Nicole Helm's Blog, page 7

Nose to Grindstone

It’s June! I’m pretty excited about that because I’ve got nothing pressing going on. No family weddings, no conferences, no trips. After a month full of those things, I’m ready to sit down, breathe, and focus on work.

And a lot of work there is to do.

1) will be finishing Flight Risk edits, I believe. Also need to focus on putting together a blog tour and reaching out to reviewers. I’m so, so excited about this book!

2) will be doing first round of edits for the second Harrington book, Risky Return. I fall in love with Ryan a little more each time I read, and adore the heroine. Plus I get to reunite with Nate & Vivvy for a bit.

3) finish current WIP. I’m so excited about this book. Every day I can’t wait to sit down and write it. More than any other book, I think I’ve found my single title “voice”, which is why I revamped the website just a smidge and added my voice’s promise: life is hard, but love always heals.

4) polish the second Flight book and send it in to my editor (and hope she loves it).

Plus, I’m still waiting to hear back on two projects.

June always passes in the blink of an eye and I’m sure this year will be no different. What’s going on in your neck of the woods?

Filed under: publishing, What I'm Up To

May Reading

It’s the last Monday in May.

Wait. WHAT?

I can’t believe how fast this year is zooming by. May was a doozy of a month, so I’m looking forward to June. I’ll be working on first round edits of Risky Return, final edits of Flight Risk, my sister is getting married, and my current work in progress is making me very, very happy.

One positive to May was that I read two really phenomenal books.

Prior Engagement by Karina Bliss. This is the end of her SAS series, and it’s just amazing, phenomenal storytelling and writing. This particular book was emotional, challenging, and explored some tough issues. Bliss does military heroes like no other author out there. It takes a skilled writer to make a back-to-life story realistic, emotionally resonating, and deeply satisfying. Bliss does all three perfectly in this book.

The Rebound Girl by Tamara Morgan. In my Goodreads review I basically said I’d give this story eleventy billion stars. That’s for a lot of reasons. I’ve said it before, and I’ll likely continue to say it. For me, romance is not about escapism. Reading anything isn’t about being taken away on a fantasy (for me, everyone has different reasons for reading, and that’s great. Read because whyever!). I like to read fiction to be taken into a realistic world, and Morgan does that with her heroine. There are times I *hated* what Whitney (the heroine) did, but it was so realistic, so true to the kind of person she was, that it didn’t make me hate her or the book. Cringe, yes, but she was such a believable, three-dimensional, not-perfect heroine and I LOVED that about her.

I also really enjoyed the complexities of the hero. He’s a “beta hero” and a total goody-goody. He’s also sweet and adorable (my hero trifecta!).

In the end, I think I enjoyed this book so much because it took traditional character types and gender flipped them. Whitney was kind of an alpha-hole, and good for her. Matt was kind of a wimp at times, and good for him. We’re all flawed, and I loved that these characters were flawed, learned from mistakes, loved wholly if not perfectly, and found each other on (eventually) equal ground.

Filed under: Friday Reads

Question

I've got a Facebook poll up trying to decide if a posting a freebie novella on my website would be of interest to anyone. Would love to see your thoughts.

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorNicole...

Lemondrop

Honestly, in my little corner of the world, May had kinda been sucking the big one.

Maybe I’ll just go listen to this song a few more times…

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z3AE-grMhs

I know there are better days ahead…

Filed under: life, Monday Me

May! Winter? Contest.

This week will mark my first anniversary as a published author! All’s Fair in Love and Politics released May 9th, 2012.

It’s amazing to see how much my writing has changed, both in voice and skill. I wrote this book over two years ago. Which doesn’t seem like that long, but I’ve written eight books since (plus some unfinished ones).

It’ll also always be special to me that my first published book was a Kapshaw book. Someday, I hope to return to them.

