Celebrating A Decade Of Storytelling

This year I am celebrating a decade of being a published author. Wow, an entire decade. I certainly never imagined myself writing or being published, and now doing so for a decade...Whoo-damn!

I've had my ups and downs on this journey, overcome a long period of writers block when my muse disappeared. Still not totally recovered from that absence but the stories are back, thank God. I am back in the saddle and loving every minute of writing with the Naughty Literati. This amazing group of women truly inspires me!

The experience of writing is as different for each author as their personality. I started on this incredible journey on a dare. That's right--a dare. When watching movies with family and friends, I typically had the plot figured out well before the movie was half over. I was often heard saying things like, "I could have done a better job writing this," or "I could have come up with a much better ending." Sick of hearing this, my mother laid down a challenge. "Then do it."

*screeching brakes*

I responded, "Say what?"

"Sit down and write a story."

I'm sure at the time she could see my brain racing as I tried to figure out how on earth to accomplish such a phenomenal thing. But admit defeat, turn down a challenge, no way.

I started and never completed three stories before I found my footing and over the course of about six months, I wrote and re-wrote PASSIONATE REALITIES, my first published book. Upon submission in 2004, the story was pulled from the slush pile and I received an email asking me to do some revising and resubmit. I did and the book was contracted New Years week 2005.

I can't adequately express the mind-blowing experience of receiving that acceptance email or what followed other than I walked on clouds for the majority of 2005. Nothing I’ve ever been through prepared me for writing a book and having it released to the public. Talk about putting yourself out there…OMG! When PASSIONATE REALITIES released, I felt like I was standing center stage under the spotlights, naked, with all my most private, taboo sexual thoughts exposed to the whole world. Thankfully, book releases have gotten a little easier since then.

For many years I avoided first-person writing as there were few first-person stories I enjoyed. Getting a reader lost in the story and making them forget they're reading first-person takes great skill. Yet as I grew more comfortable with getting the voices of my characters out of my head and into writing, I became more interested in first-person since it provided an opportunity to go much deeper into a character's head. One of my favorite stories I've written and am most proud of, MY GREATEST FANTASY, is written in first-person and I recently had a funny experience with the story.

I had not written first-person in several years and wanted to for my shifter story, MERRY CHRISTMAS, KITTEN, which is part of the NAUGHTY LIST boxed set. So I opened up MY GREATEST FANTASY on my Kindle and started reading. I was captured on the first page and forgot not only that I was reading a first-person story but that I was reading my own writing. Before I finished the first chapter I was blown-away and thought, now this is how I want to write!

*face-palm*

Yeah, not my brightest moment. LOL!

To celebrate my amazing decade, for your reading enjoyment, here is a link to the entire first chapter of MY GREATEST FANTASY. And here's to many more decades of stories to come, because the voices are back and they have a lot to say.

Happy Reading,
Nicole