Lynn Raye Harris's Blog, page 11
February 14, 2013
You lookin’ at me? — and News!
The more I write for a living, the more I seem to have to do. Anyone who thinks because someone is lucky enough to work from home, that it’s NOT work, is deluded. Really. I work from the moment I get up until almost the moment I go to bed. Yes, I do other things in between, and the beauty of it is that I can decide to do something else in the middle of the day for a few hours, but I put in a full day’s work every day. In some aspect or other, I’m writing, keeping up with social media, planning books, updating my calender, thinking of stories, researching, etc.
It never ends. And this is not a complaint, btw. I love that I get to do this for a living! 
In fact, I just gave a speech to a group of ladies yesterday who are not writers, and it was a great time to get to talk with them about what I do. I always go for the inspirational moment, the “If I can do this and live my dream, you can live your dream too so long as it’s not being an Olympic gymnast when you’re 50″ kind of thing. I love giving that speech.
Because how many people think they can no longer do a thing because they’re too old or whatever? Not true. Just look at Susan Boyle if you don’t believe me. She was 48 when she walked out on that stage and wowed Simon Cowell, so it can be done.
Just want you to know, if you’re feeling down or whatever (and Valentine’s Day can be that kind of day for some people), that you don’t have to give up on dreams. Focus on the goal and on what you need to do to make it happen!
Speaking of Valentine’s Day — I’m a strange romance author in that I don’t celebrate it. I think Mr. Harris should show his love and appreciation all year long (and vice versa) so I don’t expect flowers or candy or a card from him today. If he thinks of it and wants to, that’s fine. But he’s not in trouble if he forgets.
And now, news! ::drumroll:: The latest Harlequin, aka Drago di Navarra and Holly Craig’s story, has been accepted! You can expect to read all about it in December (no title yet) where you will also get a bonus book: UNNOTICED AND UNTOUCHED will be published with Drago & Holly’s story for free! One price, two books! You can’t beat that.
Finally, I leave you with Nimitz, my crazy cat from Honolulu. I talk about Miss Pitty Pat all the time because she’s sick and she’s my baby, but we also have Nim. He’s a giant (colossal) pain in the behind, he’s not sweet at all, and he regularly exasperates me. But I love him anyway and he makes me laugh. So here he is, wanting to know what’s so interesting.
Happy day, y’all!
Nimitz wants to know what yer lookin at. twitter.com/LynnRayeHarris…
— Lynn Raye Harris (@LynnRayeHarris) February 14, 2013
February 2, 2013
Authors Giving Back Valentine’s Bash
It’s a giveaway!
Would you like to be on an online radio show with some of your favorite authors? Ask them questions, participate in some games, and have a chance to win some great prizes?
If so, then please tell me which hero of mine you would most want to sweep you away!
Send your answer to lynn…@lynnrayeharris.com with RADIO in the subject line. I will randomly choose one person to participate in the call-in portion of the show. If you are chosen you will be contacted with more information about how to call in.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Share this link to the show wherever you can bit.ly/WhZ0GR
One person will be chosen by each of the participating authors. If you are chosen you will be contacted with more information about how to call in. Each winner will be given a time slot during the show in which to call in during, BUT even if you aren’t chosen, please join us at bit.ly/WhZ0GR on February 9th at 7-9 (US Eastern Time) and you’ll have a chance to participate online and for a chance to win some prizes as well.
**PRIZE LIST**
Check out the prizes that you’ll be able to win!
Elaine Raco Chase Three ebooks – 1 every hour…
Kathleen Brooks Two $50 GC.
Sydney Landon Author $100 ecard and a couple of signed books.
Judy L. Hubbard Four $25 Amazon e-gift cards and an autographed set of my books.
Christina Tetreault Four $25.00 gift cards to Amazon or B&N winners choice
Lynn Raye Harris Two $25.00 gift cards to Amazon, B&N, or Kobo. And 5 signed books.
Author Terri Marie A gift basket and a signed book.
Calista Taylor A $25 gift certificate and an antique silver celtic brooch.
Annette Blair A $100 ecard and two ebooks: Proper Scoundrel & Unmistakable Rogue.
