July Month in Review: I Finished The First Draft of My Novel! 🎉 (And Some Personal/Biz Updates, Obviously.)

Y’all.

I finally did it.

I finished my fucking novel. 🎉

(And by that I mean: I finished the first draft of my novel…. Still exciting!)

But more on that in a second!

First, let’s talk personal updates.

I become *the* most boring person alive during peak summer months.

I mean, I’ve had two (count ‘em, two) melanomas at this point. So me and the sun aren’t exaaaaaaactly besties.

And the heat?

Hard pass.

So, during July…

I spent almost all of my time hanging out in my house, like some kind of pale, irritable bear who never got the memo that hibernation is supposed to be a winter thing.

That being said, I did get a chance to escape to the coast for a day trip one weekend, which was much needed.

Oregon Coast, I <3 U.

Idk man. Something about the wooooooooosh sound of the ocean just quiets every anxious thought in my brain!

That’s pretty much all I did in July, other than going to the doctor and a couple of dinners.

Oh! Except for one other new thing I tried:

Styling my hair into the ever-so-popular slicked-back bun.

(I blame Love Island for influencing me.)

Yeah. It didn’t work out .

I just ended up looking like an actual egg. Which… no thanks.

Oh man! This was a HUGE month for Writing Revolt (the online course side of my business).

At the end of June, I joined a mastermind group where I’m learning how to create better, more helpful courses and stronger webinars/sales funnels.

So I spent most of my working hours in July implementing that process.

And whew… I’ve learned so much!

Honestly, I probably overdid it. I just get so excited at the start of a new project, you know?

I’m planning on releasing the re-vamped version of my course, Killer Cold Emailing, sometime later this year.

No spoilers, but…

I’ve come up with some awesome, totally new stuff to make the process of getting freelance writing clients way faster and easier.

Because honestly? I’ve noticed a lot of the “old ways” to get clients aren’t working anymore.

With AI in the picture in 2024 and freelance writing being “saturated” in some areas, it’s so important to have an updated strategy for getting clients…

Which I’ll be sharing more about with you very soon! 😉

On the freelance side of things:

I’m still working with my long-term clients I landed earlier this year!

But I didn’t do a lot of actual freelance work in July.

With the way my health is right now, I can kinda either do the “course stuff” or “freelance stuff.” If I try to take on a lot of both kinds of work at once… It’s just too much.

Me as an emoji grouping.

Fortunately, I have clients who are EXTREMELY CHILL and awesome and amazing and were totally fine with me taking July to focus on the course side of my business.

By the way…

I landed these clients the same way I’ve been teaching freelance writers to land clients for the last 8 years:

By pitching using my Killer Cold Emailing framework.

If you want to learn how to get freelance writing clients, even with no experience, you can join Killer Cold Emailing right here.

(You’ll get all the updates for free when they’re released! Plus, I’m increasing the price when the course is updated. So now is a great time to get in for less.)

Or dip your toe in with my free class on how to get started freelance writing – even with zero experience!

I finished the first draft of my novel! Ahhhhh!

Since I started it at the beginning of January (sometimes New Year’s Resolutions work out, I guess!), it officially took me 7 months to write.

And make no mistake:

• It’s awful.

• There are plot holes.

• It’s way too short (55K words).

• The characters aren’t fleshed out enough.

• Lots of scenes are jumbled and not cohesive at all.

But:

IT’S DONE. 🎉

And done is better than perfect.

Now, looking over the draft, I know the “bones” are there.

So, my plan is to step back and flesh out the plot and characters a bit better…

And then do a total rewrite.

😅

Honestly though? I’m looking forward to the writing part.

The planning and fixing the “big picture” problems? Not so much.

I’m trying to break this process up into chunks though.

That way, I can avoid getting overwhelmed, and, you know… chunking my laptop into a lake.

If you have any tips for writing the second draft of a novel…

Help. SOS. ASAP. TY.

(By that, I mean leave a comment and tell me how to do it.)

Or, if you have any questions about how I wrote my first draft, comment with that too!

Hmmm, random and interesting. Let’s see…

1. I binge-watched the shit out of Love Island.

Why was Love Island US so good this summer? Seriously.

2. I decided to stop putting so much pressure on myself.

I think writing this newsletter (and writing overall) has been tough lately, because I’ve been in lots of spaces / classes with ~very serious writers~, which makes me feel like I’m not serious or writerly enough.

Obviously, that’s not true. You don’t have to take yourself super seriously to be a writer. You don’t have to use the most impressive verbs available and write the prettiest prose.

You just have to write.

That’s it.

…Boom. You’re a writer.

(Reminding myself this daily from now on!)

I noticed that I got this newsletter written about 5X faster this month by taking the pressure off myself. Yeah, it might be more casual, and yeah, it’s probably got some errors or things that could be improved.

But that’s okay. I’m letting that be okay.

3. I’m taking a bunch of fiction writing workshops/classes!

I recently read my fiction writing aloud in one of these workshops for the first time, and OMG, y’all…

I felt like I might throw up or faint or both.

But…

Miraculously, I survived! 👏

And no one told me I was an awful writer. My laptop didn’t burst into flames. I didn’t have a perfectionism-induced panic attack.

It actually felt good, like I stepped over some threshold I was previously too afraid to cross!

So, here’s to feeling the fear and taking action anyway.

…Because it’s the only way we grow!

Thank you so much for reading! For real. I appreciate you being here. <3

I’d love to hear from you!

• Do anything fun yet this summer?

• Any new freelance projects you’re excited about?

• Or fiction stuff you’re working on?

…I want to hear alllll about it!

Comment below and lmk:

I love hearing from you and read/reply to every comment. :)

(As long as it’s nothing weird, like the one dude who said he bet I had nice toes and then asked me what my shoe size was.)

In your corner always,

– Jorden

P.S. Here’s your monthly dog pic…

This is the first pic I ever took with Finn! This was taken in the “meeting room” at the animal shelter, where you go in to meet the dog you’re interested in adopting. I picked him up and held him and…

The rest is history. :)

I can’t believe this was over a year ago. 😭😭

P.P.S. If you want to learn how to make a full-time income freelance writing…

When you’re ready, here are a few ways I can help you:

• Free Training: Learn how to get high-paying freelance writing clients.

• Paid Course: Learn how to create a $5K+/mo freelance writing business.

• Tutorial: Create a writing portfolio that lands you clients.