Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

It's happened. My obsession with the 31st season of CBS's Survivor ( Survivor Second Chance: Cambodia ) has spilled into a playlist. This has to be my all-time favorite collection of final seven players. Below is my tribute to them---with a theme song for each player at this point in the game, plus a bonus for all those who've been voted out.    (File this post under: What Happens When Nicki Cleans Her House. My imagination has too much time to play and usually ends up stuck somewhere completely unproductive...is how I became a writer in the first place.) The order of songs isn't random, I've ranked the players by who I think has the best chance of making it to final tribal AND winning the whole shebang. I explan my choices below. Even if you don't watch Survivor , I hope you enjoy the playlist .  #1 Spencer - " Levitate "   I've admittedly been in the young lad's corner since before he set foot on the beach, but he's playi...

Today's meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group coincides with the release of a writer friend's book. Not just any writer friend--- Jennifer Lane has become one of my best writer friends. Not only is she an invaluable critique partner, she's a safe place to vent and an infallible voice of reason. She's a big reason insecurity doesn't keep me down for long. My Christmas wish for all of you insecure writers out there is for you to have your very own Jennifer Lane. :) The other thing about her is---she writes great books! Her new release. Aced , is the 2nd in her Blocked series, which I've found to be a fresh approach to New Adult. Below is my review at Goodreads . If you've already read Aced , get your review up on Amazon today and you'll automatically be entered to win a $25 gift card.  Join today's  Facebook Party   w ith  o ver 25 authors (including me from 5-5:30pm EST) and prizes. Jennifer lets us in on the musical inspira...

Thank you all so much for your encouraging words last month regarding my anxiety about leaving my laptop behind whilst I skipped across the pond. To be honest, I feel silly for having even given it a thought. As most of you said, it's good to step completely away once in a while. I returned re-energized and eager to attack writing projects that'd gotten buried under my giant stack of virtual papers. Today, I simply want to share pictures of literary interest---because I know you writer types will find them fun. I took these during my most excellent adventure in London. Shakespeare's Globe Theater It's rebuilt with the only thatched roof in London, not on the exact spot as the original but darn close. (BTW it's AWESOME to have a sister who lives in London to be my personal tour guide. She's loaded with lots of interesting factoids.) 221b Baker Street Home of...Sherlock Holmes! You almost forget he was a fictional character rather than a real pe...

I'm thrilled to take part in the cover reveal for the second book in the BLOCKED series by Jennifer Lane. Jennifer is my crit partner extraordinaire, which means I've gotten a sneak peek at the draft version of this story.  Jealous? You should be, because as I've told Jennifer many times, she has such a great way of pulling me into her stories and making me feel like I'm right there alongside her characters. She also does an excellent job at covering potentially explosive issues with a steady, even hand. But we'er not here to talk about the story quite yet. We're here to look at hot abs ... uh, I mean the fabulous new cover for ACED!   ACED (Blocked #2) Cover Reveal Title:   Aced Series:   Blocked #2 Author:   Jennifer Lane Genre:   New Adult Sports Romance Cover Design:   Coreen Montagna (coreenm@gmail.com) Release Date:   December 2, 2015 Blurb Volleyball wonder Lucia Ramirez found her love match in Blocked...

I hope to have a brand new Twisted Fairy Tale novella to share with you at next year's Spooktacular Giveaway Hop (the beastie has been playing in my head and will soon be ready to put into words) but this year, it's all about Hans & Greta . Take a gander & spread the word - one of you word-spreaders will win a $10 Amazon gift card! a Rafflecopter giveaway Thank you for stopping by. Visit the I Am a Reader blog for the full list of giveaway participants. Hope you win bunches! 

I'm soon to take off on an excellent adventure - my senior-in-high-school son and I are flying across the pond to visit my sister in Londooon!  99.5% of me is nothing but excited, but the remaining teensy .5% is wondering what it's going to be like to live without my laptop for a full week. I've never left it behind before. It's not like I ever end up having any time to spend on it, but it's like Linus' security blanket to me. I just like knowing it's near, just in case. I'd probably cave and lug it along this time, too, but li'l Lappy is having issues. She's working fine, but she's literally cracking up. See? For her sake, I can't take her anywhere (hrm, maybe what I should be insecure about is that I'm okay with writing on junk). And so, I leave behind my unfinished manuscripts, my notes, my bookmarked reference sites, my collection of inspiring images, and the only sized keyboard I can comfortably type on. I know I'll be...

