That’s me in my most bookish mask lol :). I could only put three of my books on there, and I can’t wear it out because of the little gaps in the sides and chin. But whatever! I love it! ADORKABLE, NINJA GIRL, and The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad look awesome in mask form!
I’ve been doing a lot of writing/editing/formatting, yay!!! Earlier this week, I completed and sent in the WIP I was working on for Entangled, and today, I’ve been formatting what will be my next release! Eep! So many exciting things going on :).
Just wanted to do a quick post since 2020 is coming to an end. Hopefully, there will be better times ahead for everyone–especially you awesome bookish peeps! I hope you had a merry Christmas, are having happy holidays, and that this new year is awesome for you!
Stay safe and be well!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
P.S. I’ll probably do another post later, but Bridgerton was AMAZING!!! I’d already loved the books. I now love the show. Besides our dogs and maybe a Taylor Swift song, it is the best thing to come out of 2020 imo :). Thank you, Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes!
I’ve been struggling with what to post (struggling in general really lol, but who isn’t?). Anyway, yesterday was a day, you guys. Long story short, our pups went to the vet for an unexpected visit, and it was stressful. Thankfully, they are back home and okay *sigh*.
Seriously, thank goodness for that.
We love those babies and are so grateful they’re well.
In other news, I’m writing on a deadline for basically the first time which is different. My inner-critic is so much…louder ha. She just will not shut up. And I’ve been struggling to hear my character’s voice–which usually is one of my main strengths imo. I love this book, and I’m working through the doubts, trying to focus and just write the story I would want to read. If you’re feeling extra generous, please send good vibes and cross your fingers for me.
How have you all been doing?
Oh, I so hope you’re well!
Several readers have left the kindest messages/comments/reviews, and I’m so grateful to all of you for the encouragement <3.
And here we go… It’s December. If you’ve followed my publishing journey, you probably know this time of year is very difficult for my family and me. Christmas hasn’t been the same in a while. The holidays aren’t as bright as they used to be. We lost someone very special a few years ago, and…
It’s just…hard.
It’s so, so hard.
Sometimes I get down around this time, and I wonder: What the heck is wrong with me? But I already know the answer. I miss my best friend. Desperately. I feel her loss every day. We all do.
So yes, Christmas is hard.
If you’re in that boat as well, I pray you can find the happiness, wonder and magic of the season. Spend time with the ones you love (whether it’s in person, virtual, on the phone or through exchanging cards). Hang in there. Keep trying to find the good. And if you’re suffering through this pandemic, struggling financially, if you, your family members or friends are sick, oh I pray for you. Sending you all so much love, strength and prayers for healing and happiness.
Please stay safe, my awesome readers! I hope December has been treating you well so far!
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’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!
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!
I hope you’re all doing well! Yes, I’m still here and just…trying, every day trying, like everyone else.
My last blog post wasn’t sent out for some reason—and it was a nice one about a fun ADORKABLE bookish video I was able to do with some truly awesome people! <3 (ICYMI: here it is!)
I hope this one gets sent—and if it doesn’t, I guess I’ll ask the people at WordPress lol? Not really the best with technology, so I’ll definitely need help ha.
But anyway, here are a few writing/book-related updates:
I reached 10,000 words on my current WIP yesterday!!! Yay, yay, yay! I’m really in love with this book and the characters. It’s a YA romance with funny and swoon-worthy moments and…ugh, I hope to keep writing, can’t wait to finish and share it with you guys!
THE BEST MISTAKE, my New Adult sports romance, is doing awesome! It’s gotten some wonderful reviews, and I’m so thankful for all of them! Here’s a pic from back when THE BEST MISTAKE reached 100 ratings on Goodreads! *sigh* If you haven’t read it yet, I hope you’ll check it out, and let me know what you think of the O’Brien brothers!!!
Just found out Sarah J. Maas is writing another book in the A Court of Thorns & Roses series! Literally one of my favorite series ever! And it’s not just any book. It’s for two characters that I love: Nesta & Cassian! <333 Can’t wait to read!
A kind person at work got me a Kindle! It happened around Christmas, was totally unexpected and just really thoughtful. Because of this, I now have 3 free months of KU! Very excited to read all the books lol!
Also, on a totally different note, and because I’m a real person who cares about you and your loved ones, and I hope you care about mine: Please, if you have to go out and be around people, wear a mask.
I don’t know how this has become an argument. It’s not about infringing on people’s rights; it’s not even about you protecting yourself. The masks are worn to protect others. It’s about caring for those around you because you could have the virus, be asymptomatic, and spread it to a loved one—or to someone else’s loved one. I’ve had my own experiences, and I’ll share them here.
The first time I ever had to wear a mask was five years ago. It was to protect my best friend who had cancer.
Her immune system was down because of the chemo treatments. I’d caught a cold which of course wouldn’t usually be too concerning. But for someone with cancer and lowered immunity, a cold could turn into something far worse, like pneumonia. My little cold that I knew I’d likely recover from could’ve been life-threatening to her.
