Lynn Raye Harris's Blog, page 10
March 30, 2013
Radio Interview!
Morning, y’all! In just a short while (11:30 Central), I will be on the Beyond the Book Spotlight radio show with Sasha, Evie, and Sara! You can call in to ask questions, or just listen along. Hope you can make it!
March 29, 2013
March 24, 2013
Want to meet me for a drink at the RT Book Lovers Convention?
This weekend, I met the fabulous Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches. She came to Birmingham chock full of the most fascinating information. I could spend hours drinking wine with her and talking about books and authors and romance and readers and all the wonderful things that are a part of our romance community. Alas, she wanted to go home instead of hang out with us forever. And we kinda had to let her or, you know, that wouldn’t be a good thing.
But amongst all the fabulous ideas she gave me was this one. Sarah suggested I host an informal reader event at RT. And I thought, hey, that is a *great* idea! How cool to get together with my readers for a chat?
If you’re going, maybe you’d like to join me for a drink in the bar? This idea is in the planning stages, but it could be lots of fun to meet those of you who are going to be there. I’ll look into options — we might meet in the hotel bar, or we might find a bar close by — and we’ll get together for an hour or so. I’ll buy you a drink! I might even have a specialty drink for the party.
I’ll announce it on my Facebook pages, this blog, and I’ll send out a special newsletter message. If you haven’t signed up for that yet, be sure to do so: you can do that on this page by scrolling to the bottom and filling in the box that says “Subscribe to Lynn’s Newsletter.”
I really hope to see you there!
March 18, 2013
The Glamorous Life
I find myself writing a lot of blog posts lately and then saving them into draft mode instead of publishing them. Why? Because I’ve been seriously cranky lately and I find myself ranting about things that bug me instead of sharing the nice, sunny things with you all. You can hear ranting and all that in real life. You don’t need to come to me for it, right? 
Today, I’m sharing my glamorous life with you. I hope you snickered a little when I said that. Because I’m writing this post in my pajamas and my hair is piled on my head and there’s still a mascara smear under my eyes where the remover never quite gets it all the night before.
There’s also a cat squalling somewhere downstairs, and laundry that needs doing, and dinner to figure out. Yeah, super glamorous!
But I did get dressed up last week and go give a speech to a group of ladies at a local country club. It was my second such speech in a month, and though I am a horrible introvert who doesn’t like standing in front of people and talking, I’m actually starting to have a little fun doing this kind of thing.
Because the people who come always are interested in writers. They’re usually readers and they’ve come because they want to hear what you can tell them about writing books. I have fun with that!
They asked me questions too, and that gives me insight into what readers think of writers. They didn’t ask if I was rich or lived in a mansion, because I dispel that notion in the speech. I also, regretfully, had to inform them that I don’t take bubble baths in a heart shaped tub nor do I wear a feather boa. They took it in stride.
Other things I told them were that authors get ideas from everywhere–literally–and that no one asks a mystery writer if she practices murdering people, but that they often think romance writers practice sex scenes or have lots and lots of crazy sex.
I have fun dispelling the myths, I have to say.
But what did they want to know? They wanted to know how long it takes to write a book (the answer is anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months or more, depending on the book and the deadline). They wanted to know if all the travel around the world helped me as a writer (I think so!).
They wanted to know how much research I have to do (the answer depends on the subject, but also because Harlequin Presents are such compact, emotional books, there isn’t a lot of room to drop in research. The books are about emotional conflicts, not external ones.) They also want to know if I have control over my covers (no for Harlequin, yes for my HOT series), and if I have the same editor for every book or if it’s different each time (the same editor, unless she leaves and I get a new one, which did happen after 14 books with one editor).
Those are the questions I remember off the top of my head! If you could ask a writer questions, what would they be? Ask away and I’ll try to answer. 
I might even give away a copy of A Game With One Winner (out in stores tomorrow!)……
March 5, 2013
New Release — with a secret revealed!
If you’ve been waiting for A GAME WITH ONE WINNER in the UK, you can now get your copy a month early from the Mills & Boon site! I’ve been told it’s also shipping from Amazon UK. This is the story of sexy Russian Roman Kazarov and heiress Caroline Sullivan-Wells. The cover copy alludes to a secret, but I have no idea why they just didn’t tell you the darn secret up front — it’s pretty obvious! Caroline has a son who just so happens to be about nine months younger than the breakup between Caroline and Roman five years ago! Now that’s a secret worth reading about. Because what’s going to happen when Roman realizes the truth, eh?
Hope you enjoy!
Here are the US pre-order links for you too!
There are more buy links on the book page, so click the title in red at the top of this post and it will take you there.
February 21, 2013
Thursday Thoughts
It’s been a rough few days here in Chez Harris, as you all know. Tomorrow is a week since we said goodbye to Pitty Pat, and I still pretty much cry every day. Yesterday, I was doing pretty good. No crying — until Mr. Harris came home and checked the mail. Inside were two cards, one from my vet where she and all the office staff wrote a message about sweet Pitty Pat. That one started the waterworks. The next one sealed it. The next card was from the ER vet — and it contains a paw print they took of Pitty Pat on the day she died. OMG, I bawled. Really, this needs to get better, and soon.