Hey, kiddos, it's a quick one from me today because I have other places to send you. As you're all aware (I'm sure), tonight is the big premier of SURVIVOR Season 31 -- YES, this most excellent of social experiments has 30 seasons under its belt and is going stronger than ever. So it's very fitting that I'm here today to tell you about another survivor who's going stronger than ever. Meet  super cool mother and wife  Heather Von St. James .  She was told ten years ago that she only had months to live. Please visit this blog post to read about her amazing story. She was diagnosed with Mesothelioma, survived it, and is now spreading awareness about it on #MesoAwarenessDay, this Saturday, September 26. Please visit this page and scroll down to the social media icons for super easy ways to participate in spreading the awareness on your social networks. Here's a graphic Heather made with some quick educational points on the disease. Visit mesothelioma.com...

For this month's meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group, I have more of a frustration than an insecurity. We writers have lots to say, right? Thus all the writing. And yet, it seems  that outside of our works, we're expected to zip it when it comes to opinions that might not be socially popular. And heaven forbid we ever have the audacity to publicly call out a jerk for being a jerk. Everyone says to be ourselves on the social networks, but really, all an author is allowed to share publicly without backlash is rainbows and marshmallows.  I'm all for staying positive, but I'm not exactly a rainbowy & marshmallowy type of person. I'm sarcastic and irreverent, and I get mad when people are jerks. I'm extremely lucky to have a small circle of trustworthy writer friends I can vent to privately, and it's not that I even want to vent publicly, but sometimes it might be nice to be able to share my grievances with a wider group.  You see, the t...

Amazon US  •  Amazon UK  •  Amazon CAN  •  Smashwords  •  Barnes & Noble  •  Book Depository Congrats to Aria Glazki on the release of Mortal Musings ! Since the story centers on a writer struggling with his muse, I thought it would be fun for you to get a peek inside the head of the writer of this novel. Here are... 6 Things You Didn't Know About   Mortal Musings Take it away, Aria... 1:  I started writing the first version of this book as a high school senior. I was taking an independent study creative writing class, and my very patient advisor was waiting on pages, despite the fact that I had no idea what to write about. I still remember sitting in our school library, staring at the blank page of the computer, contemplating what inspiration is and how to get it. And then I made a character wonder the same thing, and that is how  Mortal Musings   began . 2: I gave up on that fal...

Today I'm over at Liberty Falls Down talking about dating in the Windy City. C'mon over and I'll buy you a drink ... or at least let you in on great places to get one. TOP 5 PLACES FOR A FIRST DATE IN CHICAGO

Quick & simple: I'm not sure I'm writing in the right genre for me. I enjoy what I write, and telling love stories is what drew me to write fiction in the first place, but I know the single most important thing for any writer when it comes to marketing is to know your audience. I'm not sure that I do. I  look at what tops the charts in my categories, and I'm sure they're great stories - they obviously speak to a large number of readers - but  very few of them carry any appeal to me personally. They're jut not the kind of stories I'm interested in reading. I'm often mystified by tropes that consistently play well with romance readers. This makes me feel like an outsider in my own genre. I've enjoyed reading lots of romance novels, rarely ones on the bestseller lists, but then I pick up the Fellowship of the Ring and I get all tingly. Outside of Autsten, romance novels don't usually make me tingly. So what the hell am I doing writing the...

Today I'm excited to take part in a cover reveal with IndieSage PR . I'm extra excited because it's for an author I've recently gotten to know through the interwebs. She's a wonderful combination of really cool chick and font of knowledge. I speak of Aria Glazki and her upcoming novel, MORTAL MUSINGS. Before  I show you the cover, here's the blurb -- which I think ALL writers will find interesting...  Mortal Musings by Aria Glazki Publication Date: 25 August 2015 Genres: Paranormal , Romance Muse Alexandra has had it with the arrogant, ungrateful humans she is obligated to inspire. When the internal ranting of her latest charge pushes her past reason, she disregards the rules and forces her own words through his fingers, and is instantly entrapped in mortal form. With no magic, no identity, and no resources, Allie has no alternative but to navigate the mortal realm, depending entirely on her reluctant host while discerning what exactly caused he...

