Deborah Cooke: Author

Today, I have an update for you on my writing and it’s a good one. 🙂

You might remember that I cancelled all of my pre-orders last December and announced that I was taking a little break. I wasn’t writing and I was beginning to worry about the delivery dates on my books, which meant it was even harder to write. I knew I had to make a change and did.

I didn’t stop working, but just changed my focus. Instead, I concentrated on repackaging several series that were due for a new look. I’ve told you about the new covers for the Dragonfire Novels, and my alter-ego, Claire Delacroix, is in the midst of updating the covers on all of the Ravensmuir medieval romances. (Here are the new Rogues of Ravensmuir covers.) There are 12 Dragonfire books and 14 Ravensmuir stories. That’s a lot of covers and a bunch of uploading, so it’s kept me busy.

I also cut back on various online tasks. For example, I shut down my crafty blog, Alive & Knitting. I was spending a lot of time composing posts for it, time that could be better spent (IMO) dreaming about my books.

I ran a Kickstarter for the shiny hardcover special editions of Kiss of Enchantment, which added Kickstarter to my list of online tasks that need to be trimmed back. Creating the graphics for those campaigns takes me so much time and the campaigns themselves are very demanding – it’s fun, but again, that’s time better spent writing and dreaming. I’m offering the new Dragonfire and Ravensmuir editions through my online store, Hazel & Honeysuckle Press instead of Kickstarter.

In terms of new covers, I also have an appointment with a designer to redo the Flatiron Five Fitness and Flatiron Five Tattoo covers. I like these covers a lot, but I think both series need illustrated covers instead. (People reach for them first at book signings.) So, if you like the covers with the photographs of the couples, be sure to order your print copies soon, before they vanish forever. The stories will remain the same, although I may revert the Flatiron Five Tattoo series to their original titles. We’ll see.

Not everything was cut from my schedule. I did a full-day booksigning and event, Pages & Pleasures, and had such a good time that I’ve put myself on the wait list for another in the fall. (I already have a second signing booked for May, Love & Romance in Toronto.) It turns out that talking to readers and other writers is both invigorating and inspiring, so I’ll keep that on my activity list. Not every week or even every month, but a couple of times a year will recharge my batteries. 🙂

In the meantime, I finished writing a medieval romance. It felt really good to be writing again, and clearing the clutter meant I could dive right into the fictional world. Not only do I love the resulting book but the process of putting up the pre-order only with a completed book was wonderful and stress-free. That book published this week and I’m sold on my new plan. I was able to give my ARC team more time, I did a bunch of graphics and posts in advance (when I had time), the links all populated so they could be updated. The process was a lot less rushy-rushy and that gave me joy. I’m sticking with assetted pre-orders from here on out.

Since finishing that medieval, I’ve been working on Jake and Mackenzie’s story, Just for Tonight. This one is going really well – it’s apparently one of those rare magic books that almost writes itself – and I’m hoping to publish it in June. (Fingers crossed that the magic holds!) Again, I’ll put up a pre-order once the book is edited and done. Some portals will retain pre-orders from the previous planned publication date, but at AMZ, it will be a new product with a new ASIN – well, two new products, as there is a choice of covers.

After that, I’m headed back into the realm of my dragon shifters. I suspect that the stories of Dragon’s Wolf and Kiss of Twilight are going to overlap and entangle, so I’ll need to write them at the same time.

One of the fun things about the Kickstarter for Kiss of Enchantment is that I offered Orion’s family tree as a digital reward. That meant I had to figure it out, and that meant I ended up planning the Darkfire Chronicles series AND now the histories of the Dragon’s Tooth Warriors intersect with the Pyr we already know and love. I had already planned for Kiss of Twilight to connect the world of the dragon shifter princesses from the Dragons of Incendium with that of Dragonfire, so there are bunches of connections to explore. I’m so excited about my dragon shifters again as a result!

I’m hoping to publish both of them this year. Of course, there’s a special edition cover already designed for Kiss of Twilight and a Kickstarter preview page. I will run that campaign there, as everything is ready to go (except the book.) I’m not sure on the timing yet.

I also have two stories started in the Carpe Diem Café series and I haven’t decided which one will be book four – I love them both! – the other will be book five. There’s Merrie and Austin’s story, and also Cameron’s story, which is a Christmas romance. When I order the print cover from the designer for Just For Tonight, I’ll order those two covers as well and decide which is next.

That’s as far as I’ve planned with writing. There are plenty of other ideas zooming around my office (and lurking in the corners) but this is the plan for 2026.