Tag Archives: plans for 2021

2021 Publication Plans

Posted on by under Coming Soon, Contemporary Romance, My Books

This is going to be a busy year, although it looks right now as if it has a big publication hole in the middle of it. I’ll explain that in a minute.

Just One Silver Fox, book six of Flatiron Five Fitness series of contemporary romances by Deborah Cooke

First, let’s talk about what’s on the schedule. Just One Silver Fox will be coming in February. This is Jacquie and Pierce’s story and #8 in the Flatiron Five Fitness series. It’s a seasoned romance and has a touch of suspense, thanks to Pierce’s background. I’m having a lot of fun writing this story, especially as it’s giving me lots of threads to follow in future. You’ll see what I mean about that when you read the book!

I’ve also started to publish my books on Radish, a reading app for serialized fiction. If you like short reads on your phone, check it out.

Writing as Claire Delacroix, I have two new books on the schedule for this year: The Wolf & the Witch, which is the first book in a new trilogy called Blood Brothers, will be published in the spring. One Knight’s Desire, which is the third book in the Rogues & Angels series of medieval romances will be published in the fall. There will also be new audiobooks and translations from Claire: you can read more about her schedule in this blog post on the Delacroix site.

Then there’s the big hole in the schedule. There are no paranormal romances officially on the schedule as yet. (Yikes!) Will those three scheduled titles be all my new books? No, but 2021 is the year that I’m determined to get ahead of my schedule. My plan is to finish books and then put them up for pre-order, so that everything isn’t so much of a rush at the last minute. There will be a little gap in the release schedule this year—between those two medievals—then things should heat up in the fall. After that, I’ll be able to tell you better what’s coming when and won’t be pushing off publication dates anymore. (I might sleep better, too.)

Who’s in the crowd around my desk, wanting their stories told? Well, in terms of contemporary romances, Annika and Thom have already started talking to me. There’s another Flatiron Five Fitness story in the works, too, one that interests me a great deal. Sonia is in that one, but there’s more than one romance in the book. I’ll have to finish it before I can decide how best to publish it. When you read Just One Silver Fox, you’ll probably guess the identity of one more hero who has found his way back to my office. And then, of course, there’s Aidan and the spin-off series set in Harte Harbor. There’s also a cluster of PNR heroes fighting for my attention. (You can read about that in this post on the Dragonfire blog.) So many stories—we’ll see which one pushes to the front of the line. No matter which one it is, though, this is going to be a great year.

Lemonade for 2021

Posted on by under Miscellaneous Musing

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2021.

The new year is always a chance to change things up and try something different. I don’t make resolutions, but I do make plans. 🙂 Sometimes they come together and sometimes they don’t – 2020 was certainly a good example of things not proceeding according to plan. What about this year?

One of the changes brought by Covid-19 is the produce section at my local grocery store. The produce is a lot less fresh than it used to be, and sometimes it’s more expensive. The discounted produce section has grown and often that produce isn’t much different than what’s at the front of the store. I always check it out. This week, there were lemons in the discount bin, probably hundreds of them. I brought home more lemons than I need, because you don’t often get 14 lemons in Canada for less than $1 and I couldn’t resist them. Then I had to figure out what to do with them.

This brings me to an old saying which I’m choosing as my slogan for 2021:

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade

2020 gave many of us a lot of lemons, maybe too many lemons to manage well. But maybe you’ve caught your stride in this new world of ours or can find a better rhythm. I know a writer who treated 2020 like a personal retreat, focused on her work and produced more new books than she ever had before. I wish I’d done that myself since people were reading more last year and hungry for new content. (I was busy catching lemons.) My plan is to give that strategy a try this year and put this situation to work for me.

What about you? Is there something you’ve always wanted to try? I learned to make sourdough bread last year, which was new for me and now is part of my weekly routine. Is there a book you’ve been waiting to read? An online course you’ve been wanting to take? A new skill you’ve never gotten around to learning? If you’re in lock-down, quarantine or self-isolating, this might be the perfect opportunity to do any or all of those things, and create some lemonade of your own.

I’ll tell you a bit next week about what’s in my writing and publishing plans for 2021 and will post my monthly feature on Monday, but today, have a think about what you can change to have more lemonade in your life. Let’s make 2021 a year of lemonade!

As for those lemons, I’m working my way through them. I made Mr. Math’s favorite sour cream coffee cake already (it’s lemon) and will be making our version of Chicken Piccata this weekend (we grill the chicken instead of breading and frying it). I’ll make my mom’s lemon loaf recipe today and put some in the freezer to give to her the next time we meet. I’ve always wanted to find a recipe for lemon poppyseed muffins. We’ll have Madhur Jaffrey’s Lemony Coriander Chicken for dinner one night, too. The list goes on and every single item will be yummy. I’ll be out of lemons in no time!