Nicola Marsh's Blog, page 124

Immersion therapy

This week, I plan on immersing myself with these two characters.

Bryce and Eve from THE DATING DILEMMA.

With the online read and the Modern Heat gone, I finally sat down last night with pen and paper and started wading through my ed's thoughts.

Why is it that when revisions first arrive, they look so big but when you actually pare them down, they're not?

I made notes, had a lightbulb moment and am now ready to tackle this story.

It's going to be head down, butt on chair all week.

THE WRITE WHISPER: Tricks of the trade

These days, there are so many resources available for writers, it can be confusing. What works?What doesn't? And what works for one person might be another person's version of personal hell? Lately, I've been doing a glut of online courses (my personal favourite for learning new techniques...but that's another upcoming post entirely!) and during one of these courses, the use of recording data came up. There are loads of fancy software programs out there (Writersblock, Powerstructure are example

Is there such a thing?

We've all heard of writer's block.
I seem to have revisions block.

I have a Harlequin Romance, 'The Dating Dilemma', needing to be revised.
The revisions arrived the same day as tweaks for my online read, which took precedence due to the short time frame.
I whizzed through those, was happy with the results.

Mentally, I was all prepared to dive straight into the The Dating Dilemma and tighten the story to the best of its potential.
That's what revisions do.
That's why I love them.

So what happened?
Sat d

And the verdict is...

Every time a new book of mine falls into readers' hands, it's nerve-racking.

So when the first review is positive, it gives this poor, insecure author hope :)

Here's what one lovely reader says about A TRIP WITH THE TYCOON :

"What a gem of a book. This has been the surprise of the month for me. Yes, I expected a good read, an enjoyable book. What I didn't expect was a book that would knock my socks off. One caveat—eat before you read this book or you will be craving curry and other Indian spices an

Calling all unpublished writers!

Harlequin Mills and Boon have just launched a new writing competition.
Details below.
Good luck!

Have you always dreamed of writing for Mills & Boon Modern Romance?

Do you feel you have a passionate story to tell, with characters that leap off the page, and emotional conflicts, drama and excitement that will keep the reader turning the pages?

Then we have the perfect competition for you!

The Mills & Boon ModernTM Writing Competition for first chapters is your chance to win an editor for a year!
For

Switching men

Revisions for the online read are done, dusted, and back with my editor. Will keep you posted.
So tonight, I'm switching from this man

to this one. Remember Bryce? The hero in 'The Dating Dilemma'? Has been 3 months since I handed in this book and now the revisions have arrived, will be like looking at the book with fresh eyes.Not a lot to do, but enough to change a few scenes here and there. So the work begins...

(speaking of Daniel MacPherson, Dancing with the Stars new season started Sunday

Refilling the well

Took kidlet to a bowling party on the weekend.
Great fun!

I've only been once before, with a bunch of elderly patients while doing a community health rotation in my final year at uni and remember I loved it then too.

Got me thinking...
I've been trying to refill the well lately, mainly by reading loads of books, especially by authors I haven't tried before (Lisa Gardner rocks! If you haven't read her, do. Will blog about that later this week.)
But I want to start trying different things and I recko

Need a boost?

I finished the revisions for the online read last night.

Some of the kudos goes to this.

Boost bars are addictive. I haven't had one in ages for that very reason.

But with my energy levels low (after staying up the previous night reading until 1am, something I never do) I really didn't expect to get a lot done last night.

Instead, I finished the revisions!
And ate 2 bars.
Bad for the waistline, good for productivity.

What keeps you going when energy sags?

The benefit of walking away

I'm going to be a busy girl.

Two lots of revisions lobbed in my inbox yesterday: one for the Harlequin Romance I handed in a few months ago (nothing too major, thank goodness) and tweaks for the online read.

Mostly minor stuff I can fix quickly, but I did have to put my thinking cap on for the hero, Harrison.
His conflict needs to be deepened and I now know what I'm going to do, but why is it when that revision letter first hits, it all seems so daunting?
Do other writers find that?

It's the same ev

Ooh la la!

One of my favourite books, THE BOSS'S BEDROOM AGENDA , is out in Italy and France this month.

Aren't those covers something?