Nicola Marsh's Blog, page 91

A nice distraction

Because I'm still feeling so lousy with this head cold, this is all you'll get from me today.


More than enough, wouldn't you say?

New Voices writing competition

Ever wanted to write for Harlequin Mills and Boon?
Here's your chance, with a brand-spanking new competition, NEW VOICES.
How the competition will work…

The competition will have its very own website - www.romanceisnotdead.com where the entries will be posted and readers can leave their feedback.

The competition will be divided up into four stages and will run from Monday 6th September. The winner will be announced on Monday 1st November.

1. Stage 1: The Free for All;
- All...

Weekend Book Club: Meridian

My love affair with YA novels continues.

Because books like this fuel it.

Devoured MERIDIAN in just over a day. Loved it.

Here's the blurb:

My name is Meridian Sozu. I am a Fenestra. I have always shared my world with the dead and the dying. But I really didn't understand what that meant until I turned sixteen and glimpsed my own mortality. . .

Sixteen-year-old Meridian has always been surrounded by death. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders burrowed into her bedclothes to die. As she...

The importance of fans

How many of us take time out of our busy lives to contact the authors whose books we love?

I never used to do it until I started receiving fan mail of my own and realised how much it meant to me. So whenever a book blows me away, I contact that author and tell them. Some respond, some don't. But that's okay, I've let them know how much their book meant to me.

So for all you avid readers out there who think authors are too busy to hear from you or you don't want to bug us...think again.

The au...

Comfort reading

I don't need much of an excuse to snuggle up with a book.
Whenever I'm not running around after the kids or writing or doing general life stuff, you can find me curled up on the coach or snuggled under the covers with a book.

This week, I've managed to get another sore throat/head cold bug, which makes me crave comfort even more, so I've read 3 books!

'HUSH, HUSH' by Becca Fitzpatrick, one of the big YA books of 2010.
'MERIDIAN' by Amber Kizer, which I saw in the Borders catalogue recently and ...

Totally epic contest

One of my agency buddies, the lovely Julie Cross , is running a Totally Epic Summer Contest this week in conjunction with Roni Griffin.

Details are being revealed daily but from hints dropped, there are book giveaways, crits on offer, agent and editor interviews.

So go check it out!

Make your readers love you

Found a really interesting article on 'Make your readers love you: 5 lessons from Pixar.'

In short:

1) Be consistent and build trust.

2) Take the time to do things right.

3) Tell a story that connects.

4) Know yourself, your product and your team.

5) Now, make it your own.

To read explanations of the above points, check out the full article here.

Retro

A few years ago, my mum bought me a slow cooker. Said they were fab.

Now, my parents are incredible cooks but they haven't used their slow cooker much so I kinda wondered why they were buying me one.

After all, aren't slow cookers kinda retro?

This winter, with toddler's persistent asthma and my second bout of shingles (not to mention that thing I do for a living entailing deadlines) and the rest of my hectic life, I've found it hard to come up with whiz bang dinners.
I love to cook but with en...

Weekend Book Club: Bleeding Violet

Another riveting book sent to me by the fabulous Suzie Townsend.

Straight off, the blurb intrigued me:

Love can be a dangerous thing….

Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.
But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for...

Flying

My fingers are flying because of this.
This is the man inspiring me to write 8-12 pages a day on my current WIP.

He encapsulates my hero Luca perfectly.

That face...that bod...need I say more?