Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

Here are this week's ramblings on Survivor: San Juan Del Sur - Blood Versus Water . It was a valiant effort by Dale with the fake idol. At first I didn't understand why he said the whole thing about giving it to Jon if he was safe after the vote, but now I realize that if he'd simply threatened to use it, they would've done exactly what they did do and split the vote. This way there was at least the chance Jon might go for his deal. I think it was foolish of Jon & Jaclyn to stick with Missy & Baylor. Didn't they see Natalie so blatantly show her hand when she volunteered to join Baylor at Exile? Clearly Natalie, Baylor, and Missy will unite once the merge happens, putting J&J at the bottom of that alliance. Dale might've been weaselly, but he had no allies left in the game so he's not a threat. Then again, that also means he wouldn't be able to bring any voters over to their little group once they joined the other side, so maybe they di...

Uno   Alex J. interviewed me as part of his Themes that Rocked at the A to Z challenge blog ! Dos   Bookish Temptations featured an exclusive outtake from THREE DAVES  (a scene from David's POV) during their Blogiversary Blowout. Tres   I'm finally making good on a tag. Back in...er, August, ehe...the wonderful Jennifer Lane , who is in the midst of the successful launch of BLOCKED , a contemporary New Adult political/sports romance, tagged me in the WIP Blog Tour . The rules of the tour are to: 1. Link back to the person who tagged you . 2. Write a little about & give the first sentences of the first 3 chapters of a WIP. For my WIP, you might think I'd give you sentences from my upcoming chick lit, VIBRIZZIO . But nope. Not yet. And you might expect I'd give you lines from the potential sequel I'm working on right now. Again, nope. I'm weird about sharing what I'm writing while I'm writing it. So today I share with you sentenes from a manu...

*gasp!* I nearly forgot to post today. Part of the problem is that I just haven't glommed on to any of the Survivors as favorites. I like pretty much everyone, but I don't seem to really care one way or another who goes home. I felt especially that way during the tribal council last night. And that makes this season rather blah for me. I see two major problems: #1 Boring one-on-one camera time. There's no one like Cochran or Sandra with delightful commentary on their fellow castaways. Raw honesty combined with humor is what makes me love a Survivor. #2 There's no villain. It's hard to throw my support behind anyone when there's no one to be against. God help me---I miss #ChaosCass. The only thing I have to say about this episode in particular is that I don't support the random tribe mix-ups. I long for a Survivor played old-school with the same rules as Borneo. Because it's a game, right? Shouldn't the players know the rules before they play th...

Congratulations to Jennifer Lane on the release of Blocked , a New Adult sports romace with political flair!  Just in time for election season. You can read my 5-star review of this fantastic story at Goodreads.  For release day, I have a guest post from Jennifer about the influences behind writing this story and her goals in telling it.   Writing Blocked by Jennifer Lane Lucia opened the door. “They say not to discuss politics and religion on the first date.”

 “Well, then.” I gave her a huge smile. “We’re screwed.” ~*~ Has a political opinion on social media ever made your blood boil? Have you struggled to tolerate friends’ opposing political views? There’s a bitter political divide in many countries, including the US, and those polarized philosophies inspired the story of Blocked. Heroine Lucia Ramirez and hero Dane Monroe view the world in opposite ways but are thrown together as their parents compete for the US presidency. Underhanded national ...

If there's a rule on Survivor it's DON'T THROW AN IMMUNITY CHALLENGE! (Can you guess what I shouted at my TV this week?) And oh boy, did Drew learn that lesson. Clueless to the end, he thinks they kicked him off the island because he was a threat. No, no dear boy, it was because you were a jerk who was too tied up in your vanity to see what was really going on around you---and that makes you a very weak ally for anyone. So off you go. That's all you must endure from me this week because I'm off on a road trip Ted & Marshall-style to bring my baby girl home for the first weekend since we dropped her off on campus in August. Have a groovy weekend, everybody!

Just in time for the Spooktacular giveaway bash, hosted by the  I am a Reader  blog, Hans & Greta is only 99 cents on Kindle & FREE to KindleUnlimited members. Head into the forest with one studly guy and a psycho girl in this twisted fairy tale novella with a chance of zombie. Click image to find Hans & Greta at Amazon For my giveaway, I'm offering a $10 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner's choice) AND an eBook of one of my contemporary novels. Choose from Three Daves , a 1980s college romance, or Divine Temptation , a love story of angelic proportions. a Rafflecopter giveaway ~. ~.~.~.~

Welcome to the third installment of my ramblings on Season 29 of Survivor: Blood vs. Water; San Juan Del Sur. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? This week I was joined by my sister for the viewing---hooray! As a result I got a lot of my spewing out that night, so this will just be a quickie post. #1 I was right! It was Josh who threw the tying vote at Val. #2 I know I've been dissing the emotion on this show, but I thought it was a really sweet moment between Wes & Keith after the reward challenge---because it was natural and not at all instigated by Probst. #3 Rocker is such a dope. Why was he at all concerned about earning the favor of one person on the other tribe (Jeremy) while meanwhile irking the people who had the power to vote him out by flat out admitting he'd been trying to manipulate them for his own secretive purpose? #4 Dale is out as my favorite and Josh is in. If I was on the island, I'd be wary of Josh's aggressive play, but everyone who...

A world like ours, but filled with gears of brass, where the beating heart is fueled by steam and the simplest creation is a complex clockwork device. Within this tome, you’ll find steampunk fairy tale re-tellings as well as original stories that will send your gears turning. Welcome to the steampunk realm, with eleven authors guiding your path... GEARS OF BRASS is a steampunk anthology published through Curiosity Quills .  It will be available for purchase on November 10, 2014.  Within the pages, you’ll come across clockwork inventions and steampunk-ified fairy tale retellings.  Eleven authors will guide you through worlds filled with airships, top hats, and corsets. How cool is that cover? For a taste of what you're in store for, here's a teaser about SA Larsen's  story, TIME SPUN SOULS: it's a mixture of Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, a touch of Indiana Jones and some spice of Larsen's own. Visit her blog for more information on ...

I call this one: We're Gonna Need a Bigger Buff I'm back again for my new Friday feature, in which I share my thoughts and feelings about the latest episode of Survivor. (As I said last week, no need for my regular visitors to feel bad about taking a pass on these posts if  you don't watch the show.) The thing I'll stop harping on...after this: Probst continues to push my buttons by trying to manipulate the castaways' emotions. He acts like he cares, but really, he's just being cruel by intentionally drawing out their tears. He's clearly been given a Barbara Walters directive for the season, but happily, the players aren't dwelling on their feelings as much as the producers would like. So I guess I won't either. The thing I shouted at my TV: "She's half his height!" I can't stand it when they don't adjust the individual challenges for varying height or foot size, and this reward challenge had a clear advantage for the v...

Last month was the three year anniversary of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, founded by the one and only (as far as we can prove) Alex J. Cavannaugh , and today is the one year anniversary of the IWSG website for writers . Happy anniversary, Team IWSG! To celebrate, the team has asked IWSG members to contribute a post with our favorite piece of advice in either writing, publishing, or marketing. These bits of wisdom will be pulled together in the IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond . My contribution falls into the Marketing category. I hereby give my permission for the following post to be included in the guide. Myths I Believed When I was First Published by Nicki Elson , author of contemporary love stories I'm a little uncomfortable acting like I know what works when it comes to marketing a book, because clearly I don't, but I have managed to learn at least a few things in the almost five years since my first book was published. Today, I'd like to sha...