writing – Page 4 – THE COOKIE JAR

Category: writing

21
Nov
2018

So Thankful

categories: Adorkable, Happy Holidays, Ninja Girl, self-publishing, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, writing, YA

Does anyone else feel slightly discombobulated lol? I can’t believe Thanksgiving is this week! It’s super early this year, and in addition to that, Christmas is going up everywhere I turn. Not that I’m complaining, ha! It’s all good :).

I love the changing leaves, the beautiful weather (when it stays cool here in the south), the time spent with family.

Just a look around reminds me: There’s so much to be thankful for.

And I am.

There are too many to name them all, but here are a few things I’m feeling extra thankful for this Thanksgiving:

My family and friends. They are always first in my heart, and though their numbers are few, I couldn’t be more thankful for all of the good times, good laughs, and good memories with my people. They are the best of the best. I love them the most, and I hope they all know that.
Good health. Currently fighting off a cold, but I’m so grateful for my health and that of the people I love. The breath in my lungs, the ability to move freely, I’m truly grateful for all of it.
Good food. Green bean casserole tomorrow, whoop! I basically wait all year for this lol.
Good music. Music just makes life better.
Dogs. Dogs make life better, too.
Dance. Dance is one of the great loves of my life, and I’m so thankful for my job, my students that inspire me and the ability to create to music that moves my soul.
Books, Readers, and the ability to Write. Books are magic. Readers rock (especially all of the lovely people I’ve met through this journey <3). Writing is a gift. I still can’t believe I have three books out there: ADORKABLE, NINJA GIRL, and The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder. I’m thankful every day when I think about how I almost never published a word. So very thankful.

So yeah, there is a lot to be thankful for :).

If you’re curious about my writing, yesterday, I finally reached 50,000+ words on my current WIP! *__* Yayyy, hooray, woohoo!!!! My goal is and has been to finish this book before the end of the year (which is coming soon, eep…). I’m hoping to publish it in 2019. I’m truly enjoying writing this book, and what’s even better? I love the story and am SO excited to share it with readers once it’s finished!

If you’re reading this, just know I’m thankful for you, too. So thankful. I wish you all the best books, the best times with your family and those you love, and of course, a great heaping portion of super-delicious green bean casserole :).

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. I’m also thankful that ADORKABLE is #1 on Amazon for one of its categories! How awesome is that? Thank you so much again, bookworms!

25
May
2018

Disappearing Reviews

categories: Adorkable, Amazon, self-publishing, writing, YA

Warning: This post may get a little mopey (though I’ll try to stay upbeat and end on a positive note :)).

My Amazon reviews have been disappearing. Not reviews that I’ve written, but ones that were written about my books by readers. *Sigh.* I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m very OCD when it comes to checking up on my book babies. Seriously, I check their pages almost daily. The “almost” is because I’d actually gotten better about this, sometimes checking every other day instead of every. single. day. But the “almost” is no more after what’s been happening.

Most recently, the reviews I noticed have gone missing were from ADORKABLE.

The screenshots are from 2018 (this year) on May 8, 9, 11, and 13. As you can see the numbers go from 469…to 467…then back up to 468. Now this may not seem like much, right? But at one point, ADORKABLE had 470 reviews. Unfortunately, I have no screenshot of this, but when I noticed it dropping I started to pay closer attention. OCD, remember?

Anyway, I noticed the drop from 470 to 469 but didn’t freak out. Then I actually got two new reviews–and the total went down a few days later to 468. Then down again to 467. Annnd commence freak out lol! That means I actually lost 4-5 reviews all around the same period of time. Strange, right? Something had to be wrong. All I needed to do was contact Amazon, tell them what was happening, and they would fix it. Right???

Wrong.

Here are the responses I received from Amazon. Basically, they include the reasons they remove Amazon reviews and say there’s nothing they can do. I was floored. I read through the guidelines for removing a review, and none of them apply to me. My family is very small, and none of them have reviews for my books up on Amazon (Full disclosure: My aunt did write one back when ADORKABLE was first released in 2016, and it was removed immediately).