In celebration, I will give away one Kindle copy of either All’s Fair, Seven-Night Stand, or an ARC of my upcoming Samhain novel, Flight Risk (when it’s available later this summer). All you have to do to enter is send an email to NicoleTHelm@gmail.com telling me

(a) what book you want to win and

(b) what your favorite romance novel ever is and

(c) what email you want the book sent to

Contest will run from today until midnight Sunday, May 12th (CST). I will randomly select a winner and notify them via email.

If you’re not sure which book of mine you want to win, descriptions, excerpts, reviews etc are on each book’s page. Just use the pull down menu under Books.

Filed under: All's Fair in Love and Politics, contest, publishing

Novella Niche

Ever since I started reading romance, I have had a problem with short reading. Short stories, novellas, anthologies, etc, almost always left me feeling cold.

But, aha, March and April 2013 I finally found some novellas that WORKED for me, in just about every sense of the word. They felt like complete stories, they were engaging, and when I was done I was satisfied, which has been very problematic for me in the past.

In no particular order:

The Girl With the Cat Tattoo by Theresa Weir: I don’t think I can adequately express how much I enjoyed this…really weird book. CAT POV, people. And it was awesome cat POV. Also the romance is really sweet, even with the little “suspense-ish” bent to it (not usually my thing).

Big Boy by Ruthie Knox: First person is a hard sell for me, but I think I so identified with Mandy. Also that I’m a bit of a history nerd and I loved their themed dates so much. This is a poignant story, and I was engaged the entire time.

Thank You For Riding by Meg Maguire: This little story is just so… sweet. When they’re flirting at the blood donation center, it is so freaking adorable I could see it being in a movie. This is low on angst, but Caitlin’s voice is fantastic. There’s one line about a man broom that had me doubled over.

The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan: What took me so long to read Milan? Well, I’m not a big historical reader, and British history doesn’t interest me at all. So, I’ve resisted any historical recommendations, though there were MANY. However, I finally reached the threshold of praise I can take before I simply must read a book. I loved this novella. I loved what Milan was able to do within the constraints of history. The scene with the hairpins is…just…unf…everything I read romance for. I also love what she manages to do with her heroines AND heroes. Her characters are not cookie-cutter rakes or dukes or ladies or whatever. They are so three-dimensional it hurts.

Filed under: Friday Reads, romance

Birthday Week

New week, new start, right?

It’s my birthday week! I feel like I get to decree that since the majority of my birthday week will be spent cleaning my house, finishing up the WIP, and other things that aren’t super birthday-y. Such is life as a thirty-something, I guess. (Because as of Wednesday, I am no longer just thirty, I am a thirty-something).

I reached a pretty cool milestone last week, receiving my very first ever advance check. It’s not hundreds of thousands, or actually, any kind of thousand, but it’s an advance nonetheless and that is pretty exciting.

I’m finishing up the second book in the Flight series this week (I hope). It’s not an easy book to write (heroine is a recovering alcoholic, and infertile), but hopefully my editor will like it enough to acquire it! Speaking of the Flight series, I also should be getting Flight Risk edits this week. So, it’s a Flight kind of end to April, and I am excited about that because I love this series, and really can’t wait to revisit Callie and Trevor (and probably share some excerpts and lines here and on Twitter and FB).

Once I finish the first draft of Flight book 2, I am not sure what project to work on next. I’m months ahead of both my editors, so, it’s one of those things where unless I get some news this week, I’m stuck trying to decide what’s the best option. I have PLENTY of ideas, it’s just trying to find the best one for the place I’m at in my career. (Oh, good news, you are more than welcome to come any minute now).

On Twitter this morning, Dear Author was asking what kind of tropes are an autobuy for you. Really interesting to see what people love. For me, it’s farmers. (Shouldn’t be a surprise). Give me a hero or heroine farmer, and I’m set. Off the top of my head, I can only think of three (contemporary) books where hero is a farmer. I’d love to see some heroine farmers (and from Twitter, I got two upcoming recs for heroine farmer books). But, if you can think of any contemporary farmer romances, rec them to me in the comments.

