Dec
2017

Hello December

categories: Adorkable, doing what you love, NaNoWriMo, Ninja Girl, self-publishing, writing, YA

Hello December!

I hope the month is treating you well so far.  I also hope you’re further along in your Christmas shopping than me lol.  It’s a real problem, you guys.  There’s so much more to do, but I’ve been writing so all is well, right?  Just kidding.  But I did get a few presents today, so at least, it’s a start.

Speaking of writing, as mentioned in a previous post, this year I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the first time.  It’s all about words/increasing word count, and I gotta tell you: It is a challenge!  But NaNoWriMo was also a lot of fun. 🙂  Every day in November I wrote down how many words I added to my WIP.  I tried to push forward and not look back.  This was hard, though, because I feel the need to fix things when they need fixing lol!

Anyway, for anyone who enjoys numbers, here are my stats.

Most words written in a day: 1,684 words

Number of Days I wrote: 26 days (the other 4 days I edited (hey, I couldn’t help myself!))

Word count at the end of November: 40,104 words

I had about 12,000 words prior to starting NaNoWriMo–which means I added about 28,000 words!!!  I wanted to significantly advance the story, and that definitely happened.  Also, the more I write this book, the more I love it <3.  Sometimes the words just won’t come, but they did in November, and I’m very thankful for that.

On another note…I ordered proofs for the NINJA GIRL paperback!!!! 0__0  WOOHOO!!!!!  They should be here Thursday, and I’m so excited to add it to my shelf with ADORKABLE.  Ahhh!  They are going to look so awesome together. 🙂  If all goes well with the proofs, I should have NINJA GIRL up on Amazon and available in paperback before Christmas.  Fingers crossed!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Nov
2017

Happy Green Bean Casserole Day!

categories: Adorkable, debut, doing what you love, Goodreads, Romance, YA

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having a very Happy Thanksgiving!  My favorite thing about today is that it reminds me there is so much to be thankful for–and I think, like a lot of people, I forget this way too often.  Family and friends, good health, food (especially green bean casserole, yum!), shelter, kind people with good hearts and bookshelves overflowing with amazing books.  I also found this yesterday which made me pretty ecstatic :).  ADORKABLE was one of the most read this week in sports romance books on Goodreads!!!

FullSizeRender(8)

Woohoo!  So thankful for this and the fact that people are still reading my books.  I’ve been writing this month–yay, yay, hooray!–and I’m thankful for that as well.  My work in progress is a story I loved from the very beginning, and I’m falling more in love with the characters as I continue.  Hopefully, I will have some book updates soon, but until then…

Happy Green Bean Casserole Day, everyone! 🙂

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Nov
2017

NINJA GIRL Fan Art!

categories: doing what you love, Fan Art, fun, NaNoWriMo, nice surprise, Ninja Girl, YA

I love fan art!  It is one of the coolest, most thoughtful, best things out there, and it has personally helped me find books/movies over the years that have become some of my favorites!  I love it when a reader takes time out of their busy schedule and creates a picture, drawing, video etc.  They put not only their time but their talent into making that, and it means so much.

As much as I love it, though, I never really expected anyone to make fan art for my work.

But someone did, you guys!!!!!

I got this tweet from Alyssa last Friday (it was sent a couple of days earlier, but I didn’t see it until then).

Ahhhhh! Isn’t it awesome?!? <3 <3 <3

I couldn’t stop staring *____*.   Snow looks SO perfect, strong and kickass and so dang cute!  (Sidenote: I’d always thought Snow would be doing a high kick on the book’s cover but never found the right pic.)  And then take a look at the bad guy–notice his wince as our NINJA GIRL is kicking butt and taking names.  And then, oh my goodness, Ash!!!  He is possibly my favorite part of this whole scenario.  His little heart eyes as he watches Snow are…sigh…perfection <3.

The tears came even though I tried to stop them.  They were the good kind of tears because I was just so moved.  Alyssa didn’t have to make this; she didn’t have to draw an action scene of NINJA GIRL.  But she did, and I am over-the-moon grateful for this!  Go check out her instagram (@fanbookart) and while you’re there look at her other amazing pieces.  I’m particularly fond of the Harry Potter drawings ;).

This was such a cool and unexpected surprise.  To get to see Snow and Ash drawn like this…it is just incredible, made me cry like a baby.  Honestly, I still can’t stop looking at it.  If I ever see Sally and Becks from ADORKABLE rendered this way, going by my previous reaction?  Well, we better get the tissues ready lol.

To Alyssa and all of the other fan art creators out there: You are amazing, and as a writer and a lover of awesome things to fangirl over, I am SO thankful for your talent and your thoughtfulness.

