Hi everyone!

I’m still here lol! And I’ve been writing! Yayyy!!!!

Tonight, I hit 50k on my current WIP, hooray! I am absolutely in love with this YA romance, and I’m hoping to finish it this week. That’s a big goal for me as I am not the fastest writer, but I’m going to try.

A little while ago, I attended a virtual writing conference held by The Writing Gals! (Sidenote: They are awesome and kind and so generous with the info they give to other writers! If you are a writer, I’d definitely check them out! :))

It was wonderful, you guys!

I haven’t gotten a chance to watch all of the courses that interest me (there were SO many awesome ones), but I did get to do a few things.

One of the things I did was writing sprints!

That’s where you sit down, set a timer for 20 minutes and just write as much as you can. I may have done this at some point, but it was never with a 20-minute time frame or with other authors. I always did at least an hour, usually two hours and would feel so disappointed if I got tired half-way through or didn’t end up with an awesome word count.

Long story short, the writing sprints have dramatically increased my productivity, and I am so thankful!

Now, I know I am capable of upping my word count, and it doesn’t feel so draining to sit for hours on end, hoping for the words to come. Who knew taking a little break and then jumping back in could be so effective? Everyone but me? Okay then, lol ;).

Again, I’m thankful for the conference and for Maggie Dallen’s course on writing faster and more efficiently (she mentioned sprinting, too, whoop!), and for all of the awesome live chats/panels I got to see!

It was just such a breath of fresh air, a bit of light in all this darkness, and it really has lit a fire under me to finish this book–and hopefully, many more to come.

I hope you are all doing well, my lovely readers! Stay safe, keep reading, and May the Force be with you!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. ICYMI: The Best Mistake is now available in paperback, and it is oh so pretty! <3 Have you got your copy of Honor & Archer’s story yet? 😉 I hope you love it!