Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

I'm doing it!  Thanks to the encouragement of friend and author, Robin DeJarnett , I'm going back to where it all began and heading to Eastern Illinois University for Homecoming Weekend!!!  In case you didn't know, EIU is the inspiration behind the CIU campus in Three Daves .  It's going to be surreal to be back there, because while I was dancing the night away at Romans nights and grabbing a beer with friends at Ike's, I had no idea that what I was actually doing was "research" for an 80s chick-lit/romance I would one day write.  Seriously, I was studying finance; no one could've foreseen this. So I've booked a room at the lovely Super 8, arranged to do a book signing at the Panther Scholarship Scramble , and cajoled two girlfriends, also EIU alumn, into joining me on October 22.  Fun, fun, FUN!  In addition to a little postcard distribution and making new EIU memories, my mission will be to snap  photos of places that get a mention in the book...

I had the pleasure of working with Victoria Michaels to edit her second novel, Trust in Advertising , just released at the end of July.  It follows (but is not a sequel to) the publication of her debut novel, Boycotts and Barflies . Everything about Victoria is delightful, including her stories. She has a talent for pulling readers in to the hearts and minds of her characters, and her sense of humor and fun personality shine throughout each of her novels.  Here's a peek into Trust in Advertising:   I asked Victoria about some of my favorite aspects of Trust in Advertising : 1. Trust in Advertising is an engaging tale of love, but it's also a story of personal development.  More than one character experiences an awakening of sorts and is a changed person by the end of the story.  Which of the characters to do you think experienced the greatest amount of change in terms of personal growth and self awareness from the story's beginning to its end? Grea...

Last Friday I was hosted by the Urban Book Club in Forest Park, IL and was once again blown away by the " Book Experience ."  It was so much more than a book discussion.  The club members had scoured shops and the internet for 80s apparel, and one even wore an authentic pair of extremely colorful leggings FROM the 80s!  Hair was pouffed to maximum height and 80s tunes played in the background.  As if getting greeted with this flashback to my heday wasn't enough, our gracious hostess Jean put together an 80s trivia game---complete with prizes---and a spectacular steak dinner. That's when they "grilled" me about the book and writing (get it?).  They had wonderful questions and insights about Three Daves , reading, and life in general, and the evening passed much too quickly.  THANK YOU so very much to all of you! Special thanks to Jean for all her effort to make the evening absolutely perfect and to Connie for suggesting the book to the club in the firs...

I'm excited to particpate in The Great Blogging Experiment , brainchild of bloggers extraordinaire Elana Johnson , Alex J Cavanaugh and Jennifer Daiker .  The experiment is simply this: a bunch of bloggers blog on the same exact topic on the same exact day---today!  Will it be mass redundancy, or will we find each post insightful in it's own way, colored by each blogger's unique personality?  We shall see.  I'm betting on the latter. For a list of participants in The Great Blogging Experiment , click on the link to this post at Elana's blog and scroll down.  Much thanks to Elana, Alex, and Jen for setting all of this up.  The topic: Writing Compelling Characters.  It's well established that fictional characters should have flaws. It makes them real and therefore relatable. And getting readers to relate to a character is imperative if the character is to be compelling. But even the flaws have to be done just right.  If we don't follow certa...

Welcome to the weekly Meet an Author Monday blog hop. To meet new authors and discover great reads, simply visit any of the author links below. Look for our "Meet an Author Monday" icon at any of these blogs to keep on hoppin.   Authors! Have a book out? Are you under contract for publication? Join in the hop for a great way to network your blog and let readers know who you are!.

The other night I saw the funny and sweet Going the Distance , starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long and was surprised and ridiculously delighted by all the 80s references. The film is most definitely set in current times with texting and skyping galore, but someone involved in this movie was clearly jonesing for the 80s and found any which way to stick the decade in there, starting but certainly not ending with a game of Atari's Centipede. Then there was a quick move over to a guy in a Ralph Lauren polo shirt, collar up, and before I knew it we were staring at a poster of Tom Cruise in Top Gun !  This was followed up by a  morning wake-up call with " Time of My Life " from Dirty Dancing .  While the Going the Distance soundtrack is by no means an "80s Mix Tape," 80s bands get plenty of play in the film, including songs by The Cure, The Replacements, The Pretenders, and Berlin. I didn't hear any Beastie Boys, but our main boy does name Licensed ...

