Dariel's Feature: Jordan K. Rose and 30k in Thirty Days


 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.

Visit Jordan on her website at www.jordankrose.com
Follow her tweets on https://twitter.com/#!/jordankrose 
Friend her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jordankrose

Leave a comment about Jordan's post with your email address and click on the tab above to enter the "Torin" tour Rafflecopter giveaway! 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Dariel. Thanks so much for having me on today! :)
Penelope Marzec said…
I participated in JeRoWriMo, too. I just barely made the 30,000 words for the challenge, but there was no way I would go on to March Madness. I knew I had to go back and edit the rough drafft.

The challenge did force me to be more productive, but I can't keep up the pace. I needed a breather afterwards!
Unknown said…
I most certainly love flowing with words without worrying abotu edits! But I have foudn that I do better when I write things are out of order. Strange huh?
Dariel Raye said…
Hey, Jordan! It's a pleasure to have you visit. Anytime :-)
Dariel Raye said…
Penelope, I felt the same way when I did Nano last year. I have to go back and fix things. LOL
Dariel Raye said…
Sofia, I write by scenes, so most of my writing is out of order, too. I'll have a scene here and another one there. That's one reason I like Scrivener - much more conducive to that writing style than Word.
Anonymous said…
Hi Penelope. I saw that you hit 30k and I was so impressed. I love editing so having a fresh 30 k to work on would thrill me! I'm hoping to have a good chunk of my book done by the end of March Madness.

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! :).