READER FRIDAY: Do you recognize your accomplishments?

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Some authors take their accomplishments in stride and consider them a step in the process. Since writing is a solo act, it can be difficult to share what makes an author proud, but some endeavors deserve recognition.

How do you celebrate when you finish a book?

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About Jordan Dane

Bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Jordan Dane’s gritty thrillers are ripped from the headlines with vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense novels to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag, naming her debut novel NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM as Best Books of 2008. She is the author of young-adult novels written for Harlequin Teen, the Sweet Justice thriller series for HarperCollins., and the Ryker Townsend FBI psychic profiler series, Mercer's War vigilante novellas, and the upcoming Trinity LeDoux bounty hunter novels set in New Orleans. Jordan shares her Texas residence with two lucky rescue dogs. To keep up with new releases & exclusive giveaways, click HERE

19 thoughts on “READER FRIDAY: Do you recognize your accomplishments?

  1. I don’t know if I do celebrate when I finish a book anymore other than a quick happy dance around the living room. Oh, well, there’s your answer. A hoop, holler, happy jig, then back to work. 😀

  2. When I complete a ms, get a great review, or click on my Inbox to find an acceptance letter, I play Tom Cochrane’s “White Hot.” The song is a tribute to French poet Arthur Rimbaud, who abandoned a promising literary career for a life of reckless adventure. Cochrane’s band Red Rider released that song at a time when I was stuck in a dead-end job with the boss from Hell. “White Hot” reminded me there was still mystery and beauty in the world, and that I could persevere.

  3. I’m a big fan of the “brag table”–a metaphorical table (coined by Jon Acuff) where you and friends can bring accomplishments without being afraid of sounding too full of it. Guilt-free bragging rights are very fun. But I also like to mark big stepping stones (like finishing a novel or a second draft) by commissioning an artist on DeviantArt to draw/paint one of my characters. I love seeing the finished product!

    • Alyssa, what a great idea getting a picture of your characters. I will check into that. I have found that I like my characters better than my own children.
      I have an old replica Navy Colt pistol worth about twenty dollars US. I am sure that when my Dad bought it paid a lot more but that pistol has shown up in my first story a number of times in the hand of my star’s grandfather, Popasquat, and then passes on after his death, so it can reoccur again and again through two other stories. Thanks for the idea. Gerald

  4. Hi Sue. I didn’t always celebrate the milestone of finishing a manuscript because I looked at that as a step in a longer career, but I changed my attitude a few years ago. Right before I finish, I look for something fun to do that coincides with an approximate completion date. It gives me incentive to finish, otherwise I procrastinate because I don’t want the ride to end with my characters. I might celebrate with a dinner party or attend a book signing or go to a movie with a friend or two.

    • This comment hit me between the eyes. I’ve been planning to do 2 things — finish the current WIP and hick the Garden Wall in Glacier National Park. Now I’ll tie them together. When I finish the book, I’ll reward myself with that hike!

      Thank you, Jordan!

  5. Hi Alyssa. What a great idea! You’re supporting the arts too. Plus you can use the graphics to promo your new book. I like it.

  6. I’m like Anthony Trollope. When I reach The End, I get up and stretch, sigh, sit down and type Chapter One… then write until I hit my quota.

    Or something like that. I’ll have another project going and a couple “in development.” I enjoy finishing, getting through edits, but am most excited on launch day. That never gets old. Taking my wife out for a celebratory dinner is my reward.

  7. Jordan, good morning and where did you get that smile?
    There doesn’t seem to ever be an end to writing. I celebrate each time I get through a rewrite of a paragraph when it sings, a rewritten line where I can cut out five words, a delete button when I see the word that or had jump out at me, and being a Southerner removing words like very, just, so, and on and on. I write for my enjoyment, but you know what you think today sounds different tomorrow. Just enjoy the process.

  8. I always crack open champagne after THE END. It’s a ritual with Kelly and me for at least the last 10 books. We are always apart now when we finish, but we get on skype, I type THE then send her the file and she types END. Then we toast together.

  9. It’s so hard to know when “done” is really done. You finish the first draft, and there’s a second to be done, and then a third. Then you give it several editing passes. Was it Wilde who said, “A novel is never finished. It’s eventually just packed up and sent off to a publisher,” or words to that effect? All this while you’re also working on laying the ground for selling it, and if you’re self-pubbing, there’s even more. Eventually you have a copy in your hand, but you don’t have much more time than showing it off to your spouse before you go on with the marketing. And while that’s going on, as Mr Bell says above, you’re already working on the next one. So I guess the first step is recognizing that you have in fact reached a celebration point.

  10. I recognize some of my accomplishments, but others I don’t know where they came from. Not sure if it was actually me or not. They just kinda showed up and people slapped me on the back and said “good job” and I’m just like, “uh….thanks”

  11. John

    That quote “a book is never finished, it’s abandoned” has always resonated with me. There comes a time when most of us move on. But I still believe in taking pleasure in the passion for writing that we all share. Smell the roses.

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