10 Years of Widdershins
10 years ago today, I sat down and typed the opening line of the book that would change my life.
I was late for my appointment with a dead man.
It was the first day of Camp NanoWriMo, 2012 (starting the next year, Camp Nano shifted months so it’s no longer in June). The book didn’t have a title yet, but within a few days became Widdershins.
Mock cover I made for CampNaNoWriMoI had no idea I was starting an eleven book series that would touch so many people and literally change my own life. In fact, I thought the opposite: only a handful of people were ever going to read it, mainly because it defied the marketing wisdom of the time.
Marketing “wisdom” in 2012:
The book must have a clear genre. LOL, nope! Paranormal romance, but also historical, but also Lovecraftian horror…keeping in mind “paranormal historical” was really a thing back thenReaders hate first person. Strike two.Historicals don’t sell. Strike three.The hero must be a confident, sexy, decisive alpha male type. How about a nervous, socially anxious philologist who forgot to comb his hair and drops his books on his love interest’s foot?So the book was obviously doomed in terms of sales, but I wanted to write it so bad that it didn’t matter. Once I’d gotten it out of my system, I’d move on to something that would pay the bills. But for now, for this month, I would write the book of my heart.
Needless to say, I was wrong about everything, from getting it out of my system to how many people wanted to follow the adventures of a nerdy philologist who hates telephones. I guess if there’s any lesson here, it’s that no one knows what the future holds, and you should do whatever creative project calls to you, even if it seems like you’re the only audience for it. Because you truly can never tell.
I wanted to mark the day, even if it has significance only to me. Later on in the year, I’ll be doing some fun things to celebrate the tenth publication anniversary (December 3, 2012—the date on Amazon is a weird glitch that happened when I was changing the price before the release of Stormhaven, and makes it look like I wrote Book 2 before Book 1), so stay tuned for that!
In the meantime, to celebrate both the 10th anniversary of that fateful Camp NaNoWriMo and Pride Month, you can download Widdershins for free from THIS LINK for all of June. Chances are if you’re on this blog, you’ve already read it, so please feel free to pass the link on to any friends you think would enjoy it.
And thank you so much for a wonderful decade. I’m so grateful to each and every one of you.
Love,
Jordan
newest »
Thank you so much for ignoring the "wisdom" and writing YOUR book (and series)! Widdershins is one of the first queer series I ever read and there's been no going back. Passion projects always bring the win. :)
I so love the : nervous, socially anxious philologist who forgot to comb his hair and drops his books on his love interest’s foot!!
Miracles wrote: "I so love the : nervous, socially anxious philologist who forgot to comb his hair and drops his books on his love interest’s foot!!"Thank you!
The powers of Nanowrimo! Good for you and good for us! I love the series and I love the spin-off and I am usually shying away from horror stuff.
I fell in love with Whyborne from the very first page! Before meeting him I'd never met an introverted character that was written as actually interesting. Every time you'd release a book in this series I'd excitedly anticipate what new invention would be introduced for Whyborne to hiss and claw at. These books fill me with so much warmth! I'm so happy you published! Happy 10th anniversary!
