Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

    Congratulations Alex J. Cavanaugh ! Today is the release of his debut novel, CassaStar , a Sci-Fi space opera adventure.  I'm rather eclectic in my reading tastes and haven't had nearly enough exposure to ths genre, so I'm looking forward to it.  Plus, this Byron character sounds rather intriguing... CassaStar can be purchased at: Amazon Barnes & Noble BAM Powells “…calls to mind the youthful focus of Robert Heinlein’s early military sf, as well as the excitement of space opera epitomized by the many Star Wars novels. Fast-paced military action and a youthful protagonist make this a good choice for both young adult and adult fans of space wars.”  - Library Journal Even though I know Alex is extremely busy with a crazy blog tour schedule, I couldn't resist asking him my all time favorite author question: Moi: If you had to choose one song that best captures the essence of CassaStar, what would it be? Alex: Guilt Machine's "Green and...

Welcome to Meet and Author Monday! To meet new authors and discover great reads, simply visit any of the author links at our hostess, Cali Cheer Mom's, blog post .  Look for our "Meet an Author Monday" icon at any of the blogs listed there 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. While you're hopping, you'll see that the awesome Jennifer Lane , author of With Good Behavior , has posted an interview with moi and a four star review of Three Daves!  Along with listing her favorite 80s moments in the book, she had some very nice things to say, including: I really thought that Nicki Elson showed a realistic portrayal of college. Sure, we grow intellectually at college, but personal development seems to matter the most during these years. The formation of Jen's identity was subtle yet strong, aided by the...

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 ...

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!

It's blog hop time again!  An easy way to meet, follow, and interact with  authors and discover great new reads.  Select any of the fabulous authors at the bottom of this post and hop to their blog.  Look for our "Meet the Author" icon there to keep on hopping.  If you are a published author or have a book under contract, we'd love for you to join the hop by entering your name and blog url into the Linky tool. Then, create a blog post with our icon and the blog hop Linky tool in it. In the spirit of meeting authors, I will semi-reluctantly share with you my recent video interview with a local TV station.  Doing the interview was surprisingly fun---thanks to Holly Deitchman and the Out & About Batavia crew, who made me feel at ease. Watching myself in the interview...not quite as fun, although I did manage to make it through one viewing without cringing too much. I wish you similar results:

My mother read the sexy chapters in my book.  She is less than happy. I s'pose I could end this particular blog right there; I mean, it's no big shock that a mother would have trouble with her daughter writing such a thing, right?  But what really bothers me about it is that those few chapters seem to have skewed her overall view of the story.  The message that I hoped to convey has been lost amidst her shock and horror at the admittedly graphic depictions. But it isn't only my mother's reactions that have me bothered. Most readers don't seem to mind those particular chapters one little bit, far from it, and yet I've become concerned that what they'll remember most when it's all said and done is the sex rather than the themes from the book that were my driving force to write it in the first place. And so I have to ask: was I wrong to include such descriptive scenes?  Should I have faded to black?  Did I sabotage my own message by distracting reader...