Lynn Raye Harris

Sometimes they happen, yeah? So, yesterday, I cut more words than I wrote. Or maybe I wrote enough words, but I cut so many I kind of lost count of what I had. One minute I had X many — the next I was down 1000. Same thing happened again.

This is, unfortunately, the way it goes sometimes. But, OMG, how freaking depressing!! I kind of understood how Hemingway became a lush because I suddenly, desperately, needed a drink. And, because I have a will as solid as a slice of Swiss cheese, I caved. A glass of wine takes the sting off.

And I really couldn’t face the WIP any longer. Sometimes you need to go away and return with fresh eyes. Sitting in front of the computer and staring at the screen with the same words on it won’t necessarily spark a new idea. I think, at times like this, it’s okay to go away.

I also think it’s very normal to get twisted up and worry about what you’re doing. Yes, I have a contract and a book coming out — and I STILL think I’m terrible sometimes, that it’s a fluke, that they’re going to catch me and kick me off of Mount Olympus. Yesterday was a bad day. I hope today will be better.

I’m leaving you with the song that ran through my head after my battle with the WIP. Do you like this one? I sure do; it’s catchy, even when the day isn’t so bad.

Tell me what you do when the WIP isn’t working, or you have to cut a couple of scenes….

Saturday was my RWA chapter meeting, and even though I have a deadline rapidly approaching, I wouldn’t miss my Heart of Dixie day for anything (I have another chapter too, Southern Magic, but it’s a bit farther away and I don’t get to the meetings like I’d like to).

Just the camaraderie of meeting with other writers, laughing and talking about things that concern us (and often only make sense to us) is worth losing a day of writing for. I head out around 10am, drive about 40 minutes, and stop for lunch at a local deli where a lot of the members gather beforehand. Then, after an hour of laughing and fun, we head to the museum that hosts our meetings. There, who knows what’ll happen. We start at noon and often don’t finish until between 2 and 3. After that, I can talk for hours with friends, sometimes even heading to a restaurant or bookstore to chat. It’s a great time, and it’s the kind of socializing that I definitely need.

I have other friends, of course, but so many times they don’t understand what it is I do and how it works. I can’t tell you the number of people who have asked my husband if he’s retiring when my book comes out. Other writers know how funny this is.

Publishing is a strange and hopeful business. You can make enough to live on; you can become very popular and make a lot of money; or you can barely get by and need to work a day job to make ends meet. You never know where on that scale you’ll end up, but we all hope we get option #2. Friends — writing friends — help keep you sane!

Okay, so I have some changes coming up in the next month or two! For one, I’m getting a new website and blog. I’ve found the perfect person to do my design work, and I’m so excited to be working with her. I’ll also be retooling the newsletter, and hopefully start sending out some regular news.

There will be contests; not sure what or when, but stay tuned so you don’t miss out on the goodies! I won’t stop talking about writing, but I need to talk more about reading. If you’re on MySpace, come friend me. Same with Facebook. I can be found on both — just type in Lynn Raye Harris. I’m also on Twitter (been there for a couple of months, but still haven’t figured out how to get my feed on the sidebar here). Follow me, and I’ll follow you.

Finally — what are you reading right now? I’m reading a delicious Harlequin Presents by Jennie Lucas and enjoying it very much. I love an arrogant Italian prince — in fact, I’m writing about one for the next book!

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?

As I work like a mad woman on finishing this book, I’m faced with choices that sometimes stop me in my tracks. Which POV to write the scene in? Which way to take the scene? Sometimes I highlight all the wrong things; I summarize what should be explored and explore what could be summarized. I don’t know why I do this. This may only be my second contracted book, but it’s not the second book I’ve written.

They (the anonymous they) say you should write about a million words before you’re ready to publish a book. I imagine that’s pretty close to correct. My first novel was more than 150k, and that doesn’t include all the rewriting I did. I probably wrote close to half a million on that sucker alone.

But I digress. Which is typical for me, LOL.

In SPANISH MAGNATE, RED-HOT REVENGE (Presents, August 2009), I specifically wrote one scene from the heroine’s POV that is now, in the final version that will be in print (ahem, Aug 2009), in the hero’s POV. I’m not sure why I decided it would work better that way. My editor didn’t tell me to do it (not that she hasn’t told me to do other things), but somehow in the rewrite that’s what happened. And I liked it far better.

What I want to know, however, is HOW to figure out which POV to write the scene in in the first place. Common wisdom says to write it in the POV of the character with the most to lose; I’ve also written it in the POV of the character observing high emotion. Sometimes it’s easier to show anguish through another’s eyes than to live in the pivotal POV at that moment.

But man, I wish it was easier to figure out. Right now, I’m working on a scene that could be in either POV just as easily. It’s highly charged emotionally no matter which character I’m with. So, I’m thinking about it. And I’ll probably end up with two versions as I try them both. I hate doing that because it’s writing the same thing twice. *sigh*

Thoughts?

Um, yeah, absolutely! Except my beverage of choice is red wine.