Sandra Marton A $50 ecard at amazon and e-copies of four current Wilde Family Saga books: The Prince of Pleasure, The Dangerous Jacob Wilde, The Ruthless Caleb Wilde and The Merciless Travis Wilde.
Marie Astor A set of custom designed amethyst and chalcedony sterling silver necklace and earrings ($120 value) and my contemporary romance novel, Lucky Charm, will be free on Amazon from Feb 9th through Feb 11th.
Christine Major DePetrillo A $50 Amazon GC.
Mary Campisi A $30 Amazon gift card and the following e-books from Debby Conrad: Love, Lies and High Heels, Bailey’s Irish Dream, Every Breath You Take, and Prying Eyes. E-books may be from Amazon, B&N, or i-tunes.
This is a fun way to say THANK YOU for all of your support!!!!!
January 29, 2013
Life & Love & Writing
This is bound to be a messy, all over the board kind of post. Life, in all its wonderfulness, can also be damn hard. I know friends who have family members battling health problems, friends who’ve recently lost parents, and friends who are enduring financial hardships. Life is messy, and sometimes it hurts.
Right now, for me, it hurts. And all because of a sweet little cat. My pets are family members. I adore them. I had a cat for 19.5 years, and losing her was really hard. Devastating. Another cat died at 16.5. Long lives, but not long enough when compared with ours.
Last summer, my beloved Miss Pitty Pat suffered a thrombosis, otherwise known as a saddle thrombus. She wasn’t supposed to live, but she did. She lost a leg, but she regained strength and went on to be her old self again — running, playing, jumping up to her favorite window seat, sleeping with me, sitting on my lap at the computer and my legs on the couch.
But the vets warned us her time was limited. Yesterday, we were jolted by the reality of that. She’s survived seven months beyond her initial episode, but yesterday she suffered another blood clot. This time it’s to a front leg, much less painful, but she can’t use the leg much. As I write this, she’s at the emergency vet. We don’t know if she’ll survive, but of course we hope she will.
I am devastated and furious — because we can’t control life, can we? We can’t prevent innocent children, beloved friends and family members, furry or otherwise, from getting sick and leaving us behind. Life is amazing, but life hurts.
It’s love that does this to us. Love gives and loves takes. I adore love, I write about love, but I know love makes us so vulnerable. What’s the choice though? Not to love? How empty would that be?
This gets me to writing. Yes, it’s damn hard to even think about that at the moment, but I’m in the middle of a book and my characters are in such pain — and I know how they feel. I know that pain always comes from me, even if I can’t understand the precise incidents that caused it for my characters. The truth is that I draw on that well deep inside, that place where I try to stuff all that hurt and anger down, when I write.
I think all writers do. Life and love have given us gifts, and they have taken those gifts away, and we don’t forget. I’ve written about the character, usually male, who refuses to love because he doesn’t want to hurt. Some readers and reviewers might call that cliche. I call it reality. If we could protect ourselves this way, mightn’t we try? Some of us would, and some of my characters do.
Naturally it doesn’t work out for them. The hero usually finds out he can’t stop love, and he becomes so terribly vulnerable when he realizes how he feels about the heroine. That’s got to be scary.
I saw a photo this week of a woman holding her husband’s hand while he lay in his casket. And I thought how sad that was. How awful that she would never see him again in this life. That all those years together ended and she was alone.
Pain. It’s what we write about. It’s what we try to overcome and control, at least in fiction. If you’re a writer, you have to put it all out there. You have to put your feelings on the table, or your fiction will be flat. You want to feel and you want the reader to feel.
That doesn’t happen if you leave your own sorrows untapped. I know it’s hard, but tap them. Mine them. Does it help? Hell if I know. I do it anyway, and maybe I feel better somewhere down the road.
Right now, I feel like hell. I ache and I’m frustrated because I can’t fix this. But I have a book to write and characters to torture and I know part of that is me working out my own feelings on paper. It’s how I cope. I couldn’t imagine not writing for a living, because I think I’d burst otherwise.
I put my heart on the table every time. I give it my all.
And now I’m going to bed and pray my kitty girl gets to come home again. It’s borrowed time, I know it, but I want more of it. Don’t we all?
