Just one week until the cover reveal of WALLFLOWER!!! Hooray!
Okay, I know I’ve said it already, but…I’m so excited to share this cover (and story) with you and see what you think :)!
The time leading up to a book release is always super exciting. I just want to give Viola & Dare every chance possible to reach readers–and hopefully, crossing my fingers so hard, people will love them as much as I do <3.
I love math and numbers, so for me, it definitely is ha!
Never in a million years would I have thought one of my books would reach that many people. It’s like a little miracle. I don’t have a big family or many friends (though the ones I do have are THE BEST). I’m not good at networking (*see: I suck at networking). I’m an introvert-perfectionist who struggles with putting my work out there. Even my doubts have doubts lol.
Despite all this, ADORKABLEis still being read. It’s crazy–and I’m so very thankful that people are actually finding my books!
I’ve had a hard time writing recently. My mind has felt so mushy/muddled with everything going on in the world. I know I’m not the only one, and I hope it gets better. Little miracles happen all the time. Maybe one is just around the corner for all of us. If you need a little inspiration, here’s a poem by Emily Dickinson that I thought about today, particularly the first stanza :).
Hello, my lovely readers! I hope you’re doing well and that you got to read some awesome books over the holidays :). I didn’t get a chance to read, but I did finish writing a book, woop!
This one is for Entangled, and it’s with my editor now (very thankful to work with an amazing editor!). I love it, so I’m very much hoping she will, too! Crossing my fingers!
Just being honest: Sometimes it feels like I get nothing done lol. And with last year being so full of sadness, suffering and scary times, I was surprised to see that I’d reached several of my goals.
Bookish goals achieved last year: I published my 5th book baby and first ever New Adult romance, The Best Mistake, woohoo!!! The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad came out in paperback, and the Hungarian translation Piszkos Tánc was released, yay! I also published my first novella, The Kissing Challenge <3! The ADORKABLE paperback got a second printing! *happy dance* In June, some wonderful people helped me do the #passthebookchallenge with ADORKABLE (still so thankful & would love to do it again)! I attended a virtual writer’s conference hosted by The Writing Gals–which was awesome! Pretty sure I wrote more than I ever have in a year (completed 2 books + 1 novella and started another co-written book!).
I also had a few goals I didn’t achieve…but I’m rolling them over to this year :). Okay, so here we go. Bookish/Writing Goals for 2021: Write a book (or several! 2-3+). Publish a book. Write more and consistently. Send newsletter once a month. Post on blog, FB, Instagram without being scared/freaking out. Participate more in the author/book community; again, don’t be afraid to reach out. Learn how to run ads.
I also have several personal goals, but here are the big ones: Be thankful & focus on the good.Spread love & positivity.
And there you go! No idea if I’ll be able to reach any or all of them–but I’m going to try. How did your 2020 goals turn out, and what are your goals for this year? I’d love to know!
I wish you all the best and hope 2021 is treating you well so far! Be safe and well, bookworms!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. I’ll do another post soon, but in case you’re interested, my upcoming release is on Goodreads!!! This is truly a book of my heart. <3 It’s my first time mentioning it anywhere; I’m already beating myself up that it’s in a post script ugh, but I just wanted to say thank you so much to the 4 people who have already added WALLFLOWER! You rock!!! Be on the lookout for another post soon, you guys! I can’t wait to share it with all of you! 😀
Anne & Captain’s novella was so fun to write, and I hope it brings you some joy, lots of laughs, and a heaping dose of swoon <333. If you love it, please let me know! And oh, I’d be so grateful for a review! Even a few words would be wonderful!
Thank you again for all of the support and love! This one is for you, my awesome readers! If you love best-friends-to-lovers, TikTok challenges that lead to kissing and fun, flirty novellas packed full of swoon, I hope you’ll check out THE KISSING CHALLENGE!
Stay safe, good karma and positive vibes to you, everyone!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. I really can’t believe it’s out there, you guys! Hooray!!! And the paperback is on the way! Hope your October is going well so far, bookworms! 🙂
I hope you’re doing well! I have a new book coming out soon, woohoo! It’s a YA romance novella called THE KISSING CHALLENGE!
If you’re subscribed to The Cookie Jar Newsletter you may have already seen this, but I wanted to post here as well!
Here is the swoon-worthy cover <333.
And here is the summary:
The challenge: Kiss your best friend.
Sixteen-year-old Anne Elliot is in love with Captain.
He’s been her best friend for years. A rising musician with a special smile he reserves just for her, Captain even lets Anne practice her makeup skills on him—though his bandmates give him flack for it.
When Anne gets an anonymous comment challenging her to kiss her best friend, it threatens to reveal her secret. But how can she resist doing the one thing she’s wanted forever? It’s just one kiss. She and Captain’s relationship can stay the same…right?
The real challenge: Kiss your best friend, and don’t let him know you’re in love.
This YA romance novella is fun, fast-paced, and flirty, the perfect story for anyone who loves best-friends-to-lovers. Inspired by TikTok & Jane Austen, THE KISSING CHALLENGE is sure to make you swoon!
