Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Nicole Flockton & A Giveaway!

Please welcome Nicole Flockton to the blog today!

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My Journey to Today 

I’ve read romance novels pretty much my whole life. I started with the Sweet Dreams Romances and then graduated to Harlequin Mills & Boon books. As I got swept away in the stories a little seed of ‘I could do this’ started to grow.

I remember the job I had before I had my daughter.  When my bosses were away and I had some time I would open a word document and would take an idea and start a story. I would only ever get about between 500 – 1000 words down. Eventually after my daughter was born I sat down and started writing my first novel. I can’t remember how long it took me to write it but I know it was over a year. Then I let it sit for ages before I got involved in a critique group and then really started to learn my craft and fix that manuscript up.
A lot of people put that first manuscript at the bottom of the drawer or under the bed or in the attic. I loved my first manuscript and so believed in that story. It did sell and is now “Bound By Her Ring”. To see that book up on Amazon is the most amazing thing.

But it went through numerous re-writes and had two rejections before it finally found its home.

My first book published “Masquerade” only went through one rejection before it was picked up by Crimson Romance. Since then I’ve been lucky that Crimson have liked what I’ve proposed to them. Let’s hope it keeps up.

The one thing I’ve learned along the way is that if you want the dream you have to reach out and grab it. You can’t wait for it to reach out and grab you. But sometimes it’s so scary to reach out. What if they hate me? What if they tell me this is the worst writing they’ve ever seen. All possible, but then you get the “I ugly cried at the end of your book”. Or “I loved this book so much I went and found what other books you’ve written”. Those comments make taking the leap all so worth it. For if I hadn’t stood on the ledged and jumped to the other side, I wouldn’t be getting my third book published. It was a scary leap but has been so worth it.

Whether it be in writing or maybe changing careers, have you ever taken that leap?
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Blurb for Rescuing Dawn:

He helps save lives, now he wants to save hers.

Dawn Granger has loved and lost and it’s a road she’s not prepared to travel again, that is until her past turns up and has her questioning her resolve.
Andrew Holmes has sailed the globe numerous times, when he almost loses his life, he decides he needs to give something back so he returns home and trains as a paramedic. When he runs into his former sweetheart he is surprised to find an attraction he thought dead come to life. When he sees the sadness in Dawn he knows he will do anything to make her smile again.

Dawn tries to resist Andrew but their past pulls at her in ways she thought long dead. Can she trust a man who's run out on her once before? Can she risk putting her heart on the line again? Or will it all be taken from her again.
Read an Excerpt
Read Reviews
Buy Links:   Crimson Romance         Amazon          Amazon UK       iTunes          Kobo
 
On her very first school report her teacher said ‘Nicole likes to tell her own stories’.
It wasn’t until after the birth of her daughter and after having fun on the community board of eharlequin.com that she finally decided to take the plunge and write a book.
The stories she writes are contemporary romances with either a medical setting or in the boardrooms of high powered business. Nicole enjoys taking two characters and creating unique situations for them.

Apart from writing Nicole is busy looking after her very own hero – her wonderfully supportive husband, and her two fabulous kids.

There will be a kindle copy giveaway of RESCUING DAWN to one commenter!

Nicole on the web:
Website      Facebook     Twitter     Author Page

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So, how many of you have taken that leap that Nicole has?

21 comments:

DEZMOND said...

congrats to Nicole on the book!

Unknown said...

Wow, you've not had many rejections! Some writers get dozens - if not hundred's!

All the best, Nicole. I hope Rescuing Dawn does well.

Hi Jemi!

Nicole Flockton said...

Hi Jemi! Thanks for having me on your blog today. I'm glad to share my journey with all your followers.


Nicole Flockton said...

Hi Dezmond! Thanks for stopping by and the congratulations!

Hi Wendy, yes I was fortunate with my rejections I think I hit the market at the right time. I was prepared to get many more!

DMS said...

It was wonderful to hear about Nicole's path to publication. Great words of advice. It is so important to follow our dreams. :) Wishing her the best of luck!
~Jess

Nicole Flockton said...

Hi Jess! Yep that is the big thing, always follow your dreams! Thanks for stopping by.

Dianne K. Salerni said...

Jemi, I like the new look to your blog!

And congratulations, Nicole!

You are right about how scary it is to reach out. So much risk of failure; so much reward of success!

TashNz said...

You're living the dream Nicole :)I just shared in another post the mention of Sweet Dreams books came up... well my mum would give me money for the tuck shop at school and I'd use it to buy Sweet Dreams books from The Lucky Book Club... fond memories hehehe

Nicole Flockton said...

Hi Dianne! Yep it's darn scary taking that step, you never know what's going to happen. Thanks for stopping by!!

Nicole Flockton said...

LOL Tash that's funny, I used to share my "Sweet Valley High" books with another girl. We'd wait anxiously for the next one to come out. Then I left school and started working so I graduated to "Mills & Boon" as someone in the workforce I couldn't read those 'high school' romances LOL ;-)

Anonymous said...

I love reading success stories. I also love the idea of not giving up on the first manuscript, since so many of them end up in a drawer. Those ideas can be reworked.

Laura S. said...

Congrats to Nicole! Good thing she didn't give up on her first novel! I love hearing authors' success stories. :)

Happy reading and writing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines

Nicole Flockton said...

Hi Medaia! Thank you for stopping by Yep first books can be reworked.

Nicole Flockton said...

Hi Laura,

Thanks for taking the time to read about my journey. I still have the original first draft of my story and cringe a little, but I learned and I did re-write and rework some of it. The essential story is was still the same :)

Patricia Stoltey said...

Thanks for the introduction to Nicole! Writing romance has to be a lot of fun. That's one genre I haven't tried writing yet even though I used to read romance novels by the dozens when I was very young.

Nicole Flockton said...

Hi Patricia! Thank you for coming by and commenting. Romance is fun but also challenging to write. Trying to come up with something different and unique is not easy! You should try it!

Beth said...

Only one rejection? Unbelievable! Congratulations on her newest book.

I don't have a kindle, so don't worry about entering me in the contest.

Nas said...

I love books which give us the message of the healing power of love. I think that's the secret of success for the romance novel industry.

Nicole Flockton said...

LOL Beth, it was pretty amazing. When I got the email offering the contract I was convinced it was a rejection and they were sending the MS Back to me. One I thought about it I wondered why the heck I ever thought they'd send back an electronic copy of my book. :) Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

Nicole Flockton said...

Hi Editors at Work - yep that is why I read romance novels. I believe in love and how it can heal even the most scarred people. Thanks for commenting!

Jemi Fraser said...

Nicole - so glad to have you here!! :)

Dezzy - I think it'll be great!

Wendy - hi! I agree - so few is an awesome sign! :)

Jess - it really is!! Deams are so important!

Dianne - thanks! I'm matching it up to the website I'm setting up (finally)!

Tash - love those kinds of memories!

Medeia - so true! So many books need to sit and then get that rewrite!

Laura - so true! It's inspiring :)

Pat - writing (and reading) romance is a blast! I love knowing there's an HEA in store! :)

Beth - okay! It's amazing, isn't it? :)

Nas - agreed! You can't beat the power of love :)