Y'know what? I don't really feel like talking about writing today. I'm nothing if not ADD, and at least one of those D's has taken my mind temporarily in other directions. Would you like to see my current creative obsession? As of my son's 18th birthday this coming fall, my house will have ALL adults living in it. So I adultified the kids' bathroom. But I reject the idea that being adult means having no fun, so the under-the-sea theme stays. The guest room is getting a grown-up fairy tale theme. I blame the froggie prince. Creative minds can't stay locked on words and manuscripts all the time, right? Sometimes they need to break free and express themselves in paint and accessorizing ... and maybe even crafting window treatments out of ribbons instead of curtains. Where do your creative energies flow when you're not writing?  This post is part of the monthly blog hop/therapy session known as  Insecure Writers Support Group , ...

Hey gang! I'm going to start posting links to my monthly newsletter at my blog. If you'd like to have Nicki's News  delivered right to your very own in-box, you can sign up here . This month I'm sharing a super awesome summer playlist plus 5 things that are real in VIBRIZZIO & 5 things I WISH were real. Read Nicki's News for June 2015 (or click on the stack o' tapes to go directly to the awesome playlist) On a total side note - have you seen JURASSIC WORLD yet? I just did last night & it's soooo good. So, so, so good. When my kids were toddlers they'd watch our VHS tape of JURASSIC PARK over and over and over again, so it was super fun to sit w/ them as almost-adults to watch this proper sequel. I thought it did a great job of being fresh while still giving nods to the original. I already want to go see it again.

Some of us first met Susie Salom as as the Girl Wizard. She's also Suze from the former Subliminal Coffee blog. (You can now find her on Twitter as  @Susie_Salom .) Those of you who kept up on her blog were let in on many of the trials and triumphs of her writing journey. In case you haven't heard, here's the latest triumph---and it's a big one: THIS was announced a few weeks ago . Scroll down at the link to see Susie's pretty face and  read the details of the big announcement in  Publisher's Weekly :  Cheryl Klein at Scholastic's Arthur A. Levine Books has acquired world rights to  Kyle Constantini Finds Her Way , a middle-grade novel by debut author  Susie Salom .  Hooray!!! This absolutely wouldn't have happened if Suze had let earlier discouragements kill her dream and belief in herself. She's truly a testament to never giving up. I asked if she'd share a bit about her writing story, and this is the wisdom she poured forth: From Susie ...

Congrats to Nancee Cain , who's debut novel, SAVING EVANGELINE , is out today! It's already  getting great reviews . I asked Nancee my favorite release day question: If you had to choose one song that best captures the essence of SAVING EVANGELINE, what would it be and why? Here's what she said:  "Given to Fly" by Pearl Jam because of its feeling of being down, persecuted and yet rising above it to live and love and finally being free. Such a cool song! Evangeline is the town pariah. Everyone knows she’s crazy and responsible for the death of her last boyfriend. Even her mother left her and moved cross-country. Lonely and desperate, Evie decides to end her life. Rogue angel Remiel longs to return to earth. There’s just one problem. He tends to invite trouble and hasn’t been back since Woodstock. The Boss sends him to save Evangeline, but there’s a catch. He can’t reveal his angelic nature and must complete the task as Father Remiel Blackso...

The marvelous Nick Wilford has a release today! A CHANGE OF MIND AND OTHER STORIES is a collection of short speculative fiction. If you read any of Nick's flash fic during A to Z, you know he's a wizard with words. We're all in for a treat with this brand new collection of stories with a twisted edge.  SPECIAL RELEASE DAY PRICE: Only 99 cents ! Nick took time out of his busy schedule to answer one, simple question for me: Me: If you had to pick one song that best captures the essence of A CHANGE OF MIND AND OTHER STORIES, what would it be and why? Nick: I don't normally write with music in mind, but I kept coming back to Radiohead's "Karma Police". Apart from being a great song, I think the lyrics fit with my novella quite well. The chorus to me means "this is what you get if you mess with who we are, i.e. try to be someone you're not" ... and of course Reuben "lost himself" too! Nick:  It's quite an...

I'd be ever so delighted if you'd join Lady Liz Blocker and me at her esteemed blog for a spot of tea and an exclusive excerpt in which I'm told LOL's are to be had. You can find us here . You can also stop by My Crazy Corner's Romance Blogfest to learn how VIBRIZZIO all began.