Again, I’m so excited to share Anne & Captain’s story with all of you! It’s 20k words, full of YA romance goodness, and I hope it makes you smile and swoon :). You can add THE KISSING CHALLENGE on Goodreads–and I hope you will lol! A few people have added it, and just seeing that really made me glad.
I’ve been feeling kind of tired and down. September is always hard, but I’m trying to stay positive. If you’re struggling, I hope you are able to stay positive, too.
Most of my focus has been on a charity event that I founded and have organized for the past few years to raise awareness & funds for childhood cancer. If you wouldn’t mind, please cross your fingers that it all goes okay. I’d truly appreciate the good vibes.
I hope you are all well, my lovely readers! Virtual hugs and good karma to you! Stay safe out there!
I’ve been sick for a bit. Blah. If you’re wondering, I was tested for COVID-19 (just to be on the safe side), but I’m very thankful to report the test came back negative. Whatever I’ve got is still hanging around. Hopefully, it will go completely away soon. But even with all that, I still managed to post on FB and Instagram, so yay?
Anyway, I wanted to let you all know that I reached another goal!
I didn’t tell anyone besides a few family members and one friend about it because I was afraid I’d jinx it and fail.
Story of my life ha.
My goal was to complete a 20K-word novella in ten days. And guess what? I did it, hooray! The story is a fun, swoony YA romance, and I’ll be offering to my newsletter subscribers for free just as soon as I can get a cover lol!
I’ll also make it available for $0.99 on Amazon because I’m not sure if everyone even knows about The Cookie Jar Newsletter–let alone this blog! *cries* But it’s cool! I just want everyone who loves my books (or wants to try my books ;)) to be able to read it, and from what other writers have done, I think that’s a good way to get the word out :).
I’ll have more on that later, but you guys!
Twenty thousand words in ten days!!! Not too shabby, especially for me and how slow I usually write.
If you have any goals you’re working on, I hope you reach them! I’ll be cheering you on from here and giving you virtual cookies along the way! Hope you are staying safe and having a wonderful week, bookworms!
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!
I have some book mail to share with you today, yayyy!!!
The Best Mistake proof came, and it is gorgeous! Thank you so much to Sarah Hansen for her beautiful cover design! See pics below :).
The awesome cover! *swoons*
Lovely spine!
And wonderful back cover!
And of course, I had to get one (or three lol) of Archer O’Brien and me together! (Totally knew this mask would compliment the cover :))
I love the paperback SO much! Very excited with how it turned out and can’t wait to add it to my shelves! It’s going to look so gorgeous up there!
Also sidenote: I don’t love how KDP puts that not-for-resale line across the books–however it is nice to know the cover still looks amazing even with the line running across his mouth lol!
The Best Mistake paperback will be available on July 30, 2020!!! That’s right, you guys! The Best Mistake comes to print tomorrow (or today depending on when you get this), hooray!
Probably only like three people will want it–including myself ha!–but maybe more awesome readers will discover Honor, Archer and all of the O’Brien brothers in this new format <3. I hope so anyway!
Hope you’re all doing well, bookworms! Stay safe and healthy out there!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. The Best Mistake paperback comes out July 30, 2020, YAYYYYYY!!! I can’t wait! 🙂
In an effort to make your Monday awesome…I have a giveaway for you!
Hosted by Tina Donahue, who recently celebrated a new release (if you’re into hot paranormal romance/reverse harem, you might want to check her out!), she let a whole bunch of authors be a part of her giveaway! Yay!
The prize is $365 in gift cards as well as a ton of ebooks–including The Best Mistake!
It’s a milestone for each of my manuscripts, and I’m so thankful to have reached it! The story is a YA romance, and I am absolutely loving it! Seriously, sometimes the joy of the process gets lost. It’s easy to celebrate the final product, but I really enjoy the writing–especially when I fall head-over-heels for the characters and their love story *sigh*.
Oh, I hope you’ll like it, too!
The downside is this means I haven’t been working on my next O’Brien Brothers book…BUT I do plan to write more in the series!
I’ve gotten questions about whether I’m going to continue the series, and every single time, it makes my heart glad <3. My first foray into the NA romance world has been going well! People are actually reading The Best Mistake! Honestly, I wish even more people would read Archer & Honor’s story! Ugh, I just love it! But I’m so grateful to the readers who have read and taken the time to send me their kind words and leave a review! It means more than they will ever know!
This weekend I formatted the paperback, and I’ve contacted my cover designer about the print cover, woop! So hopefully, that will be coming soon! I promise, I’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready :)!
Also, I’ve been in talks with Entangled about possibly doing another book with them, so yay! Hoping and crossing my fingers that wonderful things come from this!
And that’s pretty much all I’ve got. Just trying to hang in there, stay hopeful, and keep creating during this frankly awful time in the world.
I hope you’re doing well, my lovely readers! Hope you have a wonderful week!
