I'm happy to have my friend, Jordan K. Rose back with me today! She just participated in a quest for 30,000 words in 30 days, and she's here to tell us her story :-)
30k in Thirty Days?
"Oh, the lessons we learn about ourselves"
30K Write Away!
Hi Dariel. Thanks so much for having me on your blog today. J
In February I participated in the New Jersey Romance
Writers’ JeRoWriMo- the challenge to write 30,000 words in the month of
February. It was a wonderful experience from which I learned many, many things,
though I must be completely honest. I did not reach 30,000 words. I topped out
at just about 14,000.
So, a part of me thinks of this as a failure. 30,000 was the
goal. 14,000 was the achievement. Hmm, where and how did I go wrong and why?
I started out plugging along quite nicely with more than
1,000 words each for the first few days. The first couple weeks brought in most
of my numbers, in spite of the couple days with numbers in the low hundreds.
But then something hit. Doubt or as Casey Wyatt would call
it: The Doubt Monster. Several things ran through my mind. First, my next book,
the first in my Eva Prim series is scheduled for release this fall. That book
is in edits. The edits were sitting in my inbox waiting for me. But I’d sworn
not to work on them until I completed JeRoWriMo and had written 30k for the
next book.
The edits called to me. I love edits. Love them. Love them.
Love them.
And I tried like all hell to ignore them.
The second thing to get me was that I’d written my
characters into a corner in book 2. At one point I swear they all turned to me
as asked what the hell I was doing. How was I supposed to know? Isn’t it their
job to tell me what the story is?
That began days of self-doubt. My story, idea, theme and all
the conflict and humor sucked. I was absolutely sure of it. So I did what any
writer would do. I sent emails to my critique partner, Kat Duncan and my
editor, Judy Roth and asked them both what the hell they were thinking not
telling me how bad this book was and how could they ever let me go to market
with this crap.
Judy and I have only begun working together recently so my
note to her was much shorter than my note to Kat, who’s been writing with me
for a few years. Both ladies were kind and firm and answered all the questions
I asked and rebutted all my points about just how horrible the book was and in
the end they both told me I was stalling and to knock it off and get back to
work.
So I did.
But this time I worked on my edits for book one. Once I sent
them back to Judy I got back to work on book 2. But I had to start over again.
This brought us to the end of February and the start of New Jersey’s March
Madness Month.
And a glutton for punishment, I’ve decided to participate.
I’m behind. Again!
I’m now on second round edits for book 1 and I’d agreed to
judge a contest so those entries have to be done and retuned to the coordinator
this week. By Tuesday all my entries will be done. I’ll wrap up my editing by
Friday. Then on Saturday I’ll dive back into book 2.
By Monday the 18th I won’t have one excuse left
to stop me from getting book 2 completed by April 30th. Not one, no
matter how my mind tries to spin it.
So I’ve learned a couple things about myself from this
experience. Number one- I love to track how many words I’ve written each day.
In all honesty I love it more when the number is higher, but knowing what I’ve
written each day is fantastic. And apparently, I’m much more productive
Saturday- Monday, which doesn’t surprise me. I’m tired by Friday.
Number two- I must prioritize my work in a way that makes me
productive. So, edits first. Then new projects. By forcing myself not to do my
edits and using them as a reward because I “needed to write” I created more
worry for myself and made it impossible to concentrate.
Oh, the lessons we learn about ourselves!
I'd love to hear what you’ve learned about yourself through
your writing. Have you participated in any challenges? Which ones? How did that
go for you?
Jordan’s first book Perpetual Light, the story of a woman
coming to terms with being a divine vampire slayer fated to kill the only man
she’s ever loved, is available on Amazon- "Perpetual Light" on Amazon
and Barnes and Noble- "Perpetual Light" on Barnes and Noble
Her second book, the first in the Eva Prim series will be
available October 2013. Visit Eva at her website www.evaprim.com.
Jordan’s a member of Rhode Island Romance Writers, as well
as RWA National, and the New England (NEC), Connecticut, New Jersey and
Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal (FFnP) Chapters.
Find her on Goodreads at http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5751865.Jordan_K_Rose
Comments
The challenge did force me to be more productive, but I can't keep up the pace. I needed a breather afterwards!
Sofia - on Sunday at the CTRWA meeting I chatted with another writer who likes to write scenes out of order. I can't do that. I don't plot so I have go with the flow of the story and not jump around. In that respect I guess I'm more rigid than a plotter! :).