesterday….)

I found this site last night and had to share: Sheikhs and Desert Love. This site specifically catalogues all romance novels featuring sheikhs, desert princes, etc.

Yes, yes, I know that the reality of the modern Middle East isn’t all that appealing, and that desert chieftains aren’t exactly Omar Sharif or Oded Fehr (pic) lookalikes in caftans. But I love sheikh romances. Always have since that first Harlequin Presents fix I got as a pre-teen. There are most certainly deeper mythological connotations to the dark desert prince/sheikh romances, and as an English major I could certainly go into boring and copious detail about the fantasy aspect–

But no, not happening. I just love these stories for the sheer exoticism of them, and I hope to write one of my own someday. I’ve read TE Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom twice — the reality of the desert is harsh, but the text is also romantic in its own way. Lawrence was certainly inspired by the life he found out there (and changed by it, no doubt).

So how do you feel about the sheikh romances? Total turn off? Or can you suspend disbelief enough to get lost in the world of camels, desert palaces, and golden dunes?

You can still sign up for my newsletter and enter yourself for a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card!

By signing up, you agree that you will receive emails from me on occasion. I promise not to share your address with anyone.

I’ll draw for a winner on Tuesday, October 28th. I’ll announce it on the blog and send you an email. You will have 48 hours to get in touch with me and give me your snail mail addy before I redraw.

Click to join lynnrayeharrisnews

What did I realize? I’m ineligible for the Golden Heart! Being a finalist last year was amazing, but now I’ll never have a chance to win. Ah well. I’ll cheer my friends instead!

SPANISH MAGNATE, RED-HOT REVENGE will be an August 09 release in the UK. The North American release is still to be determined. But I will let you know as soon as I do!

This is truly, truly a dream come true. I know I have a lot of lurkers, a lot of unpublished writers who, like me, are working hard and want the dream. Well, it can happen. You just have to keep writing and keep believing. It won’t always be easy. Some days you’ll need to back away from the computer and eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s (ice cream for my international readers who may not have this luscious brand of sin in their grocery freezers). You simply must believe in yourself. And that is not always an easy task.

Trust me, I know. You will second guess yourself. You will decide to quit. It’s okay, so long as you come back to it. I’ve quit. And I’ve come back, determined not to quit again.

Yes, I got the Call, but there is always another hill to climb. My published friends tell me so and I believe them. But I will not quit! And neither should you, wherever you are in the journey. You’re gonna write some awful stuff, probably. But don’t quit. And learn to grow your craft. If you do that, you’ll get there. Good luck, and I’ll let you know when the Call story appears at the IHP blog!

Thanks to everyone who stopped to congratulate me on my news about The Call!!!! I am so thrilled and still amazed that I got that magical phone call. It’s definitely a dream come true. I read Harlequin Presents novels behind my textbooks in school. I read them on my very first job as a receptionist at a real estate office (and earned the distinction of being “the reading-est thang”), and I read them in my bedroom at night. I subscribed to the Harlequin reader service where they sent you all the Presents every month, even though I was a teenager and money was tight. *g*

And now to think I am a Presents author! My book will be on those shelves someday next year, and it’s so incredible and awesome for me. Who knew? Entering the Presents contest was definitely the best choice I ever made for my writing!

So, this isn’t the Call Story, is it? Well, I’ve promised to write that up for the I Heart Presents blog and it will appear next week. So until then, I’ll just pop up from time to time and say how stunned I still am. It’s true; I am.

THE SPANISH MAGNATE’S REVENGE will now officially be a Harlequin Presents novel! I don’t have the full details yet, but I got the magical call this morning. I’ll post more about that tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who cheered me along the way. Keep working on your own stories, because you can get there too.

One of the lessons I’ve learned in my past few months working with an editor is this: if you have the character backgrounds pretty firmly fixed in your mind, you might save yourself some rewriting.

I’m getting ready to start a new book while I wait for the verdict on TSMR. I’ve done several things that aren’t like me. I’ve written a synopsis — I never do this, except when forced, and I know things will probably change as I go along anyway (it’s a good thing to be forced, actually, because it makes me think through issues I won’t otherwise). I’ve written the character backgrounds — this helps me know why they do some of the things they do. Who are they? Where do they come from? What are their issues? What do they want now?

These are important things to know. If I throw two characters into a situation without knowing who they really are and what made them that way, then how can I have a coherent story? Because they could do anything for the sake of plot if I don’t know them. It’s when you know what your characters would and wouldn’t do that you are ready to write their story.

I still consider this pantsing, btw. Plotting, to me, is mapping out everything from the first kiss to the first turning point, the black moment, the resolution, etc. And then not deviating from it, or deviating only slightly. I need more room than that because I grow bored otherwise.

But not so much room I rewrite the book three times. I’m determined to slice those rewrites in half at the minimum. So I’m writing backgrounds, forming a synopsis, and brainstorming 20 things that *could* happen during the course of the story (this is a trick I gleaned from a Jane Porter workshop). I already know the first scene, and I’m beginning that today. I may learn something new as I go along, and I may have to rewrite a scene or two. But I really, really hope I’m figuring out how to cut the rewrites down to size with all this pre-writing.

If you’re a panster, do you do any prewriting? If you’re a plotter, how much plotting do you really do before you begin? And do you ever deviate from what you’ve predetermined? How do you plot and not feel stifled by the roadmap you’re created?

I’ve wanted to see The Rookie for a long time — six years, in fact, since it came out in 2002. Dennis Quaid plays Jim Morris, the real life guy who tried out for major league baseball at the age of 35, long after he should have been through and long after he’d bombed out in baseball in his 20s due to injuries. But the guy threw a mean fastball as he got older; in fact, it was even better than when he was younger. And the high school baseball team he coached made a bet with him:

In 1999, Coach Morris made a fateful bet with his perpetually losing team. If they won the district championship, Morris — who threw a 98 mph fastball — would try out for the majors. The team went from worst to first, and Jim, living up to his end of the bargain, threw caution to the wind and was on the road to becoming the oldest rookie in the major leagues.

I love stories like this, because that’s what writing is about too. Not giving up. We don’t have to contend with aging bodies making our dreams physically impossible. We have only to contend with the doubt demons in our heads, the rotten contest scores, the rejections from our dream agent, or the editor who loved our concept but hated the execution. It’s tough and it can be brutal.

But you have to keep trying. That’s why I love movies like this. Because they remind me that someone had a dream and suffered to make it happen. That someone took all the hard knocks and managed to make it anyway.

What are your favorite inspirational movies? Do you like baseball movies? I don’t care for the actual sport, but I love baseball movies. (Bull Durham is my all time FAVORITE baseball movie — Kevin Costner and the “long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last for three days” speech — how can you go wrong?)