It’s almost the middle of November, and I’m still NaNoWriMo-ing.  Surprises like this and the encouraging comments I’ve heard from other readers/writers definitely have given me the drive to push forward.  I’ve added over 11,000 words to my WIP, and I’m hoping to add more.

I hope you are doing well and are having a great week!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Nov
2017

NaNoWriMo

categories: doing what you love, NaNoWriMo, self-publishing, writing, YA

November is National Novel Writing Month.

If you’re a writer, you probably already knew this lol!  But if not, basically, the goal is to write a novel (or about 50,000 words) in a month.  That’s actually a bit short for a book–a typical YA romance ends up being between 60,000-80,000 words–which is somewhat of an arbitrary range, but when I started writing, I did a LOT of research on this.

FYI, my rough drafts were always short of the normal length.  *Le sigh*

But anyway, back to NaNoWriMo.

I’ve always thought about participating.  There’s even an online community/website here!  Sooo…this year I’ve decided to try and stick with it.  I haven’t signed up–mostly because I feel like the people may have their own friends/groups, and I’m nervous about introducing myself, getting to know new people yada yada yada.  Maybe someday I’ll finally take the plunge, but for now, I’m staying in my hermit writing cave lol!

My personal NaNoWriMo goal is to write every day and to significantly advance my current WIP.

If that means 50,000 words…awesome.  If it means I get to “The End,” that would be even better.  If not, though, I’ve decided to be proud of the progress and enjoy the journey.

Confession time: I’m a slow writer.  Also…I only work on one story at a time.  Gasp, I know!  There are people who can work on several stories at once.  It still baffles me when authors are able to put out multiple books a year!  Truly, I envy and respect those writers SO much.  But right now, that’s just not me.

So again, my goal is to write, write, write!

Currently, I’ve added about: 561 words (Nov. 1) and 1,248 words (Nov. 2) to my WIP.

I hope this post didn’t bore you too much, just really wanted to share this with you guys :).  Wish me luck, and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Oct
2017

We have a winner!

categories: Adorkable, fun, giveaway, Happy Fall YA'll, YA

That title is absolutely correct.

We do indeed have a winner of the Happy Fall YA’ll Giveaway!!!!

But first, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who entered.  It did my heart good to see those entries–1,813 people in all which is absolutely incredible!  Thank you so much for being interested in my work, for wanting to know more about Sally and Becks and ADORKABLE.

Without further ado, the winner of the Happy Fall YA’ll Giveaway is…

Anthony!!!

Congratulations, Anthony, and thank you so much for being a part of the giveaway!  Your signed copy of ADORKABLE will be on its way very shortly.  I hope you enjoy the book, that it puts a smile on your face and gives you all the feels :).

In other news, since Halloween is coming up, I’ve seen some awesome costumes in my classes!  No ninjas, jedi or X-Men unfortunately, but there is always next week lol.  (There was one fantastic Hermione, though; she had a time-turner and everything!  Go girl!)  Seriously though, the kids I teach are so creative which makes me feel kinda bad because I struggle to come up with new ideas.  I’ve been a Hogwarts student for the past two years–proud HP alumi/supporter right here!–and it’s also a great reuse of my graduation gown ;).  I’ve also been a newsie, pumpkin, fairy, cat etc.  This year I went as “sleepy teacher” (who may make a recurrence next week).  This includes pajamas, messy hair (which is a given), slippers, robe etc.  It’s an accurate representation/costume, and it’s just soooooo darn comfortable :).

I wish you better luck with your costume ideas–if you go as your favorite book characters, I will be majorly jealous…but also impressed–and I hope you have a great weekend!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Oct
2017

A Jedi, A Bad Guy and A Porg

categories: Adorkable, doing what you love, fun, Geeking Out, Star Wars, writing, YA

Hi readers!

You’ve probably already seen it, but I’m sharing something that made me go WOW and totally fed my inner-geek this week.  My girls–Sally Spitz and Snow-Soon Lee–would be all about it, and I am as well :).  The light sabers, the female jedi who looks like she’s going to be a major Force in the universe (pun intended lol ;)), a bad guy that I can’t help but love (that voice!!!), and of course, the cutest creature in all of the galaxy: the Porg! <3  Here’s the trailer for the upcoming movie, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Sooooo, what did you think?  Like I said, you’ve probably already seen it, but man!  That was an awesome trailer.  I also thought that glass/crystallized fox-thing was really cool.  That said, I really hope nothing bad happens to the crystal fox-things or the porg.  That would make this writer very upset :/.

In other news, the Happy Fall YA’ll Giveaway has ended and the winner of a signed copy of ADORKABLE will be announced next week!  Yay!  And you guys, I’ve been writing, working on my newest manuscript.  I know you’re probably like, “Duh, isn’t that just what you do?  Write?”  Well, sometimes the words won’t flow, but recently they have been–and this book!  Gah, I’m loving it.  Double yay!! I hope you all have a great weekend.  And of course, may the Force, the porg, and Becks be with you :).

