Terri B here — Please join me in a warm welcome for longtime author Deborah Cooke who many of you know as Claire Delacroix!

I probably should confess early that I’m not much of a numbers person. I don’t remember numbers very well. When someone asks my age, for example, I have to figure it out. Fast. Because it’s a dumb thing to not just know. It’s the same with my books – whenever I’ve asked how many I’ve written, I have to work it out. It’s not like I’ve never worked it out before. I just don’t remember numbers. So, it stands to reason that I’m not one of those people who get worked up about birthdays that end in zeroes, or reaching certain ages, or even achieving specific anniversaries.

The strange thing is that next April will be the 20^th anniversary of my selling my first romance novel. This isn’t strange in itself – what’s strange is that I can’t help reflecting on this milestone. As you may have guessed, this isn’t at all like me, which is also interesting.

   In April 1992, Tracy Farrell called me from Harlequin Historicals to offer for my medieval romance, THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE. Even after all these years, that’s one call I remember very clearly. I as lucky because she called the first time when I was out, and left a message. So, I had a squeal and a bounce around the house – because I knew she wasn’t calling to reject my manuscript – then called back with my best professional voice. She was in a meeting but her assistant, Angela Catalano, whispered “it’s such good news”. It turned out that Angela had been the one to pluck my manuscript out of the slush and fall in love with it.

In almost twenty years, I’ve had a lot of career milestones. Let’s do the obvious ones first. I’ve published (give me a second here to count) eleven medievals with Harlequin, six with Dell, six with Warner, all under my pseudonym Claire Delacroix (http://www.delacroix.net) . I’ve published four time travels with Berkley and four contemporary romances with Berkley under another pseudonym Claire Cross. I’ve published a trilogy set in a post-nuclear pre-Apocalyptic future featuring fallen angel heroes with Tor as Claire Delacroix. Currently, I write Dragonfire (http://www.deborahcooke.com) , a contemporary paranormal romance series featuring dragon shape shifter heroes, with NAL – there are six titles in print and two more coming in 2012 – as myself, as well as a spin-off YA series called The Dragon Diaries (http://www.thedragondiaries.com) , also with NAL, also as myself. We can add that up together – that makes forty-one books in print plus another four that will be printed by the end of 2012. Forty-five novels. I think there are about six novellas, as well. (http://www.delacroix.net/novella.html) It’s been busy!

My books have been USA Today bestsellers, and my medieval, THE BEAUTY, was my first book to land on the New York Times List of Bestselling Books. I’ve had great reviews and horrible ones, been nominated for awards and even won a few of them. So, there have been lots of stories, and I’ve worked with a lot of smart editors who have taught me a great deal – both about the business of publishing and about my writing.

I call those the obvious milestones, because they’re the ones you’d expect from a career as a writer. But the two things that I didn’t think about in April 1992 are the things that have been the most important to me. First off, readers. Of course, books have readers and when you write a book, you hope that someone will read it. But I never expected to build such relationships with readers. I never expected to hear from so many readers, in letters and cards and emails. I never expected them to share their stories with me, or for them to be so very supportive of me and my work. Readers, and my relationships with them, have really become the heart of what I do.

The second thing I never expected was to develop so many very good friendships with other writers. I’m honoured to know so many talented and funny women, women who are smart and irreverent and practical and generous. I became one of those statistics very early on – it’s said that some percentage of romance writers are divorced. I don’t remember the percentage (it’s a number) but it’s high and I’m part of it. My first marriage ended between that call in April 1992 and the publication of that book in March 1993. I was blessed to have so many romance writers at my back, women I had only recently met but whose kindness and faith in happily-ever-after helped me through that transition. They were the first to cheer when I married again. (We do love our HEA’s, don’t we?) This summer, I decided to commemorate those friendships by inviting many of those women to guest on my blog, or to swap blogs with me. It’s awe-inspiring how many writers I know and admire – including Terri Brisbin, who invited me here today and will visit my blog in September.

There’s a line in a song by Mary Black: “we’ll never see what lies ahead if we keep on looking back”. I believe that’s true. I think it’s part of the reason that I don’t generally build lists of milestones – I’m too busy looking ahead, trying to figure out where I’m going and what adventures are in store. Can I publish another forty-five books in the next twenty years? Maybe! But one thing is for certain – it’s the stories, and the readers, and the writers who are my friends who will be with me every step of the way. That’s exciting.

Onward to the next twenty years!

  So, tell me, are you someone who keeps track of milestones? Do you commemorate birthdays that end in zeroes, or anniversaries, or other milestones? How do you celebrate, if you do, and what is your focus? Add a comment here today for a chance to win a signed mass market copy of THE BEAUTY BRIDE. It’s the first book in my Jewels of Kinfairlie trilogy and a title I’ve recently re-published in a new digital edition. You can read more about it, right here!

Deb, thanks so much for visiting us today and for offering a prize! I am such a big fan of all your work and am now addicted to your new Dragonfire romances. . . Anyone who posts through Wednesday, August 17th is eligible for the book prize. Terri B.