It was one year ago this Valentine's Day when sophomore DePauw student, Hope Jordan, decided it was time to start a project on her bucket list and sat down to write a book.
Seizing a few extra hours one day, Jordan began her project: a compilation of stories told by women about their lives and loves. Two months later, "Love, or Lack Thereof," was born.
From the beginning, Jordan was inspired by a quote from character Finn Earl in the movie "Fierce People," when Earl said, "We are the sum of all the people we have ever met."
Jordan had always been intrigued by the quote and how applicable it was to life, and to love especially. She knew that the four hours she had been granted that Valentine's Day weren't enough to write an entire book, but it was surely a chance to begin collecting stories told by other women.
"The quote made me wonder about the connections that I have in my life and how my relationships with others have influenced me, and I wanted to know how other women have been influenced," Jordan said.
She was particularly interested in the connections formed from love that other women had experienced and how these relationships made the women grow stronger, withstand rejection or gain happiness.
So, she began writing and sending letters to women all over. Some letters were sent to women and some to women she had never met. The letters encouraged these women to share stories of "love, or lack thereof" and reminded women that the sharing of these stories can help a woman grow in her own perspective of love.
"I honestly wanted the stories to be as truthful as possible and for the women to just pour their hearts out to me," Jordan said.
The letter also asked the women to give advice about love, and what they have learned from their experiences with love.
"I want readers to learn from the stories, I want it to be like a guide about love that a big sister would give to her little sister."
Within months, Jordan received wonderful feedback from all the women that she had written letters to. She was grateful for this amazing response, and happy that these women were willing to trust her with stories that were so personal.
"When these women wrote stories for my book and submitted them to me, they really trusted me to keep it anonymous and private, and I would never violate that trust," Jordan said.
In a way, Jordan felt that making the stories anonymous transformed the novel from a book of gossip to a set of guidelines or truths.
Jordan concluded the book with her own thoughts on life and love. Throughout her life and especially through her experience reading and compiling the stories for "Love, or Lack Thereof," she learned that there are different types of love.
"I believe that love can be confusing, captivating and hurtful. At times you can feel lost," said Jordan.
She was also impressed by compassion and strength of the writers.
"My favorite story was titled "Repeter" and I loved it because the love expressed within the story was exotic and worldly-definitely the ideal Valentine's Day love story."
Within two months, the anthology was finished-well within her self-imposed deadline of one year. However, during the summer Jordan hit a wall when it seemed her book might not be published.
"I was so upset when I thought that I wasn't going to be able to accomplish this very important goal, but Sandy Smith was very supportive of me and encouraged me to keep trying."
Smith, of the McDermond Center for the Management Fellows program, remembered, "Hope didn't think that things were going to work out the way that she had expected and wanted them to."
It was during this time of doubt that Smith heard from a speaker by the name of "Famous Dave" about websites that help writers publish their books. She told Jordan about these sites, and Jordan's goal of a published book seemed within reach once more.
The process wasn't without financial costs however, so Jordan, with the help of Smith, sent out letters asking for donations to cover the cost of publishing.
"There were some contacts that were willing to donate to the cause, so we got a wonderful response," Smith said.
Responses were so wonderful that Jordan raised more money than the actual cost of publishing. People had such faith in her book and in her that the largest donation was from an individual who wasn't even involved in contributing to the book.
Finally, the publishing process was completed and Hope held the finished product in her hands.
"It was so exciting watching Hope from start to finish as she went from being excited to discouraged to encouraged-she never gave up in the process and I am so proud of her for that"
"Love, or Lack Thereof" has had an amazing response from women around the DePauw campus thus far. Junior Rebekah Cole was especially impressed with the way that Jordan asked other women about their experiences.
"The book is very inspirational in the way that the women were able to learn from their experiences-it was an interesting point of view for relationships," Cole said.
Another supportive reader, sophomore Rachel Hanebutt, loved the way Earl's quote inspired Jordan.
"The quote that inspired Hope exemplifies life in general and the openness for writing options brought forth a variety of writing. On top of that, most of the stories have been true to me in every form," said Hanebutt.
Both women were grateful and impressed with the fact that a woman their age wrote a book that is useful for other college women.
"It was amazing that Hope took the time to put something like this together," Cole commented.
The book is not meant to be a theology lesson; it's meant to be a set of encouragements from strong, real women who wanted to share their experience with heartache, life, love, and happiness.
Jordan's finished book, "Love, or Lack Thereof" is available on Amazon for $9.95.