So I wore a mask.
To protect her.
Because I love her.
I had to do this a couple of times because I got sick again while she was undergoing treatment. I would’ve done anything to protect her. Wearing a mask was not a hardship. I wish I could’ve done so much more. She was and still is my favorite person of all time.
*And if you at any point while you were reading this thought: “Well, she was dying anyway” or have ever said something cruel like that to a person with cancer, please don’t buy or read any of my books. They are written for people with hearts. And I’m pretty sure you’ve misplaced yours.*
There are still people who I love that I want to protect. So again, when you go out and are around people, please wear a mask.
I hope you’re all safe and healthy, finding happiness during this time. Be well, readers.
…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! 🙂
Hi everyone! So I’ve got some exciting news to share with you guys! My next book I’ll be publishing is something completely…new.
As in New Adult!
As in a New Adult sports romance about a family that I love and cannot wait to release into the world <3.
Yayyy!!!!!
NA means it’s set in college, and the characters are a bit older (and awesome and hilarious and swoon-worthy!). I’m so excited about it! I’m so excited about sharing it with you guys–but I’m also nervous as all get out lol.
This is my first NA book, and it has more mature content. That means it’s intended for readers 18+. Gah, even writing that I feel like people may get the wrong idea! With all of my stories, I’ve always let the characters be my guide. My stories whether YA or NA are still swoony and sweet imo, but I hope there will be a crossover between the readers who like YA and a little more mature NA romances.
Yes, this book is sweet and kinda steamy, nerdy, heartfelt, hilarious and hot, which is why again, it is intended for readers 18+.
That does not mean it is dirty or raunchy–I don’t think I could write like that if I tried LOL!!! However, there is more than kissing, and I just want to be totally up front about that.
I’ve always loved sports romance and family series and knew that one day I wanted to write my own :).
I blame Julia Quinn and Susan Elizabeth Phillips (and so many other amazing authors) for this!
And though I considered releasing this book under a different pen name, I decided against that because…well, besides having no idea how to write under a second pen name and currently releasing one book a year lol…I’m still me. I still write like me. Under my current bio, it says, I write “to give readers a taste of happily-ever-after,” and under the About Me section (that probably nobody reads), it says, I write books with “humor and heart for the nerd in all of us.” That still holds true for my NA books :).
I hope you’ll want to read it when it comes out and meet the O’Brien Brothers <3. I really do love this family and all the sporty romance goodness! Also, never fear! I’m definitely not done writing YA romance. My current WIP is actually YA, and I wish I wrote faster lol!
So yeah! New adult, new adventure, new characters in a new college/university setting!
It’s going to be so much fun!!! I’ll release the summary soon, and I hope you love it! Have an awesome day, bookworms!
If you read the title, and immediately thought of The Princess Bride, awesome! We are part of the same dorky/geek-ish tribe lol.
Bonus points if you heard Mandy Patinkin AKA Inigo Montoya saying the iconic lines ;).
Anyway, hello, everyone! I wanted to share some cool things with you guys.
I went to an author event almost 2 weeks ago, and it was a lot of fun—despite my awkward.
Yes, that’s me LOL! The name tag was given to us courtesy of the bookstore (which I love!) that hosted the event. The freaked out/hilarious expression? Well, that’s all me ha!
This is what happens when you put an introvert in a room full of authors (who mostly already know each other argh) and expect them to just talk to people/have fun/mingle. Le sigh.
My mom, who was my wingman for the night, pointed out this book because she’s 1) a smart aleck and 2) hilarious!
She also told me, in all seriousness, that I did a great job and am actually good at talking to talking to people (gah, I love her and her pretty lies lol!).
Oh and did you notice her sleeve? We accidentally twinned that day—which my mom claimed we were not doing…but which was of course pointed out by the lady at Starbucks, who right when we walked in asked if we’d “matched on purpose.” *mental headslap*
No, Starbucks lady. No we did not match on purpose. We just both really like plaid/gingham LOL!
Pre-event, we went to dinner, and our lovely server brought us complimentary champagne to celebrate my first book being in the bookstore <3. I don’t drink, but it was such a nice, kind and unexpected surprise!
Another awesome surprise was actually seeing ADORKABLE on the shelves!!!! <333 Yay!
We also got to see ADORKABLE on the shelves at Target for the first time ever, and that was just too much amazingness for one day!!!
Recently, I’ve been trying to outline my new book, yay, and emailing my cover designer about what will hopefully be my next release, hooray!
I’ll post more about that soon; there’s a lot to say lol, and I’m so excited (and nervous) to share! 🙂
I’ve also received some awesome messages from readers, and I just have to say: Thank you so much!!!! I absolutely love hearing from you! You have no idea how much your kind words and support means to me! It really lifts my spirits and pushes me to keep writing, so again: Thank you!!!
I hope you’re all well, bookworms, and have an awesome weekend!
