Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

Welcome to Monstrous Monday, hosted by Tim Brannan at The Other Side blog. The rules to this one are simple: talk about monsters. For my post, I've decided to tell you about the first monster to ever make me legitimately scared to walk outside at night...eh, daytime too if I'm being honest. I was pretty young when I met this monster, young enough that I don't remember exactly how young, but I'm going to guess about 7ish. I'm fuzzy on memories from that age, but this one is fairly sharp. My family and I were visiting our old neighbors, the Taylors, at their new house in Hanover Park. We sat as a group in their family room watching a movie on TV: Or "Son of Blob" as it was dubbed for its TV release.  My little heart started pounding the moment that woman inadvertently thawed the blob, thinking it was tomato sauce. The first victim, a fly. The second... Nooooo!!!  With each kill the blob grew, as did my conviction that my parents should'v...

That's right folks, it's here - one whole week of Spoooooktacular giveaways, hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer . Hop around this list of over 400 participants to win so many prizes, it's scary! At my place, I'm giving away an eBook of my 80s chick lit/romance novel, Three Daves , to 5 winners. To enter, all you have to do is answer the very personal and revealing question in the Rafflecopter below (tweeting, liking & following are optional but will win you extra bats in the bellfry). The answers coming in through the Rafflecopter are cracking me up!  Neon sweatshirts. Definitely. no mobile phones or internet. big hair and mullets YECH! You get the picture. Now...tell me your 80s fears... And what do you get when you cross the retro 1980s with the current zombie trend? Thriller! a Rafflecopter giveaway

To commemorate the release of Kyra Lennon's new novella, If I Let You Go , Kyra's hosting a bloghop in which we talk about our personal experiences with letting go. And to kick up the celebration a notch, today only, If I Let You Go is absolutely FREE in Kindle ! I didn't get past my 4th decade on this Earth without having had to let go of a lot of things. It's never easy, but the good news is, every heartache is given to us for a reason, to either teach us something or lead us somewhere better, even though it often doesn't feel that way at first (e.g. giant spiders in Lord of the Rings, remember ?) A change that proved pivotal for me, because it both taught me a lesson and led me to a better place, was when I had to let go of my beloved little house---the one where my babies were born, the one I Martha-Stewarted the bejeezus out of, the one I thought I'd never leave---to move my family out west.  I'm talking 1/2 hour west, practically straight down R...

Today we resume The Next Big Thing , in which I answer questions about my current work in progress .  Since I skipped last week, I'll answer two questions today. Question #4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? I hesitate to answer this question.  Y'see, when I read, I like to form my own picture of a person and I don't like it when I read something after the movie's been released, because then I can only picture those actors.  So I don't want to put pre-pictures in your heads and would rather have you form your own, okay? Although...well, there is one character for whom I pictured a certain actor, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give you a peek at him.  This is Maggie's ex-husband, Carl Brock: Richard Burgi .  Recognize him?  He's been on a bunch of TV shows, including Burn Notice, Chuck, Desperate Housewives, One Tree Hill, Castle, CSI: Miami, Harper's Island, NCIS, plus a bunch of shows I've n...

We talk often in the blogverse about how supportive writers are of other writers, and it's true.  We're all very blessed to have found each other.  And then there are those who take it a step further and not only cheer us on, but give us a platform in which to share our writing and receive useful feedback. One such person is D.L. Hammons, who's turned his Cruising Altitude 2.0 blog into a stage for writers---or more accurately, a fighting ring.  But it's the friendliest fighting ring you'll ever see. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday D.L. pits two anonymous writing samples of under 500 words against each other and anyone who signs up on this linky  gets to vote for the one that knocked them out.  We're also invited to offer constructive critiques of both pieces. It's a highly educational exercise just to scroll through the comments.  So what does all this have to do with the Insatiable vixen above?  Welllll, I dusted of...

Where to begin?  How about at The End ? As in today is release day of the final book in the Light Series by Jennifer DeLucy: Circle of Light Congratulations, Jennifer! This is a truly lovely series by a truly lovely person and I can't imagine anyone who appreciates a realistic romance set amidst a paranormal backdrop of lingering spirits, dark astrals and malevolent creatures will be disappointed.  Here's my 5 star review , but don't take just my word for it, here's what A Life Bound by Books has to say: "Her world and those that live in it are in a word, stunning." The Beginning As I said, this is the last book in the series, so if you haven't yet discovered the world DeLucy has created you now have a great opportunity to get started because for a very limited time, the first book, Seers of Light , is available for only 99 cents in Nook and Kindle . Before the Beginning If you jump on the new release right away and buy Circl...

Welcome Insecure Writers, and much thanks to our fearless leader, Alex J. Cavannaugh (insecure, sometimes; fearful, nevah!). As my regular visitors know I've embarked on a quest for  The Next Big Thing  and am answering one question a week about my current work in progress, which happens to be in progress at a publisher . :)   I'm taking a question out of order this week because it fits perfectly with an insecurity of mine. Question #5:  What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Are you kidding me???   One sentence?  Do you have any idea how long I struggled to reduce the thing into a 2-5 page synopsis?  And a 2-3 paragraph summary for the query? And even after all my work, I'm pretty sure the only reason that drivel made it beyond the acquisition editor's wastebasket is because I already had a relationship with the publisher. So there it is, my insecurity: I suck at hooks and blurbs.  With a new book coming out---one I'm tru...