Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

Whoops, sorta got swept away in various blog hops & parties and the business of my non-e life and haven't answered a Next Big Thing question in a while. But I'm back at it and will continue to answer at least one a week until I've finally stuck a fork in this thing. As a refresher, I'm answering these questions in relation to my upcoming novel, Divine Temptation , scheduled for release in early 2013. 7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 6 months.  This story had been playing in my head for years, since well before Three Daves was ever published, but as you can gather from the opening paragraph of this post, I'm easily distracted, and so it took me a year and a half to recover from my squirreliness with the first novel and get serious about writing the second one. When I decided it was time, I wrote a rough outline of the sequence of events and set a goal of writing out one chapter every weekend. The deal I made with m...

I just love it when authors get creative with their release parties, and that's exactly what M. Pax has done with her latest release,   The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear . She's celebrating with a jousting tournament and contest at  www.mpaxauthor.com . Cheer for the knights to help them win the grand prize, and you’ll be put in a drawing to win an ebook copy of  The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear . Five will be given away. Huzzah! Let the Jousting begin! A New Adult Urban Fantasy, The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear is the first book in a new series. And it’s now out! The main character, Hetty, is a twenty-two-year-old, stumbling about in an effort to become a full-fledged adult. She struggles with self-esteem, weight, relationships, and making the transition between college and the real world. Graduation from community college isn’t the magic elixir Hetty Locklear counts on for becoming an adult. Her parents, who work the Renaissance fair circuit...

Thank you Alex , for this monthly opportunity to share our woes and garner much encouragement.  Hey!  I haven't told you yet, Big Al, but I mentioned you and IWSG in my interview in Insatiable Magazine . :) My post this month builds off something I read in an earlier IWSG post by Allison over at Geek Banter: Why I Like Scrivener . I'd not heard of Scrivener before and was intrigued by Allison's account of how the writing software eased organization and navigation through manuscripts and manuscript-related documents. I've downloaded the program and am finding it to be a delightful way to get organized for my impending book release. With my first novel, I had no idea what I was doing marketing-wise. When it was released to the world I was like...I was going to say a deer in the headlights, but that's not quite right.  I was more like a squirrel who jumps impetuously into the middle of the road and upon realizing he's in over his head, darts back and forth t...

Today Tara Tyler and Vikki are giving us an opportunity to thank our especially special readers in this lovely pre-Thanksgiving hop.  The best thing anyone can do for a writer is to read what they've written; therefore, I'm grateful to anyone who's ever read anything I've ever written. And I'm especially grateful to those readers who take the time to let me know what they think, whether in person, through a private e-mail or in a public review at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, a blog, or all of the above.  Life is busy, and sometimes the simplest things are the first ones to get brushed aside (don't I know it) so whether someone puts together a multi-paragraphed, thorough review or types out a couple sentences highlighting their overall thoughts on the story, I appreciate it so very much.  One particular person I need to thank is someone who's real name I don't even know.  I only know her as ILoveNeville over at harrypotterfanfict...

First up, congratulations to these 5 winners of a Three Daves eBook from the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop! Thank you,thank you to everyone who played along. a Rafflecopter giveaway Next up, I've been tagged by Jennifer Lane in U Got the Look (tell me you're not singing  THIS  in your head right now).  This is how it works: take your current manuscript, search for the word “look,” and post the surrounding paragraphs. Lastly, tag 5 blogging authors.  Ready?  Here's my first instance of "look" in my upcoming novel, Divine Temptation .  Maggie researched private schools in the area and presented the list to Carl. Although she and her ex--husband had attended Sunday Mass often enough to look respectable and dutifully fostered their children through the sacraments, Carl seemed surprised to see mostly Catholic schools on the list. “You do realize that divorced parents are going to be more a rarity at a parochial school than a public one, don’t you?” he...