…and my readers are the BEST of the best! Period. <3
Seriously, hands down, they rock! Book baby #5 has been out in the world for a little over a week, and I’m so thankful for all the love people have been showing Honor & Archer! Thank you so much to InkSlinger PR and Xpresso Book Tours and to everyone who participated in The Best Mistake Blog Tour and Book Blitz!
Also, thank you for this beautiful banner which I will be keeping forever and ever lol! <3
And thank you to every single reader who has read and reviewed so far!!!
The entire story was magical. I read this book in a single sitting because I legit couldn’t put the book down. –Vanessa at Novel Nerd Faction
I loved the slow burn romance!–Lauren at SERIESous Reviews
The most delicious mix of sweet & steamy…with a little bit of socially awkward too! A total 5 stars and a home run for The Best Mistake!–Krista, Goodreads Reviewer
I loved that their connections were more than just sexual or baseball, it gives the sense this relationship will go the distance.–Becky Burrier at Bookcase and Coffee
Sweet, steamy, fun, lighter.–Briana at Renee Entress’s Blog
“The Best Mistake” by Cookie O’Gorman deserves 5 golden stars!–Abbey, Goodreads Reviewer
This is one of the first books in a while I told my hubby to ‘be quiet’ because I was reading. The Best Mistake is definitely a must-read.–Sharrice at Reese’s Reviews
The Best Mistake was one of the first books I’ve picked up and finished in weeks.–Sanne at Scandalous Book Blog
This was a heartfelt love story that left me with a smile on my face.–Cindy at Read.Review.Repeat
The Best Mistake is a swoony, romantic new adult sports romance that is refreshingly free of much of the angst that NA books usually feature.– Becky at Becky on Books
Give this book a chance. It will never feel like a mistake, I can assure you that!–Andy, Goodreads Reviewer
You’ll have to hit those one click buttons to see how it all plays out! HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!–Jennifer Pierson, Amazon Reviewer
To say that I have fallen in love with all the characters in this book would be putting it mildly. I loved every single O’Brien sibling, and am so hungry for all of their stories.–Ree at Ree Cee’s Books
Ugh, you guys!!! As a self-published author (I think I’m technically a hybrid now, but most of my books–including this one–are self-pubbed), I appreciate these early reviews so much! Honestly, I appreciate every review that comes at any time lol! But the early ones help and let others readers know 1) why they should give the book a chance, 2) that it’s worth their time, and 3) what to expect. On a more personal note, reviews–the nice ones–also give me so much joy and warmth to know actual people are reading & enjoying something I wrote!
So again: Bloggers, reviewers, awesome bookish peeps, you rock!!!
Thank you so much!
NA sports romance is a genre that I love, but it’s difficult to break into ha! There are so many well-known AKA Superstar Authors in the category.
(Side note: I don’t know any of them… I did make a list of YA & NA authors to do newsletter swaps with for the release; it was a good list. Guess how many I contacted? If you said zero, you’d be correct LOL! However, I reached out to a few readerly peeps, asked if they’d like an ARC, so that’s good :)).
Anyway, it’s hard not to fade into oblivion–which I guess can be said about all genres, but it’s true of NA sports romance as well. Whenever I release a new book, I just wish I was less introverted and more outgoing!
Because I love my books so much! I truly do. And I hope they give people a breath of fresh air, a much needed pick-me-up, and yes, a taste of happily-ever-after! <3
Thank you so much again, bookish peeps! The Best Mistake had a fantastic first week, and that is all thanks to YOU!!! Honor & Archer’s story is finally out there, hooray, and people are already asking for the next O’Brien Brothers book–which makes my heart so glad! **Also, reminds me that I need to get cracking on the writing lol!**
I hope you’re all safe and well! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. I’ve also received a lot of love from Hungary and saw so many gorgeous pics from the blog tour for Piszkos tánc (aka The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad)!!! Gah, LOL is awesome and so are the LOL readers! I’ll have a post about that as well! 🙂
Ahh, you guys, I’m feeling all the feels! Part of it may be lack of sleep/stress lol, but the real reason is I’m SO excited to share this book with you! The Best Mistake is my first New Adult sports romance, and I hope you fall in love with it! <333 Honor Tierney (innocent bookworm determined to guard her heart), Archer O’Brien (gifted athlete, protective/oldest O’Brien brother, made up of swoon), gah, I love them so much!!! And ALL of the characters! Can I just say, I am head-over-heels in love with everyone in this book? Not that I’m biased or anything ;).
If you love sweet & sexy NA romance, college sports, hilarious cases of mistaken identity, and brothers who are guaranteed to make you swoon, I hope you’ll give The Best Mistake a try!
In this uncertain, scary time, I hope this story brings a little brightness to your day! I hope it lifts you up and gives you some happiness! Thank you so much to every person who has supported me and this book! It means everything <3. Be well and safe, my lovely bookworms!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. ***Again, The Best Mistake has mature content and is intended for readers 18+.*** If you are younger, please consider trying one of my young adult romances! 🙂 I love each and every one of them! My YA books are swoony & sweet, and there are actually 4 out now <3!