So, that’s where I’m at. Next week I’ll talk about some of the great books I’ve read in the past two months. Sadly, none of them had farmers.

Filed under: life, Monday Me, What I'm Up To

A Writer’s Start

While I was procrastinating cleaning the other day, I decided to sit down and look at what I’ve accomplished since I wrote my first complete novel. It was 2002. I was 20. I’d spent the previous seven years trying to write novels and never finishing. In fact, from the age of 13 to 20 I started over 50 novels. Some spanned 50+ pages, some never survived chapter one.

In November of 2002, I was a junior in college. I was supposed to have been working on my twenty-five-page research paper for my Old West class. Instead, I signed up for NaNoWriMo and wrote a complete 50k contemporary romance. (Still managed to get a B+ on the research paper. Procrastination works, kids!)

So, from 2002-today, this is what I’ve done (though I don’t have stats on amount of unfinished novels from ’02-’10. If I ventured a guess? 20ish).

I had my son in December of ’09. In March of 2010 I got serious about publishing. August of 2010 was the first time I submitted, and despite a rejection (probably because it was a revise & resubmit), it was the first time i truly believed writing could be my career. I started with my critique partner in February of 2011. March of 2011 is the last time I held an outside-the-home job. October of 2011 I signed my first publishing contract. Followed by one in July 2012, December 2012, then my two-book contract a few weeks ago.

From the time I started working with my CP, only two finished books remain unsold/not currently submitted.

It has not been a swift or quick road. My list doesn’t include the number of times I completely rewrote a novel either. Both All’s Fair and Flight Risk had numerous versions before they sold. At some point I’ll have to compile my rejection data.

Everyone’s story is different. Some people’s journeys are fast. Some people have luck or connections or just amazing talent on their side.

Sometimes for me it feels like this journey is molasses slow. Even though I haven’t been trying to get published for that long in the grand scheme of things, I’ve been writing since I can remember. Writing stories of people falling in love. It’s what I’ve always done.

Whether you’re a veteran or just starting out, your journey will be unique and your own, but if it’s going a little slow sometimes it helps to see other people’s inching journey and know you’re not alone.

Filed under: Monday Me, publishing, writing

Harrington Update

Well, it hasn’t been a secret, but it is now officially official: There will be a book 2 and 3 in the Harrington Airfield Series (Book 1 was Seven-Night Stand). So, yay more rough-and-tumble guys and the classy LA women who get under their skin!

Book 2 is titled Risky Return and you can learn more about it here. I don’t have any release dates yet since we haven’t started edits, but if I had to venture a guess I would say early 2014.

Book 3 is also written, but my editor hasn’t seen it yet (it’s not even due until October), so title and story are entitled to change. Still, you can check out it’s page here (just know things could change).

I’m really excited about the chance to share more of the Harringtons and their little airfield with readers!

Filed under: Entangled, Harrington Airfield Series, Seven Night Stand

Happy April!

It’s April! Yay! April is probably my favorite month. I love Spring, I got married in April, baseball starts!!!! (And if you are a baseball and romance fan and haven’t read SuperWendy’s Tigers/Harlequin mashups, you must!)

Admittedly, this April I’m not my usual excited self. As much as I’m excited about baseball and warmer weather and things blooming, the pure onslaught that is supposed to be this month is totally freaking me out.

One thing I’m really excited for though is that I should be getting my edits on Flight Risk. I should also be getting the official contract on Harrington Books 2 & 3 and hopefully moving forward on 2. I’m also hoping to hear back on a few submissions this month, but in this business, you never know when that’s going to happen.

In the meantime, while I wait and wait and wait on publishing stuff, I’m working on what I hope will be book 2 in the Flight series. I love this series so much. It isn’t easy to write, because I’m definitely taking on characters who challenge me, but that’s probably why I love it.

So, happy April! And GO CARDS!

Filed under: life, Monday Me