One of the other reasons stated is that a reviewer may choose to remove their own review. Well, at least one of the reviews that disappeared was a 4-star. I know how much time and thought goes into writing a review. Heck, it takes me a couple of hours to write a post! So, I don’t think anyone who wrote and posted an Amazon review–let alone a nice one–which means they liked the book!–would take it down.

Also, none of the reviews for my books link to other products (reason 3 for removing a review).

The people at Amazon don’t disclose what reviews were taken down or why. Only the person who wrote the review can request to see the reason why their review was removed–even though Amazon doesn’t notify them, so the reviewer would never know it was missing in the first place.

Naturally, I wasn’t satisfied, and that’s why I got another email from Amazon. It was a cut-and-paste of the first response.

I’ve also noticed a couple of reviews disappear from NINJA GIRL. Le sigh. But I’m one of the lucky ones because, so far, readers keep reading and reviewing.

Reviews mean everything to a self-published writer.

It cannot be overstated.

Reviews are what drive new readers to your books. Reviews let people know a book is worth their time, money, effort. And reviews let writers know there are people who love their books (outside of family), that they should keep writing, that they are providing something of value to others.

When you’re out there on your own, trying to make a name for yourself and your books, it is difficult. No one is there to help you, no one has your back, no one is telling you to keep writing or when the deadlines are. If you fail, it’s all on you. If you succeed, it may be you…or just luck. And just imagine, when you finally break through, when you find those readers who enjoy your books…Amazon decides to remove their reviews with no explanation. No warning. The reviews, the readers’ thoughts, are there one day, gone the next. It is so disheartening. For both the writer and the reviewer.

So what did I do after all this was said and done? I saved the reviews in a Word doc then took screenshots. Several hours, 77 pages of text reviews and 81 pages of screenshots later, everything was saved 0__0. And that was just for ADORKABLE!!!

Yes, I did this for all of my books. And yes, I know it sounds a bit extreme LOL, but I had to do it. I want to be able to read those reviews over and over (the nice ones, of course :)). And if Amazon won’t help me in this matter, well, I couldn’t just give up.

Thank you to everyone who has written a review for one (or more) of my books! Your support means the world, and I hope you will keep writing reviews! I will most definitely keep reading them <3.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

05
Feb
2018

Coming Soon!

categories: doing what you love, Goodreads, Romance, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, writing, YA, YA mystery

This is going to be an exciting post because…I have a new book coming soon! Yay, yay, yayyyyyy!!!!!!!

Yes, book baby #3 is on its way, and I’ve even added it to Goodreads. Here are the main details in case you’re interested:

Title: The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder

Genre: YA romance murder mystery with a Southern twist :).

Release date: April 5, 2018

If you click on the link in the title, you can see the summary as well. And guess what else??? The cover will be revealed on Thursday! Yes, this Thursday, as in just 3 days away. And just so you know, I love the summary and the cover and, of course, the book <3. I really hope you will, too!

If you’d like to add The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder to your Goodreads TBR, you can do so here :). When that first person added the book, it was such an awesome feeling. More info will be coming soon–and again, there will be a cover reveal on Thursday! I’m so excited, and I hope you’re all having an awesome week!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. BookBub is awesome!!! More on that later as well :).

03
Jan
2018

Goals for 2018

categories: Adorkable, doing what you love, Happy Holidays, Kamuzasok Kavarasok, Ninja Girl, Romance, self-publishing, writing, YA

First post of the new year, whoop!

It’s a time for new beginnings, new hopes and a fresh start. It’s also the time for resolutions, but to be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of those. They are so easy to break. And it’s so easy to feel like a failure when that happens. Ugh.

So instead, I set goals.

Some are writing-oriented like: Publish a book. Finish writing my current WIP. Try new things with marketing/promotion. Keep being thankful and doing giveaways because readers rock! Write more, write better, write something I would love to read.

Others are more personal like: Be a better person. Make someone’s life easier. Restore and strengthen my faith. Exercise more, worry less, keep heart and stay positive.

I ended 2017 surrounded by the people and the books that I love <3. I’m hard at work on my next books, and I hope that readers will want to read them. A goal that I’ve always had (and continue to have in 2018) is to write the best book possible for my readers and myself.