I hate grief. I hate this part of the human experience. We have such capacity for love, and then when the individual we love gets taken away, the hole in our lives is almost unbearable. It sucks.
In other news, I’ve finally managed to get busy on my revisions for Book One in the Hostile Operations Team series again. All my work took a serious left turn last week. Some people write through tragedy and sadness — I wallow first. Just have to.
But I’ve been working steadily today, and feeling optimistic about the story. I hope you like it too. I really, really want to get this out there ASAP. I’m excited about the possibilities this new publishing world brings, and I want to be in control of this particular project. I have no intention of stopping writing my Harlequins, however. I am proud to be a Presents author. Very proud.
Sometimes, we get flak for writing “those” books with alpha-holes and doormats. Those are the words of the critics, and I don’t accept them. My heroes are supremely alpha, and my heroines are strong enough to stand toe to toe with them. It’s just the way it works in my world.
And now I have to go write my military alpha and the heroine who is most definitely not a doormat. And then it’s another Presents! This next duo I like to call Sheikhs Gone Wild. We’ll see how wild they go, and if you agree.
Hugs to you all.
February 20, 2013
Old songs
This old Tracy Lawrence song has been on my mind today. I’m much more of a rock fan than country, but this song is timeless.
February 18, 2013
Sad
That about sums it up. Miss my girl. There will probably be a few posts where I lament her loss, but my understanding of grief — even pet grief, in case you’re wondering — is that this is normal. Feel free to share your own pet losses in the comments.
Here, she’s helping me write. Don’t know how I’ll get the next book done without her!
That about sums it up. Miss my girl. There will probab...
That about sums it up. Miss my girl. There will probably be a few posts where I lament her loss, but my understanding of grief — even pet grief, in case you’re wondering — is that this is normal. Feel free to share your own pet losses in the comments.
Here, she’s helping me write. Don’t know how I’ll get the next book done without her!
February 17, 2013
Kitties and heart disease
I’m supposed to be working, but not doing the best job of that today. If you follow me on Facebook, then you already know that we lost our sweet kitty, Miss Pitty Pat. It’s been hard, because she was not quite 6 years old — and you don’t expect a young cat to die of heart disease.
If you have kitties, and you’ve never heard of saddle thrombus, I urge you to look it up. (Or go here.) And then I urge you to ask your vet to give your kitty’s heart a good listen the next time you take your baby in for a check up. That’s not fool proof, but it’s possible the vet will hear a murmur. If your cat has a murmur, push for more info.
MPP never showed any signs of heart disease, and we had no clue until she had the first clot nearly eight months ago. Turns out that she had very advanced heart disease, an enlarged heart, and thickened walls. We had NO idea. The only possible clue was that she tended to throw up her food a lot, and she would go off her food for a day or two — but then she’d eat again, no problem, and wouldn’t regurgitate for days. I never suspected heart disease, and my vet never heard a murmur.
The other thing you can do, if you really just want to know and you’re willing to spend the money, is get your cat a heart work up. I would have done this had I known it was something to look out for. But I didn’t. I had no idea these things could happen to a young cat. My previous cats lived to very ripe old ages, and I assumed we were on the same track with MPP. It’ll cost you around $500, which is why most vets don’t recommend it as a matter of routine when most cats won’t ever have a problem.
Heart disease in cats, especially the kind where they throw clots, is rare — but apparently it’s not THAT rare because it happens quite often if you do an internet search of saddle thrombus. The chances your cat has a bad heart are slim. But if, like me, you would rather know, then ask for that heart work up. You may have to go to a specialist for the echo-cardiogram. Many vets don’t keep that kind of equipment on hand and it takes a specialist — either a cardiologist or an internist — to read it.
You can be sure that I’ll ask for these tests as a matter of routine for Nimitz — and for any future cats we get. I would have rather spent that money up front, and got MPP onto heart meds much earlier. She might have had more time with us if we’d caught it early. This truly is a silent killer. One minute she was fine, the next she was not. Literally. And the same thing happened on Friday morning, only this time we couldn’t save her like we did last June.
She was on the bed with us, happy and bouncy and loving — and then she jumped onto the floor and started to throw up. When the heaving didn’t stop, we knew. Almost immediately, her remaining back leg went weak and she couldn’t walk. We got her to the vet in record time, but this was the third clot she’d thrown, the second in as many weeks, and it was just too much. Her heart was done.
We are bereft, but I wanted to share this with you because I know many of you have cats you love as much as I love MPP. If you can prevent this from happening to your baby, I want you to be able to do that. Again, most cats are fine. But some are ticking time bombs. Some cats die in the first few months of life from this. Some die when they are young, as MPP did. Some make it to their teens first. Only you can decide what you need to do for peace of mind, but that’s why I want you to know about this.
Google heart disease in cats. Make yourself aware, and get your babies checked for that murmur at the very least. Doesn’t mean they will throw clots if they have one, but it might be the impetus for more tests if you know they do.
Best wishes to you and your fur babies. We’re hurting badly in Chez Harris, but we will be okay with time.
