KimCastillo wrote:Jordan--Congrats on the selling another series! WOW. How fast do you write? What's your writing day like?And I totally agree with you about the danger stripping away pretenses. Very true.
I usually can write one in 4 months, completely edited. And my writing day is never typical.My life is weird. I’ll admit it. I get up early with my husband (who makes me breakfast BTW) so we can chat, read the paper, and when I need to, plot how to kill people over eggs and toast. I write from around 9am until 4pm, then hit the blogs and chat with my online friends before dinner.
Then I usually edit the work I’ve written that day when I’m in bed—or I read other people’s books. I edit and edit, layering in the emotions and discovering the character’s motivations as I go. When I’m done with a project, I rarely have to go back over it. I can write a book from concept to final product in a range of 6 weeks to 4 months. And when I’m done, I’m ‘jonesing’ to get into another book. Stories fill my head and I feel a strong pull to the computer.
My life is very strange but oddly enough, I'm never alone. I have all these voices in my head. 
becke_davis wrote:Jordan -- I read in your book blurb that you won thirty-some contests before selling three books. That's impressive, but after reading your first book I'm not at all surprised.You really know how to abuse your main character -- they say a good writer in this genre puts the heroine in a lot of tight positions, and it would be hard to imagine how any heroine could go through tougher scenes than yours did.Even though the book started out on a dark note, the initial interaction with Diego and Rebecca was a tease, kind of flirtatious. I made the mistake of thinking the book was going to be good but fairly straightforward. Boy, was I wrong. I thought of Lisa Jackson, Linda Howard and yes, Sharon Sala when I read your book and just like their stories, this one held me on the edge of my seat. During one scene -- I'm sure you know which one -- I had to force myself not to skip ahead and make sure it turned out right. Whew! I never read so fast in my life -- I hadn't planned to finish it last night but I couldn't put the damned thing down. It was so freaking scary, I had to read it through to the end so I could sleep without all the lights on!
All those contests were a challenge but as an aspiring author, you don't get much feedback and I used contests for validation that I was on the right track. Plus, the final round judges were editors from various publishing houses and many times I would get requests to send them a full manuscript--another good reason to do contests. But the best part was getting my work in front of other prelim judges like NYT Bestseller Allison Brennan who "outed" herself after I sold to give me an endorsement blurb and has been a friend and mentor ever since. The side benefits to contests can be very unexpected.
And I really appreciate your comment on me abusing my heroine. 
That's my job.
That's my job.But I also have great admiration for law enforcement folks, especially after I took a course with my local police department at their Citizens Police Academy. These people never get paid enough for what they do and I am continually trying to understand their motivation to run toward a gun shot instead of running away which is what most people would do. I did ridealongs with a patrol officer and there were times I was scared just doing that--sitting in the squad car waiting for my guy to do his duty. And watching him walk up to a dark car (knowing there are people in it but the windows are too tinted to see in) is not my idea of a fun time. I DID have fun at the firing range when we got to shoot all sorts of weapons and blow up stuff with the bomb squad. And the cop who was my technical advisor on TELL knew I wanted to use a flashbang grenade (an explosive used by SWAT) so he set one off near me so I could feel it. For an author doing research, this is a GOOD thing.
And my heroine made me cry plenty of times with her bravery and her humanity. I always want to show women in a strong light--and make them someone you would want as a friend.
Kind of like running with scissors? Sounds like you are a girl who knows how to have fun. I'm kind of a wimp but I love the idea of getting to observe all that (especially the flash-bang!). One of my favorite things on the BN.com boards is hearing how authors do their research -- you make it sound like so much fun!
Jordan_Dane wrote:
becke_davis wrote:Jordan -- I read in your book blurb that you won thirty-some contests before selling three books. That's impressive, but after reading your first book I'm not at all surprised.You really know how to abuse your main character -- they say a good writer in this genre puts the heroine in a lot of tight positions, and it would be hard to imagine how any heroine could go through tougher scenes than yours did.Even though the book started out on a dark note, the initial interaction with Diego and Rebecca was a tease, kind of flirtatious. I made the mistake of thinking the book was going to be good but fairly straightforward. Boy, was I wrong. I thought of Lisa Jackson, Linda Howard and yes, Sharon Sala when I read your book and just like their stories, this one held me on the edge of my seat. During one scene -- I'm sure you know which one -- I had to force myself not to skip ahead and make sure it turned out right. Whew! I never read so fast in my life -- I hadn't planned to finish it last night but I couldn't put the damned thing down. It was so freaking scary, I had to read it through to the end so I could sleep without all the lights on!All those contests were a challenge but as an aspiring author, you don't get much feedback and I used contests for validation that I was on the right track. Plus, the final round judges were editors from various publishing houses and many times I would get requests to send them a full manuscript--another good reason to do contests. But the best part was getting my work in front of other prelim judges like NYT Bestseller Allison Brennan who "outed" herself after I sold to give me an endorsement blurb and has been a friend and mentor ever since. The side benefits to contests can be very unexpected.And I really appreciate your comment on me abusing my heroine.But I also have great admiration for law enforcement folks, especially after I took a course with my local police department at their Citizens Police Academy. These people never get paid enough for what they do and I am continually trying to understand their motivation to run toward a gun shot instead of running away which is what most people would do. I did ridealongs with a patrol officer and there were times I was scared just doing that--sitting in the squad car waiting for my guy to do his duty. And watching him walk up to a dark car (knowing there are people in it but the windows are too tinted to see in) is not my idea of a fun time. I DID have fun at the firing range when we got to shoot all sorts of weapons and blow up stuff with the bomb squad. And the cop who was my technical advisor on TELL knew I wanted to use a flashbang grenade (an explosive used by SWAT) so he set one off near me so I could feel it. For an author doing research, this is a GOOD thing.And my heroine made me cry plenty of times with her bravery and her humanity. I always want to show women in a strong light--and make them someone you would want as a friend.