So, how is 2018 treating you so far? Any resolutions or goals for the new year? Any new books? 😉

I hope you’re all doing well and that you’re having a wonderful week!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. Another goal for 2018: Figure out why the pics in my posts end up sideways on computer but right on mobile devices lol!

05
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

14
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).

Fan art time for NINJA GIRL by @CookieOwrites So proud I can finally draw a successful action scene! Yay! #ninjagirl pic.twitter.com/QZz6zzXfBs

— alyssa (@alyssayurisays) November 8, 2017

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

04
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

21
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

12
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!).

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! 🙂

22
Jun
2017

NINJA GIRL Book Playlist

categories: Adorkable, book playlist, doing what you love, Ninja Girl, Romance, YA

First, I want to give a huge thank you to YA Bound Book Tours and to everyone who participated in the NINJA GIRL Book Blitz! You are awesome, and I appreciate you so much for helping me spread the word. I’ve mentioned that one of my biggest fears as a writer is that my books won’t find their audience, and that remains true today. Every recommendation to a friend, every review/post/tweet truly helps. So again, thank you!!!

Second, I wanted to share my book playlist for NINJA GIRL! You may have already seen it, but I wanted it for my website as well lol. Also, on Goodreads, a reader created her own book playlists for both ADORKABLE and NINJA GIRL, and I thought that was so cool!

If you’ve read NINJA GIRL, you’ll see several of the songs mentioned in the book–but others may be a surprise :). The full playlist will be at the end of the post. Alright, let’s get to it:

“Ho Hey” by The Lumineers–or “Snow Hey” if we’re talking about the swoon worthy rendition done by the one and only Ash Stryker–absolutely represents how Ash feels about Snow. *sigh* When he sang to our ninja girl, she definitely got the message. And I mean, seriously, what girl wouldn’t love a guy putting her name into a song like this? <3

“I Am the Best” by 2NE1 represents Snow’s confidence in martial arts, self-defense and just taking on anyone who challenges her. She may be insecure when it comes to boys and her own femininity, but when it comes to kicking butt? Snow is a true badass!

When Nicki Minaj comes in and goes off on this track, it is Snow all day, every day lol! But “My Chick Bad” is the perfect song to express how Ash feels about Snow’s strength. He’s impressed by it, finds it attractive; basically, he’s got it bad for our ninja girl–and even though he’s a country fan, I think Ash would totally agree with this choice (minus the 2nd verse bc Ash is a Southern gentleman :)).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QEDb3xzdec

Ah, that voice <33333. Patsy Cline is timeless and truly one of the greats, and her songs are so so incredibly perfect for this little YA romance. Snow’s tough on the outside. Ash is confident/cocky. But they both have their insecurities, and Patsy exposes them all. The car scene where Ash and Snow have a Patsy Cline battle, speaking to each other through their song choices, too afraid to voice their feelings, is one of my absolute favorite scenes.

Okay, I LOVE this song. It is so innocent and lovely. I think the chorus is like what Ash was trying to convince Snow of all along: I’ll be yours, if you’ll just be mine. Then the part near the end where she sings by herself, and it’s so exposed and real…that’s Snow finally admitting her feelings and how much she cares for him. Snow and Ash, the honesty, the pure loveliness of this is what YA and romance is all about.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

NINJA GIRL Book Playlist

“Ho Hey” by The Lumineers

“I Am the Best” by 2NE1

“Sparks Fly” by Taylor Swift

“Fans” by Kings of Leon

“My Chick Bad” by Ludacris & Nicki Minaj

“In For The Kill” (Skrillex Remix) by La Roux

“Lies” by BIGBANG

“Someone Like You” by Adele

“Miss Atomic Bomb” by The Killers

“Crazy” by Patsy Cline

“I Fall to Pieces” by Patsy Cline

“Call Your Girlfriend” (live) by Lennon and Maisy Stella

“Marry You” by Bruno Mars

“Come By Fire” by Sara Jackson-Holman

“Little Bit” by Lykke Li

“Emmylou” by First Aid Kit