Okay, going list style today, because the thoughts are random:

1. Finished the corrections and sent them to editor.

2. Yay!

3. No lights up on the house yet. Knew it!

4. Wow, where’d that wind come from? At least it’s not freezing or snowing!

5. RWA chapter Christmas party on Saturday.

6. What a difference a year makes!

7. Last year, I trotted off to the party having only squeaked my GH entry in under the deadline.

8. This year, I was ineligible to enter. Not upset about that!

9. Emote, people! I need forward motion *yesterday* on the WIP.

10. Need to watch my favorite holiday movies. Christmas Vacation is a must every year. Need me some Grinch and Rudolph too.

11. Remember when you were a kid and could only watch Rudolph once a year?

12. Eat, Santa, eat!

13. Watched The Polar Express in 3-D on Hubby’s movie screen. Wow. I mean WOW.

14. Sometimes it’s pretty cool to have a techno geek husband.

15. What are your favorite must-watch holiday movies?

I’m almost finished making my line edit corrections. At the same time, I’m thinking about the book I’m supposed to be writing. Wondering if I’ll ever get into that groove where I know what my characters want and what they will do. Where every scene flows logically and I’m not sitting there going, “Uh, now what?” Man, I can’t wait for that to happen.

Hasn’t happened yet. *sigh* Partially, I’m distracted by the holidays and the preparations. My tree is decorated, my mantel is done, and my dining room table is mostly there. I have the poinsettias out, Sam the Snowman is in the front yard, and all that’s really left are the lights on the house. Hopefully, that’ll get done this week. Because if it doesn’t, we’re running out of time. We’ll get them up in time to take them down. Not too much fun, really.

So, I’m staring at the WIP and trying to use the Force on the characters. Get busy, you two! Emote for me! We need some interesting, compelling, and amazing things going on. Isn’t a forced marriage and a secret baby enough?! You’d think.

It makes me think of something Jane Porter said over on her blog. I’m paraphrasing, but she said that writing was like trying to wring water out of a mostly dry dishtowel. That’s where I am at the moment. *sigh*

What’s on your mind? Any interesting tricks or tips for getting the words flowing again?

I finished reading my line edits. It was harder than I thought. First, there were the changes made by the copy editor — some subtle and good for the story, others jarring and not my voice at all — and then there was the knowledge that what I was reading was the finished product, for the most part. I couldn’t delete scenes or rewrite them or shift them around. What is there, is there.

And I’m not sure how I feel about it. I cringed in parts. Not always because of jarring CE changes, but simply because of the characters and what they were up to. Wow, I wrote that? Sometimes I was happy about it. Sometimes I was surprised — and not necessarily in a good way.

Every dream has a trade off. I would not trade this dream of being a published author for anything, but sometimes I’m surprised at how it has its negatives too. Once that baby is in print, it’s out there. I’ll have to learn to be tougher about it, I think.

Today, I begin inputting the corrections for my editor. And I still have my current WIP to get busy on again. Going away for the holiday threw me off. *sigh* What’s on your plate this month, in addition to all the holiday craziness? December is always sooo busy, isn’t it? It sure is for me, whether I mean it to be or not….

I got line edits of my book!! I kept calling them copy edits, but realized we don’t get copy edits from London — we get line edits. These are a print out of the entire book with all the lines numbered. It’s your last chance to make corrections to the text. Some people see copy edits, which is the marked up manuscript. I got confused because I was expecting that.

But no, these are line edits. Contractually, I have two weeks to read them and communicate any changes to my editor. And there is one major, humongous, gigantic, freak-out worthy change that needs to be made: they spelled my name wrong.

For some reason, people see my name and gloss over the Y in Raye. They leave it out. They have also been known to give me an E on the end of Lynn. But there’s no E, only a missing Y. *sigh* Perhaps I should have considered more carefully about taking a pen name. I did not because I’d had publicity already, and I wanted to build on it. Maybe it would have been easier anyway.

Too late now. I have already emailed my editor a panicked note telling her about this major, major mistake. I’m not a fan of my name in the first place, but I am not a Rae. No way, no how.

Aside from that, the line edits look pretty neat. I’m diving in today and seeing what’s been done. I did peek a little and everything looks normal on the first few pages. Except one of my scene endings has been changed. I’ll be thinking about that, I assure you. It’s going to be weird reading this book and seeing those little changes here and there. It feels oddly like someone broke into your house and rearranged your furniture. You might like the arrangement, or you might be absolutely horrified. Guess I’ll find out as I read.

As for the holiday, it was great and Florida was much warmer than Alabama is at the moment. Still, I am SO happy to be home. It was a long drive (10 hours each way), but we listened to audiobooks. We finished up Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential and started Eragon — which, surprisingly, is extremely engaging.

How was your holiday? Did you finish your Christmas shopping and/or decorating yet? I thought Hubby and I would decorate yesterday since we were home — but no, he didn’t want to do it. With line edits to do, and a deadline getting closer, I’m a bit worried about getting it done.

This one is for the hubby. Thank goodness he has a hobby while I write!

I’m slogging along in the WIP, so unfortunately can’t think of a single thing to talk about today. I have to get this proposal done ASAP. And I’m second guessing myself, of course. I always do this. You’d think I’d know this is the tough part, and to soldier through, but I don’t want to face the rewrites later. I’m such a baby.

How’s your day going?

Join me over at Romance Writers on the Journey! Keli Gwyn asks me about The Call, how my life has changed since, and what my advice to writers is for how to prepare for being published. Come on over and ask me a question or make a comment! You’ll be entered for a chance to win a seriously cool bookmark!

Come keep me company.