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Oct
2017

Never Have I Ever

categories: Adorkable, doing what you love, giveaway, Happy Fall YA'll, Kamuzasok Kavarasok, Ninja Girl, self-publishing, writing, YA

Every writer has dreams.

Every person has dreams, but I’m pretty sure writers have specific writer-ly dreams.  Dreams about their book babies and how readers will embrace their work.  Off the top of my head, I can think of about ten that would apply to most people (write a book (bonus points if it’s a book you love); get a literary agent (I actually had one for a while!); publish a book; have people read said book etc.).  I won’t bore you by listing them all lol!  But I thought I’d talk about a few of my dreams that have yet to come true.

Caution: This post contains writer-ly “nevers” that may be embarrassing, revealing, and TMI.

You have been warned.

Never have I ever: done a book signing.  I know you’re probably like, “The ADORKABLE paperback’s been out a year!  What are you waiting for???”  Welllll, one reason I haven’t done a signing is because I’m self-published, and I’ll just say: bookstores are still snobby to self-pubbed people–especially if you use Amazon/Createspace.  Another reason is, though I’d love to do it, I’m not sure anyone would show up.  There, I said it.  I’m scared…scared people wouldn’t show…scared they would…ugh.

Never have I ever: participated as a writer at a book festival.   Pretty sure there’s a way to make this happen, I’m just not sure how lol.  And again, who would visit my table/booth/little corner anyway?

Never have I ever: spotted someone I don’t know reading my books.  I’ve seen a handful of people I do know reading my books (paperback and/or ebook), and I just wanna say: I seriously LOVE these people!!!  I fangirled every time, and it truly warmed my heart.  Now to happen upon a stranger reading ADORKABLE or NINJA GIRL in a shop/restaurant/train/walking their dog?  I would love that dog forever! 😉

Never have I ever: hit the New York Times, WSJ, or USA Today Best Seller Lists.  Yeah, I’m thinking this will Never (with a capital “N”) happen, but…dare to dream, right?

There are many more, but I’ll stop there.  I think a big part of it is fear–and that makes me wish my inner NINJA GIRL would come out.  And okay, I know this was supposed to be about “nevers,” but I want to end with a few dreams that have come true–mainly to remind myself, that they actually happened.

Writer-ly Dreams That Have Come True:  I got to see the ADORKABLE library book! (Bethany from Washington, you seriously rock!!!)

Adorkable library book

Both ADORKABLE and NINJA GIRL have hit #1 in their categories on Amazon (multiple times and in multiple countries).

Adorkable Best Seller

Ninja Girl Best Seller

One of my books has been translated into another language–specifically Hungarian (again, I <3 Hungary!).

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A few of my students have asked me to sign copies of their books.

People from all over the world have messaged/left reviews/commented about how much they enjoyed the books.

And that brings me to my biggest writer-ly dream that has come true, and it wouldn’t have been possible without YOU.  I published my books (ADORKABLE and NINJA GIRL), and people actually read them!  Real readers, awesome book-ish people, Harry Potter-loving, YA romance-reading, Korean Drama-watching, Book Boyfriend-collecting people, my kind of people, have actually read and liked my books!!!

I gotta say that was, is and always will be my greatest writer-ly dream.  What are your dreams and goals?  I’d love to hear about them, and whatever they are, I sincerely hope they all come true!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. Just a reminder, if you’d like to win a signed copy of ADORKABLE, there’s still time to enter the Happy Fall YA’ll Giveaway! 🙂


Oct
2017

5 Things and The Happy Fall YA’ll Giveaway!

categories: 5 Things, Adorkable, doing what you love, giveaway, Goodreads, Happy Fall YA'll, Ninja Girl, Romance, YA

Hello October, and happy fall everyone! 🙂

I haven’t posted in a little while, but it was for a great reason, I promise.  To make up for my absence, I’ve got a new “5 Things” post and an awesome giveaway for you guys!!!  I wasn’t sure what to write to be honest–it gets like that sometimes.  My mind goes blank; I can’t find the words, don’t feel like I have anything to talk about etc.–but I came up with something that I hope you’ll like.  So here is my list of “5 Things I Love About Fall.”