Great news!  Through July 31. 2012, Seers of Light - the first book in the Light Series is on sale for only $2.99 in Kindle ! Jennifer DeLucy is a highly creative, wonderfully genuine person whom I had the pleasure of working with when I was assigned as Developmental Editor on her debut novel, Seers of Light.  Seers of Light is the first book in The Light Series , a paranormal journey of self-discovery, adventure, and romance. Jennifer was inspired to tell this story after a personal exploration of various paths of philosophy and spirituality, including near death experiences.  All of these things come together in Seers of Light in a remarkably accessible, engaging, can't-put-it-down way.  Not only is Jennifer a gifted writer, she is also a talented musician and actually wrote the song for the Seers of Light trailer: I recently asked Jennifer about some of my favorite aspects of Seers of Light, and she was kind enough to answer.  Thanks Jen!...

In addition to being an author, I am also blessed to be able to work as a Developmental Editor at Omnific Publishing .  I say "blessed" because I'm odd in that editing is one of my favorite parts of the writing process.  I love taking a step back from my own manuscript and looking at it from the readers' perspective.  There's something so satisfying about tweaking, rewriting, adding, deleting, and in general polishing that baby up.  Like I told my editors on Three Daves ---I felt like my story had been to the spa. At first the prospect of editing and critiquing other authors' works was a bit daunting to me.  Writing is such a personal thing, and they'd be understandably territorial. But I've been doubly blessed by getting to work with extremely cool writers with professional attitudes.  They are passionate about their manuscripts and so they want them to be the best they can be and were eager for and appreciative of my feedback.  I've truly felt ...

During the month of October, Night Owl Reviews is hosting a web hunt.  It's a fun little scavenger hunt through author websites to find hidden Full Moon Web Hunt graphics with spooky "secret words."  Mwahahahah!  If you find enough of the secret words, you can enter to win an amazing assortment of books, gift cards, and other goodies. I love Halloween, and I dig scavenger hunts of any type, so it took me all of five seconds to say "I'm in!"  Starting October 1, you can download your entry form, pull out your cape, plastic fangs, fake blood and what have you, and let the hunt begin! Mwahahahah!!!...oh, said that already.

Welcome to Monday! It's time for the Meet an Author Monday blog hop.  To meet new authors and discover  great reads, simply visit any of the author links below.  Look for our  "Meet an Author Monday" icon at any of these blogs to keep on hoppin. Authors! Have a book out?  Are you under contract for publication?  Join in the hop for a great way to network your blog and let readers know who you are! Happy Labor day to all!

Buy your liquor at Walmart. Their rule is that employees are supposed to card if you look under 40.  Just got carded. Feelin' pretty good about myself. 

This post has nothing to do with anything, but the other night I was hit so powerfully with a conviction and I just had to share it.  It literally came to me while I slept.  In my dream, I'd been visiting a harried friend with two rambunctious kids.   I've never really understood why it is that humans continue the widespread practice of having children.  I recognize this internal thing that most of us are born with that makes us yearn to procreate; that can't be denied. Way back throughout most of history, people didn't question this yearning. And it's not like there were a whole lot of other options, anyhow. If you were "doing it," at some point you were likely to get pregnant, and you'd have the kid; end of story. But in modern times, there are tons of options to prevent pregnancy, and people are different.  We don't blindly accept fate anymore.  We still feel the inner tug to procreate, but in today's society, it's perfectly acceptab...

Hey, I'm about to head over to KarenG's Labor Day Weekend Blog party at her always interesting and entertaining Coming Down the Mountain blog and thought I'd share the recipe of what I'm e-bringing to the party. I love this recipe because it's easy, different, and delicious! Southwest Corn Dip   Ingredients (Makes a HUGE bowl, may want to cut in 1/3 if it's for a smaller group) 3 cans Mexican-style corn, drained 1 cup mayonaise 2 cups sour cream 1 bunch green onions, chopped 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 pound Cheddar cheese, shredded 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 pinch cayenne pepper 1 pinch salt In a large serving bowl, stir together the corn, mayonnaise, sour cream, green onions, cilantro, Cheddar cheese and lime juice.  Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt. Stir to blend in seasonings, then refrigerate until chilled before serving.  Serve with blue corn or multi-grain tortilla chips.  Or grab a big ol' spoon and eat it right out of the bowl...