A Day in the Life of… Courtney Cole

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A Day in the Life of.....

This is where us bloggers & fans get a glimpse inside the days of our favorite authors!

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My name is Courtney Cole and I'm a novelist.

​I started out writing Young Adult fiction, but I've dabbled in women's contemporary novels and most recently, I've found my new love... New Adult Fiction.

​I'm what you call a "hybrid" author.  I started my writing career as an indie, but my newest series, The Beautifully Broken, has been picked up by Grand Central Publishing (Hachette).

Fun facts about me

I am terrified of buoys and birds.
I am 5'10" tall
I was born and raised in Kansas, but I live near Lake Michigan now
I like to have the volume on my car stereo set at an even number
I am married to my real life Prince Charming and have two sons and a daughter.
I collect dashboard hula-girls
​My favorite movie is and always will be Caddy Shack.
My favorite ice cream is Red Velvet Cake Batter.
I love creepy looking forests and cemetery angels.  Weird, right?

 

A Day in the Life….of Courtney Cole

My life is filled with sexy bad boys, exotic locations and waterfalls made from chocolate and wine.

In my imagination.

In real life, I live in the corner of Indiana, close to the borders of Michigan and Illinois, and very near Lake Michigan and Chicago. I live in quiet suburbia in a little neighborhood where most of my neighbors don’t even know who I am or what I do for a living…because I’m a fairly private person and I like it that way.

In real life, my days consist of yoga pants, cashmere socks (my favorite luxury) and too much coffee.

The first thing I do when I get up is make coffee. That’s imperative. I don’t function right without it. I help my 10-year old daughter get ready for school, including an argument (every day!) about what to do with her hair. After that, I take my dogs outside for a bit, then I head back in and get to work.

If it’s cold, I curl up in front of my fireplace with my laptop. If it’s not, I stay in my office. One of these days, I’ll get a fireplace in my office, so I won’t ever have to come out of it. Lol.

I usually comb my hair, but sometimes I don’t shower until the afternoon. Or evening. It depends on how my writing flow is going. I always try to get 2,000 words in at a bare minimum. My best day ever was 11,000 words. Although my brain was mush for an entire day afterward.

I usually eat at my desk, and really, the only time I get up is to take my dogs out. If my untrainable yorkie manages to slip out of her collar, then I have to chase her through the neighborhood. Or if it’s a nice day, I’ll take a walk and get some fresh air. Always, throughout the day, I text and vox with my BFF Michelle Leighton about 500 times. We usually start a conversation around 7am, and end it around 11pm. It’s an ongoing thing.

I will surf on FB and Twitter throughout the day, although I try to keep it to a minimum so that I don’t get distracted. I get distracted easily enough when I do research for writing… somehow, I always end up browsing through shirtless male hotties for my storyboards. I don’t know how it always ends up that way! Lol.

I usually wrap up the writing around five or so. And then I spend time with my kids and husband, make dinner, do all the normal “mom” stuff. We like to go to the lake, play basketball, swim. In the winter, I don’t venture outside much. I absolutely hate the cold.

We bum around in the evening, just hanging out. And then I always, always take a bubble bath before bed. I’m a horrible insomniac, and hot baths help calm me down for sleep.

I have a hard time turning my mind off, which isn’t good for a good night’s sleep. I get my best ideas in the middle of the night, I think. So I’ll throw on a robe, run downstairs and write at 2am. Or 3. Or 4am. Time sort of runs together for me. Half of the time, I don’t even know what day it is.

I like to that I’m like an absent minded professor. I make tons of lists and I will forget anything that’s not on the list because my head is lost in fictional worlds. So, I like to think of myself as whimsical and artsy. My husband, on the other hand, has explained to me if I don’t start making a point of showering every day, I’m probably going to turn into Miss Havisham from Great Expectations. Haha. So, a daily shower needs to go on my list.

Anyway, on the outside, my day is uneventful. I sit at a desk or curl up on a chair and write.

But on the inside…inside of my head, I make out with hot sexy bad boys, I go for romantic picnics in the Grand Canyon, I wrangle wild horses (with a sexy cowboy), I go deep sea diving with a charming rogue…. The list goes on and on. And everything on the list involves a sexy-as-hell man.

I like my version of my reality better.

BEFORE WE FALL

PUBLISHED DECEMBER 3, 2013

Sometimes, one dark moment is all it takes to turn your world black...

For 24-year old Dominic Kinkaide, that moment took place on the night of his high school graduation. One dark incident changed him forever. He's a hardened actor now, famous in the eyes of the world, but tortured in his own. He doesn't care about much of anything, except for losing himself in the roles that he plays.

23-year old Jacey Vincent doesn't realize how much her father's indifference has affected her. She is proof that sometimes it isn't one specific moment that wrecks a person, but rather it's an absence of moments. She's like a bird with a broken wing-strong yet fragile, as she tries to float through life, finding acceptance in the arms of random guys, one after the other... to fill the void that her father left in her.

Until she meets Dominic.

After jaded Dominic and strong-willed Jacey are thrown together, his secret and her issues create a dark and damaged energy that will soon turn their attraction to each other into an explosive storm.

Even though when the clouds have cleared and the dust has settled, both of them are almost obliterated... they've learned a priceless lesson.

Sometimes, before we fall... we fly.