  1. Fall weather.  It’s just the best.  Hoodies, warm socks, crisp cool air, your favorite book and a nice blanket.  It’s the perfect reading weather, you guys, what more can I say? 🙂
  2.  It means I made it through September.  Remember that “great reason” for not posting?  And maybe you remember I had mentioned something about putting together an event for a great cause?  Well, everything came together, and although I was my typical awkward self, if my count is correct (can’t know for certain yet because all of the funds have yet to be totaled), we managed to raise about $5,000 for a local charity that supports children and families battling childhood cancer!!!  It made me realize there are still good people in the world and that maybe we can make a difference.  We held this event on my Aunt Pat’s birthday, so I hope she saw and was proud.  I still miss her every day.
  3.  Falling and getting back up.  So, at the charity event, I actually fell down some stairs in front of an audience full of people–picture that girl Tai from Clueless at the school dance, and you’d have a pretty good picture of what happened lol.  But I got back up, said “I’m okay!” and kept going.  Did I mention I was awkward?
  4.  Outlander on Starz.  If you haven’t read the book yet, for goodness sakes, GO READ IT!  If you have and you’ve been watching the show, I think you know what makes me love fall: James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.  Enough said *sigh* <3.
  5. The Happy Fall YA’ll Giveaway!  I’m giving away a signed paperback copy of ADORKABLE on Goodreads, and over 600 people have already entered 0___0.  The giveaway started on September 28 and will run through October 19 when a winner will be randomly selected.  So what are you waiting for?  Enter here for your chance to win!

I really do love fall–and not for the pumpkin spiced everything like most people lol…though, the smell is nice.  Since it is perfect reading weather, if you haven’t read them and need a new book, might I recommend YA romances ADORKABLE and NINJA GIRL?  I hear they’re pretty good. 😉  I hope you’re doing well, reading great books and having a happy fall so far!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Sep
2017

An Unexpected Kindness

categories: Adorkable, debut, doing what you love, fun, nice surprise, Ninja Girl, Romance, YA

Last week, I happened upon an unexpected kindness.

Seriously, I googled my author name (yes, I do that from time to time :)), and when I saw what came up?  Oh man, my heart!  It clenched; I literally sighed; my eyes got a little watery, and it was such a nice moment.  The ladies over at Star-Crossed Book Blog are celebrating their 3 year blogiversary!  Yayyy, go ladies!  To celebrate, they’re doing a giveaway as well as posting about one of my favorite topics: Book boyfriends.

I love book boyfriends.

I think I’ve said this before, and it’s still totally true.  Book boyfriends are *sigh* the best, and there so many amazing ones out there!  I have a ton of much-loved BBFs on my shelves; you probably do, too, right?  I don’t think I could pick a favorite (tbh, I probably could pick a few, but I wouldn’t want to upset all the other BBFs lol).

So anyway, the Star-Crossed ladies are doing posts about BBFs, and guess what?

They included Becks (twice!!) from ADORKABLE on their list of Kindest BBFs <3.  You can see the post here!

Ugh, Becks is kind.  He is thoughtful.  He is smart and wonderful, and this was absolutely unexpected and so thoughtful.  What they said about Becks/the quotes they included…I just loved everything about it.  I felt so honored that they included Becks on their list, and I can say with certainty that Becks would have felt honored and loved it, too :).

Kindness matters.  It really does.  I always try to focus on the positive, but September is a hard month.  And this was such a nice surprise.  I don’t think it can be stated enough: I’m so thankful for my ADORKABLE and NINJA GIRL readers.  You guys lift me up, and I truly hope my stories do the same for you <3.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

 

 


Aug
2017

Sharing the Love

categories: Adorkable, Amazon, doing what you love, giveaway, Kindle Countdown Deal, Ninja Girl, Romance, YA

It’s the end of August which means it’s time to share the love and announce the winner of the 5000+ ADORKABLE Readers Giveaway!!!  Still can’t believe so many people actually read something that I wrote…just wow *__*.  Without further ado, the winner of the giveaway is:

Bilqees B.!!!

Congratulations, Bilqees, and thank you so much for entering–and for adding NINJA GIRL to your Goodreads shelf!  I will be sending your $25 Amazon gift card shortly.  Again, thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and helped to make it a success.

To share even more love, spread good karma and hopefully contribute some positivity to the universe, I’m running a Kindle Countdown Deal.  Starting today and running until September 7, 2017, ADORKABLE will be available for just $0.99 on Amazon and Amazon UK!  Got any friends who you think might enjoy a lighthearted best-friends-to-lovers story?  Anyone you know need a pick-me-up of the sweet YA romance variety?  Well, look no further lol!  Sally and Becks are here, and their story will make you laugh, swoon, and feel all the fluttery feels (at least they do for me :)).

If you will please help me spread the word, I’d greatly appreciate it; I love finding new readers!

I’m really in the spirit to share the love–my NINJA GIRL and ADORKABLE readers, rock!!!–so there will definitely be more giveaways to come.  Be on the lookout for those, and I hope you’re having a great week!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman