Lynn Raye Harris

Inevitably, unpublished writers obsess about page counts, word counts, and format. It’s hard to understand how your masterpiece in progress stands up, length-wise, to your favorite stories if you don’t know how format is done. I think this post by Jessica Faust over at Bookends will help.

Basically, don’t obsess. I write in TNR 12, though I’ve tried 14 and I’ve tried Courier 12. When I want to know how many words I have page-count-wise, I put the whole thing in Courier 12 and do the 250 words per page thing for an estimate. Inevitably, this differs from the actual computer count.

For an explanation why, go see the blog post. It might help. Or it might simply confuse the issue further. Just make it readable, and understand whether the publisher you are targeting wants computer count or page count. But don’t sweat the small stuff, really. Story is key. Not margins, and not font.

So have you encountered the format nazi? The one who tells you your pages MUST be in Courier 12, or else? I think I was that person once. *sigh* It’s what I was told. But, OTOH, I did encounter people writing in TNR 12 and estimating total word count by 250 words per page. Obviously, their count would have been quite a bit short….

What’s your writing routine? Do you write early or late? Most creative between the hours of 10 & 2, but only if you’ve had a cup of coffee, a candy bar, and got out of bed on the left side instead of the right?

I’m on a deadline. Or a couple of deadlines, to be truthful. Self-imposed, certainly. And I have been hitting the keyboard regularly, staying for hours, writing more than I ever thought I could do in one day — and yet, there are still a few things I end up doing that I can’t seem to stop.

I get up around 7 usually, make coffee and come upstairs to my office. I check email. I read and comment on blogs. When Idol is going on, I check the Idol recaps. And then that thing known as procrastination sets in. My document is open, waiting for me on another screen. All I have to do is click over, read a few paragraphs, and start work.

But I keep finding things to do. I don’t want to click over. I don’t want to work. I can waste an hour (after the hour of email and blogs) avoiding work. Why?

Darn if I know, but it happens all the time. Once I get brave enough to face my manuscript, I’m off to the races. But it’s the getting brave part I have trouble with. This seems to be a nearly non-negotiable part of my routine. I can force myself to click over. But then I stare. And stare. The brain won’t function.

I think, maybe, I need that distraction of other stuff while my mind readies itself. Even when I start work, I’ll often click back to the Internet side when I finish a scene. I’m thinking about how to start the next scene. Sometimes, a hot shower is in order. Sometimes, like yesterday, I’ll vacuum or start laundry (no choice — inlaws arrived last night).

It sounds an awful lot like making excuses, doesn’t it? But it seems to work for me. Yeah, there was a time when I kept up the blog-hopping and surfing all day because I was S-T-U-C-K. I can’t do that anymore. People are waiting on me to get stuff to them. And I will not fail because I couldn’t face myself if I did. I certainly couldn’t face my hubby.

Unfortunately, I think a certain amount of time-wasting is part of my process. I just need an hour or so to play before I work, I guess. What about you? Do you waste time? Or are you a machine who works set hours and never deviates?

Today’s post is here. Come read about finding your voice, and give me a shout!

OMG, it was so fun! This was my first Heart of Dixie luncheon, though it was actually the 11th annual occurrence of it. Our guest speaker was the fabulous and dynamic (and truly one of my favorite authors) Roxanne St. Claire. Not only is she gorgeous, but she’s nice, funny, and just a great person to be around. After two dinners, two parties, and lots of chatting with Rocki, I know she’s the kind of person I really admire and enjoy hanging out with.

But she wasn’t the only fabulous person at the HOD luncheon! In fact, I couldn’t name them all without having a post a mile long, but I sat with the amazing Debra Webb during lunch. Deb’s table was full of readers and we had a great time talking about romance. I learned so much from these ladies this weekend, and came away inspired to write my tail off (oh, if only it were that easy — talk about killing two birds with one stone!).

The one funny thing that happened to me this weekend, however, was on Friday when I hauled my luggage up to the 9th floor and to the opposite end of the hotel from the elevators to join my roomies. I knocked. No one answered. I knocked again. The girl next door (and I do mean girl) answered her door. I called one of my roomies (who, it turns out, left her phone in her car). I didn’t have everyone’s cell numbers, so I called the only other person whose number I had — she was at the restaurant with Rocki, waiting for the rest of us to arrive. Somehow, I managed to make it to the room of yet another person I knew (on the 4th floor) who hadn’t left yet and who let me stow my luggage. Whew! Then it was off to dinner, and back for the party.

I didn’t get home until midnight Saturday. Yes, midnight. And then I couldn’t sleep right away, so had to check email and flip through a magazine. At 1:30, I woke up my sick and therefore grouchy husband for his NyQuil dose, then went to bed and ended up sleeping until 9:30 Sunday. Ahhhh.

How was your weekend? Any writing inspiration? Any fun or embarrassing hotel stories in your past? (At least I didn’t get locked out in my underwear…)

I am an introvert, as many writers tend to be (not all, it’s true), though I’m pretty good at putting on the public face and socializing. I’m not shy, I don’t get tongue-tied (much), and I can meet and greet like a professional. Not sure where I acquired these abilities, though I think it comes from being married to an extrovert and watching him in action. It’s also a function of age — realizing that it doesn’t matter what someone thinks, I’m me and that’s that.

But, I always DREAD the start of these socializing events. Today is the start of a busy two days for me. The Heart of Dixie Readers’ Luncheon is tomorrow. Today, there are preparations to make — bags to be stuffed, dinners to attend, and a party for a friend who sold to Mills & Boon a couple of weeks ago.