January 27, 2013
Love in the Library
On Saturday, the local library hosted a romance author fair. I, along with several of my writing friends, hosted tables where we talked to readers and shared our books. It turns out that Mr. Harris is a budding photographer, so now I have my very own paparazzi at every event. Here are a few of the photos he took.
At my table.
Talking to a friend who is also the mother of one of the other authors.
Photo op with readers!
Love those readers!
I have no idea what I was on about here. But this is the closest Mr. Harris came to getting a picture of my shoes. He seriously fell down on the job at that part. They were gorgeous! And very, very high. A double hidden platform with about six inch heels. I teetered around quite well though. 
January 14, 2013
Revisions, Miss Pitty Pat style
I’m revising my latest book for Harlequin. I have help. Here, she’s sitting on my lap while I’m at the computer, looking up at me. Makes it hard to type, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. We almost lost her this past summer, and her days are numbered because she has chronic heart failure, so I’m all about enjoying her while I have her. Isn’t she cute?
January 4, 2013
From Harlequin, with love
The good folks at Harlequin have given me a widget so that you can browse the first chapter of Marriage Behind the Facade! Isn’t it cool? You can also share it, and you can buy direct from Harlequin if you like.
December 31, 2012
Thank you, dear readers!
Just a note on this New Year’s Eve, the last day of 2012, to say thanks for everything you’ve done for me. You buy my books and you make it possible for me to have this awesome job where I get to write about sexy alpha males and the women who are tough enough and strong enough to be their equals. I love what I do, and I love that you enjoy reading my stories!
Since I got that magical call in 2008, I’ve written a lot of books and learned a lot of things. I’ve sold nearly 2 million books worldwide, which is incredible to me, and I get mail from so many wonderful people who’ve enjoyed something I’ve written. Truthfully, writing is such an odd word for what happens when an author sits down to tell a story. Yes, we write the words onto the page — but it’s so much more than that. We live that story in our heads. I see it play like a movie reel, and I have no idea why.
I used to think it was weird to do that, before I started writing the stories down. I used to think there was a part of me that had never grown up and never would. When I was a kid, I told myself stories in my head to go to sleep — and I kept doing it as an adult. I didn’t know I was supposed to write down what I saw. That took a few years to figure out.
But once I did — wow, everything made sense! And now you make it possible for me to keep doing this dreaming I do.
2012 was an awesome year, but here’s hoping 2013 is even more so. I wish you all peace and happiness and prosperity!
As the new year begins, I’ll be doing some new things. First, I’m planning to bring you a military romance series! The first book should be available quite soon, and if you want to be kept up to date on that, you can sign up for my newsletter here. (To read the prologue and first chapter of HOT PURSUIT, the first book in the series, go here.)
Secondly, I’m starting a Street Team. If you want to be a part of the LRH League, send me an email at Lynn AT LynnRayeHarris DOT com to be added to the list! I’ll be sharing exclusive news and goodies with my team as we go forward. This is meant to be a fun way to connect and to share news about my books with other readers, so I’d love to have you join in!
Once more, thank you for everything you do and I wish you a happy, pleasant, awesome New Year!
December 21, 2012
Are we still here?
Well, today is the Mayan Apocalypse. I haven’t put a lot of stock in that idea, ever, but I know some people have. I’m encouraged by the fact that Australia is still there and it’s tomorrow already. Surely that counts for something, right?
But if today is not the last day, and you still need to buy Christmas presents, I have a website specifically for the billionaire in your life. At The Billionaire Shop, you can buy such things as a private island, a yacht, a million dollar watch, jets, and pricey New York views.
I have quite a few billionaires in my life, but fortunately they are all my creations. They should be giving me gifts, right? My latest billionaire will be hitting store shelves in a little over a week. Sheikh Malik Al Dhakir is sexy as hell–and a bit uncertain when it comes to expressing his feelings. In fact, he’s downright tongue-tied. You can read more about Sheikh Malik here.
I hope your weekend is lovely, and your Christmas preparations are going smoothly! Happy Holidays!
December 18, 2012
Writer Wednesday: Faster than the Speed of Light
You know what the speed of light is, right? It’s 186,000 miles per second. PER SECOND. That’s pretty damn fast. Still, even at that speed, it takes the light from distant stars thousands upon thousands of years to travel to where you see it in the night sky.
