Friday, August 22, 2014

You'll Publish It When??? by Jody Vitek


FEARLESS FRIDAY
So happy to have Jody Vitek as my guest today. Jody is giving away TWO, yes two eBooks of her fantastic book, Florida Heat. Make sure you get to the end of her post and enter to win!
Thank you for having me here for Fearless Friday, Brenda. Today, I’d love to share my fearful, at first, story about my upcoming release, Texas Two Step. Texas Two Step is a follow-up to my debut release Florida Heat. Both books are stand-alone romances with cross-over characters.
I was in the process of writing Texas Two Step and in need of some motivation, so I contacted my publisher, Nancy at Melange Books, LLC, on March 17, 2014, to see what it would take to have an early 2015 release. I needed Nancy to light a fire under my butt and her response shocked me. There was an opening available for a late November 2014 release in their new Satin Romance line. She asked if that was a big enough fire and if she should send a contract.
Holy Smokes! She didn’t light a fire, she started a bonfire under my butt! The question was could I do this? Could I finish a manuscript worthy to be sent in for the editor to work on within the next ... how many months? I’d never written under pressure before. The completed manuscript would need to be turned in by August first to be released at the slated time. That meant I had four and a half months to finish writing the book. I signed the contract for a late October/late November 2014 release, but Nancy would work with me if I didn’t get it finished in time. My work ethic wouldn’t allow me to break a contract and I would do whatever I had to to finish on time.
Contract signed, it was time to look at how I was going to actually finish on time. I took my goal word count of 60,000 and subtracted the number of words I already had written. Then I printed the next four months of our family’s calendar and crossed out days I could not write, including weekends, and counted the number of days, for two out of the four months, I planned on as writing days. So I took the word count number I needed to achieve, divided by the number of days devoted to writing and I had to write a minimum of 500 words per writing day. The other two months would be devoted to editing time to polish the manuscript. I could do this! My minimum daily word count was basically two pages.
Although the story had been started and I basically knew how it was going to end, I didn’t have the ‘in-betweens’ planned out. So I brainstormed the remainder of the book and got to work on writing. The story took off and I was exceeding my daily word count by the hundreds. Having rewards, such as delicious chocolates, for meeting daily goals helps. The manuscript was completed and turned into Nancy ahead of schedule. Let the professional editing games begin.
Bio
Born and raised in Minnesota, Jody has remained close to home living with her husband of twenty plus years, three children and a cat named Holly. Growing up, she enjoyed reading V.C. Andrews’ the Dollanganger series, starting with Flowers in the Attic, S.E. Hinton, and Stephen King to name a few. Today her tastes run across the board in fiction and non-fiction, in all genres.
She has traveled throughout the United States, to the Bahamas and Cancun, Mexico. Between watching her son’s soccer games, maintaining one of the many scrapbook albums, gardening and being the COO of the Vitek household, she writes contemporary romances.
Contacts and Links
Twitter: @JodyVitek
Texas Two Step Blurb
Old family ties broken, childhood pain healed and true love revealed—one step at a time.
One phone call sends Chad Rogers back to the one place he’s been avoiding—home. Being at his mother’s side after she was shot, he faces the younger brother who tormented him during childhood and his ex-lover, Chloe Atwood. The reality of his feelings for her is stronger than ever and he confesses his love to Chloe.
Chloe Atwood is engaged to marry a family childhood friend. Chad Rogers steps back into her world, spinning it off its axis. His presence has her seeing her fiancé in a different light, leaving her to question their future life together.
Now be sure to enter the drawing!
a Rafflecopter giveaway ;

16 comments:

  1. Hi Jody,
    What a great stroke of luck that there was an opening in November. Congrats on getting your second ms finished and turned in early. Chocolate is always a good motivator for me. :o) Love the cover of Florida Heat.

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    1. Thank you for stopping by, Katherine. I was 'very' pleased with the cover for Florida Heat. I wish you luck in the drawing.

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  2. Thank you again for having me here today, Brenda! Sorry I'm late this morning. Catching up on my sleep. I hope everyone takes time to scroll through Brenda's past post. She talks about her own writing, the farm, and the many other authors she hosts.

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  3. Great Post, Jody,
    Love the approach you made to completing the book! It resonates with my spreadsheet fixation. (Of course - I would have added graphs.)

    Congratulations on meeting your deadline!

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    1. Thank you visiting, Nan! My calendar wouldn't compare to a spreadsheet or graphs. ;)

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  4. I love reading how other authors make time to write. Your system is so structured - I can certainly learn something. Congratulations on meeting the deadline AND the two books.

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    1. Lola, thank you stopping by! It is interesting to learn how other authors write. This was probably the first time in my writing career it has ever been structured. ;) I'm going to try doing this again for my four book.

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  5. I need your fire. My current MS is getting put on the back burner way to many days. Thanks for the great motivation and ideas.

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    1. Your welcome, Kathryn, and thanks for stopping by. Tomorrow's a new day. In the past I've had a trinket or two that helps inspire me to keep writing. I've had a stuffed animal to a birthday cake topper. Here's to you starting your own bonfire!

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  6. Jody, your book, FLORIDA HEAT, sounds like a very entertaining book. Please consider me in your search for readers and reviewers!
    Rebecca
    rbooth43 at yahoo dot com

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    1. Thank you, Rebecca! When I submit for reviews, I'll make sure to add you to my list.

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  7. Jody, your book, FLORIDA HEAT, sounds like a very entertaining book. Please consider me in your search for readers and reviewers!
    Rebecca
    rbooth43 at yahoo dot com

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  8. Talk about strategic planning. This was war, and you won!
    Whoo hoo.

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    1. Ana, thank you for visiting! The planning did work well and I hope it works for the next book too.

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  9. Your discipline is inspiring. I'm always looking for that!

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    1. I haven't always been disciplined. I'm not the type of writer who sits and writes every day, so this was a first for me. I envy those who sit an accomplish completed pages daily. Maybe this will be my turning leaf.

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