And yet, I always always dread it, even when I want to see everyone and have fun. (I feel this way about conference too, even when this year I have a lot to look forward to.) I hate the preparation — the thinking, planning, packing (it’s one overnight in a hotel 15 miles from home and yet I stress), the schlepping, getting situated, etc. I know I’ll have fun when it starts, but it’s the getting to the start I hate.

Some people are naturals at this kind of thing. I am not. At conference last year in Dallas, I got so overwhelmed at one point I went back to the room and was grateful my wonderful roomies were still out. I sat, drinking wine by myself (uh-oh, look out Hemingway), and tapped out the beginning of a new story on my AlphaSmart. I seriously needed that decompression time. If I could afford it, I’d spend the entire conference in a room to myself. But at $225 a night, that ain’t happening.

OTOH, like I say, once I get there this afternoon and start chatting and celebrating and talking writing with people who GET IT because they are writers too, I’ll be as happy as a pig in mud. If I could just figure out how to stop the stressing stuff beforehand, I’d be all set.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Have trouble with socializing? Any tricks you use to prepare yourself? I don’t have any, but like I say, once I get started, I’m fine. It’s the getting there and getting into that frame of mind — and for longer events, like Nationals, some alone time.

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?

The Golden Heart finalists’ pictures can be viewed with their book titles now! I think it’s wonderful to put a face with a manuscript. Click over and see the Golden G8rs. And, if you’re interested in some feedback, click over to Brenda Novak’s auction and bid on a critique from 5 Golden Heart finalists in each of three categories. Five finalists will critique your 55 page mss/synop combo (just like you’d enter in the GH) — but unlike the contest, we’ll give you feedback along with the score we’d have given you in the contest! The proceeds go to a good cause.

I occasionally look at my horoscope because it can be fun. This one blew me away. How did he know?

My songwriter friend Darius has created some fine music, but he periodically goes through phases when everything he produces sounds contrived. It’s not writer’s block he suffers from. During his bouts with bad composing, he’s often teeming with ideas. The problem is that he gets caught up in a vortex of too much thinking. He can’t stop his mind from tinkering endlessly with every raw impulse that wells up. Recently he joined the Immersion Composition Society, an organization that helps “talented basket cases” and “tortured geniuses” cut through their tendency to over-analyze and thereby reconnect to their pure inspiration. One technique: Musicians agree to take on firm deadlines that compel them to create songs wicked fast. I hope you find the equivalent assistance for your own field of expression, Virgo. The time is ripe for you to dissect less and build more. [emphasis mine]

Dissect less and build more. OMG. This is so me. I get caught up in a whirlwind of ideas and can’t seem to distill them. And then I practice avoidance while I figure it out. But, apparently I need to give in and write in a flurry — I can always fix the bad stuff, but at least I’ll get a true narrative unencumbered by too much thinking.

If you like this kind of thing, check out this site.

Have you ever gotten a horoscope (or another prescient piece of advice) that was so right on the money you were amazed and grateful for it? Please share!

My posts are erratic this week because I’m chained to the desk! Much writing to do, much going on. Oh, and if you’re checking in from the I Heart Presents site, you’ll be pleased to know that my friend who I went to dinner with in my call story has sold her book to Modern Heat!! (Her celebration was yesterday, and I never got around to posting here about it–sigh.) So just because you didn’t win the contest, or weren’t a runner up, doesn’t mean you won’t sell to HM&B! So take heart and keep writing! Yay, Kimberly!!!!

What are you working on this week? What’s your good news? Please share — I’ll check back from time to time!

One of the fun things about being a writer is that you never know where you’ll find inspiration. Saturday, I was so looking forward to my historic homes tour because, though I love old houses, I also needed to have a complete picture in my head of an antebellum mansion for one of my books. And going on this tour delivered in spades!

From the gardens to the infinity edge pool, the 200 yr-old oak trees, the plaster friezes and medallions, the leaded glass, the art gallery (!), and the indoor racketball court, this house had it all. It had the new and the old all meshed together in a home built in 1858. And, this person had more art on the walls of this home (not to mention in the art gallery he’d built) than the official art museum downtown has. In fact, as I was walking through, I saw the original painting of a print I have. Talk about stunned. Who knew?

Though I’d gone to see the house, it was actually the gardens that inspired me. I’d envisioned my antebellum mansion having gardens, but I hadn’t envisioned the gardens to this extent. Now, I know what the sweeping lines look like — the ornamental grasses, the statuary, the fountains, the trees, the benches — and I can remember them while I write.

Of course it’s possible to get your inspiration from a research book, too. I’ve certainly done that when I needed something. For one of my books, I need a jungle. I’ve lived in Hawaii, so I’ve seen jungles of a sort, but I can’t go to a South American jungle for research. Hence the book I bought that details living and traveling through jungles. Cool.

For my Harlequin Presents, THE SPANISH MAGNATE’S REVENGE, I have a bag full of things I got in Madrid — maps, brochures, postcards — and the photos I took. I loved Madrid. What a fabulous, lively place! I’d go back in a heart beat. Maybe my Spanish magnate has a brother who needs a book. Even a friend would do. I’d have an excuse to go explore those art galleries again, to sit in the Plaza Mayor and sip a Tio Pepe.

This July, I’m going to New Orleans for a family trip. I’m looking forward to that because I plan to, you guessed it, use the trip for research. It’s been many years since I’ve been there, and I want to explore the French Quarter, take the River Road trip to see the plantations, and enjoy the local food. I never know what will strike me as something I need for a story, you know?

Do you have any favorite research methods? Do you travel for inspiration? Have you ever used a place you’ve been as a setting, or used an element from it, in your stories? If you could go anywhere to research a setting, where would you go?