So why I am nattering about the speed of light? I’m a writer, not a scientist, right? Right. But I do love me some science (the bits I understand, anyway, and that’s one of them). I digress.
No, the reason I’m writing about speed is because, increasingly, I am seeing writers worried about the speed with which they write. Those who write super fast seem to be the ideal, right?
Maybe. Maybe not.
It’s true that writing a book fast doesn’t make it a bad book. It’s also true that it doesn’t make it a good book. What makes a book good or bad is what the readers think. Sorry, but an author doesn’t get to say that she wrote her book in only 2 weeks and it’s a damn good book because she only writes damn good books. (Same thing if it took her 2 years, btw.)
Only the readers get to say that. If the majority of readers say it’s a damn good book, then guess what? It probably is. If there are a lot of comments about “light,” “fluffy,” “shallow,” “could have used more thought,” well, guess what again? That author might have lost an opportunity to make an okay book great because she was in such a rush.
It’s not about writing lots and lots of words and telling everyone how fast you are. Ten thousand word days aren’t necessary in order to have a career at this. Remember the tortoise and the hare?
I’m gonna tell you a little story about that. First, I am generally a pretty fast writer. I’ve written a complete category romance in as little as 3 weeks. (I still think that book could have benefited from more time, btw, but I am a bit of a perfectionist.) I usually write a category romance in 5 or 6 weeks. I like at least that much time. That’s still pretty fast, all things considered. At that pace, if I started one right after the other, I could write eight books a year — and that’s assuming I take a full 6 weeks to write them. Less time means more books, right?
Now here’s the story. I was doing 1K1Hr on Twitter with another author a few months ago. We both had 50K word books due, though her deadline was a couple of months after mine. I started the book with 5 weeks to go until D-day. So we were doing 1K1Hr together, several times a day.
Every time, she’d come back with huge word counts: 1200, 1500, 2000 words while I was lucky in that one hour to hit 1K — and often didn’t. I started to feel depressed at the end of the day that she’d written 5 to 7K and I’d been lucky to get 3K.
But guess what happened? Slow (if you call a book in 5 weeks slow) and steady won the race. I finished my book and turned it in, and while she’d racked up huge word counts, she was a rewriter. Meaning she wrote the book all the way through, fast, and then threw most of it away and started over.
That’s no way to work — or at least not for me. (If rewriting is your process, and it works for you, great. It does not work for me.)
All I am telling you is this: if you’re on Twitter or Facebook and you keep seeing writers talking about their huge days with 5K or 7K written and you’re getting depressed with your measly 1K (or less) and you’re thinking about hanging up the keyboard because clearly you can’t keep up and only the super fast writers are successful these days, I’m telling you to think again.
Speed doesn’t equal quality. It also doesn’t NOT equal quality. All it means is the book takes as long as it takes. I’ve read books where I knew the author wrote it fast and been blown away. I’ve also read books where they wrote it fast and it was clear, to me at least, that another hard look at the story would have resulted in a deeper, more rounded book that touched me rather than irritated me with the shoddiness of the work.
You do not have to write fast to succeed. You need to write an awesome book. And then another and another and another. That’s how you succeed. Sit down and write your book. 1K a day will get you a 90K book in 3 months. If you take weekends off, it’ll take a little longer. But that’s nothing to sneeze at, folks.
Do NOT let the idea that you have to write fast stop you from writing at all. If you keep seeing all these writers racking up terrific word counts and it makes you depressed, stop looking at their stats. Just log off of social media altogether for a while. No, you probably shouldn’t spend two years rewriting the same 50K words, but you also shouldn’t be depressed because you need four months to write those 50K words.
Write the book. It takes as long as it takes. Some take longer, some go faster. But if you aren’t writing 5K a day, don’t sweat it. It’s perfectly fine. The goal is to write a good book, not to write a fast book (which is not to say those two are mutually exclusive). And the more consistently you work, the more often you put your butt in the chair, you might just find yourself getting faster as certain aspects of your process start to make themselves more recognizable to you.
Write the darn book, y’all. Don’t worry about the fact Suzie Q. Author wrote her latest novel in one booze and chocolate fueled weekend. You aren’t her. She’s not you. And there’s room enough for you both. Now get your butt in the chair!
