a few minutes to be thankful - Julie Cohen

Hi, my name is Julie Cohen and I've had the most amazing 12 months of my entire life.

My first book was published in March 2006, and I've had five others published since then (the two latest are SPIRIT WILLING, FLESH WEAK, with Headline's Little Black Dress imprint, and DRIVING HIM WILD, Mills & Boon Modern Extra, in February). In March 2006 I also became pregnant, after much trying, and I gave birth to my first child five weeks ago today, on 23rd December.

Twelve months, six books, and a baby...is it any wonder I wake up every morning feeling blessed?

But some other really cool things have happened in the past twelve months. So in between feeding and rocking my son, I wanted to spend a few minutes blogging about how writing books has connected me with people.

For one thing, people I haven't heard from in ages have Googled me and sent me an email or a letter. This is great. I've heard from relatives, long-ago friends, former teachers and former students. Google is truly a wonderful thing.

(One of my hobbies is inserting strange phrases into my blog so that it comes up on a Google search for, for example, "nude Canadian hippies". I'm not sure if any of my long-lost friends have found me that way.)

For another, readers get in touch and tell me what they think about my books. This is a total thrill--particularly when they are from a far-away country I've never been to. On the other side of the fence, since becoming an author and finding out how great it is to hear from readers, I've started writing to authors I admire, and I've met a few amazing people that way.

Also, complete strangers email me because we share some sort of interest. The other day I heard from a woman who is a total Ewan McGregor fan (I am just slightly obsessed with him, and he's the hero of my book DELICIOUS). What a joy, to discuss the merits of a beautiful man with a like-minded stranger...

Of course, the romance writing community is amazing, full of generous published individuals and exciting aspiring writers. Forums like this blog, The Pink Heart Society, and Romancing the Blog are brilliant because you can meet online, but I belong to real-life writing groups too, and there I meet people of all ages, beliefs, backgrounds, and talents, who I probably would never meet if we didn't share a love of writing.

Writing has changed my life, and truly provided a community for me. For example, when I went into hospital to have my son, visits to my blog soared, and there were nearly a hundred congratulatory messages left for me to read when I got out of hospital.

What gifts I've been given.

How about you?


DRIVING HIM WILD, Mills & Boon Modern Extra, February 2007

When smart-mouthed New York City cab driver Zoe Drake finds Mr Tall, Dark and Brooding on her doorstep, she doesn’t know what to think...does he want something, or has Christmas come early this year?
"Cohen writes the perfect short contemporary romance"
(Romance Reader at Heart)


SPIRIT WILLING, FLESH WEAK, Headline Little Black Dress

Rosie Fox can’t see dead people. She’s a fake spirit medium, playing the game for fun and profit. Until one day, she really sees the future. And she realises that maybe the truth is more important than she thought.
“Wildly romantic, hilarious…terrific page-turning fun”
“Witty, fun, and just a little bit quirky”
(Amazon reviews)