December 17, 2012
Cover Reveal
I have a new cover to share with y’all! A GAME WITH ONE WINNER is coming in April 2013, and I just love this cover. Here’s what the story is about:
Proud heiress on a losing streak?
Paparazzi darling Caroline Sullivan is hiding a secret behind her dazzling-yet-inscrutable smile. Her ex-flame, Russian businessman Roman Kazarov, is back on the scene-is he seeking revenge for her humiliating rejection or just to take possession of her troubled business?
Sources confirm that the cutthroat Kazarov is seriously ruffling the pristine feathers of the normally cautious Caro…. Rumors of scorching-hot secret trysts are flying, but only one thing is certain-in this supreme game of wills only one person can win, and Roman believes he holds the ace….
“What do you want from me, Roman?” Her voice sounded strained to her own ears. If he noticed, he didn’t comment.
“You know what I want. What I came here for.”
She turned to look at him and barely stopped herself from sucking in her breath at the sight of him all dark and moody beside her. After five years, was she still supposed to be this affected by his dark male beauty?
“You’re wasting your time. Sullivan’s isn’t for sale at any price.”
There was silence between them for a long moment. And then he burst into laughter. His voice was rich, deep and sexy, and a curl of heat wound through her at the sound.
“You will sell, Caroline. You will do it because you can’t bear to see it cease to exist. Be stubborn—and watch when your suppliers cut off your line of credit, one by one. Watch as you have to close one store, and then another, and still you cannot fill your orders or keep your stores supplied with goods. Sullivan’s is known for quality, for luxury. Will you cease to order the best and settle for second best? Will you tell your customers they can no longer have the Russian caviar, the finest smoked salmon, the specialty cakes from Josette’s, the designer handbags from Italy or the custom suits in the men’s haberdashery?”
A shiver traveled up her spine, vibrated across her shoulder blades. Her stomach clenched hard. Yes, it was that bad. Yes, she’d been studying the list of her suppliers and wondering how she could cut corners and still keep the quality for which Sullivan’s was known. The specialty food shop was hugely expensive—and yes, she’d thought of downsizing that department, of eliminating it in some markets.
She’d wanted to ask her father. She’d wanted to sit at his feet and ask him what he thought, just as she’d wanted to turn to Jon and ask him for his opinion. But they were unavailable, and she would not choke. She would make the hard choices. For Ryan. She would do it for Ryan.
Family was everything. It was all she had.
“I won’t discuss this with you, Roman,” she said, her voice as hard as she could make it. “You don’t own Sullivan’s yet. If I have anything to say about it, you won’t ever get that chance.”
“This is the thing you fail to understand, solnyshko. You have no say. It is as inevitable as a sunset.”
“Nothing is inevitable. Not while I have my wits. I intend to fight you with everything I have. You will not win.”
His smile was lethally cold. And dangerously attractive if the spike in her temperature was any indication.
“Ah, but I will. This time, Caroline, I get my way.”
Her heart thumped. “And what’s that supposed to mean? Surely you aren’t still brooding over our brief affair. You can’t mean to acquire Sullivan’s simply to get revenge for past slights.”
She said the words as if they were nothing, as if the mere idea were ridiculous, though her pulse skittered wildly in her wrists, her throat.
The corners of his mouth tightened, and her insides squeezed into a tight ball.
“Brooding? Hardly that, my dear. I’ve realized since that night that my…” He paused. “…feelings…were not quite what I thought they were.” His gaze dropped over her body, back up again. “I was enamored with you, this is true. But love? No.”
It should not hurt to hear him say such a thing, but it did. She’d loved him so much, and she’d believed that he had loved her in return.
And now he was telling her he never had. That it was all an illusion. The knowledge hurt far more than she’d have thought possible five years after the fact.
“Then why are you here?” she asked tightly. “Why does Sullivan’s matter to you? You own far more impressive department stores. You don’t need mine.”
His laugh was soft, mocking. “No, I don’t need them.” He leaned toward her suddenly, his eyes gleaming in the light from the traffic. Her stomach clenched in reaction, though she hardly knew what she was reacting to.
“I want them,” he growled. “And I want you.”
You can preorder today at these links:
