Taking the Plunge ~ Nicky Wells!

Today I have with me uber-talented Queen of Promo and published author of Sophie’s Turn, the lovely Nicky Wells! Nicky is sharing her ‘Taking the Plunge’ moment, and it is such a brave leap into the unknown, the girl leaves me in absolute awe!

~ Take it away, Nicky! ~   

 

Taking the plunge?  Who, me?  Nah, I’m just emigrating.  No big shakes.

 “So what do you want to do with your life?” he says to me, switching into his native English and issuing a challenge:  will I speak English, or my native German?  He looks at me expectantly. I resist the urge to bite my fingernails and stare fixedly out of the window, at his desk, the floor, anywhere but his probing eyes.

 

How to answer this impossible question?  If I knew, I wouldn’t be in this office, I wouldn’t be in the mental mess I am in.  What I do know is that I can’t, don’t want to, continue living my life like this, in a teenage relationship gone so far beyond stale that it is practically putrefied; living at home with my parents; studying something that bores the hell out of me and fundamentally doesn’t interest me.  Heck, I’m only nineteen!  There’s got to be more to life than this!

 

What I also know with inescapable certainty is that this linguistics lecturer, who has just disabused me of any notion of ever getting any funding for my selected course of study, or earning any money anytime soon, he is waiting for an answer.  Six months of abortive study, relationship despair, and an urgent desire to leave home have converged, bizarrely, on this one moment in time.  The pressure is on.  I must speak, or I’ll look completely stupid.  I open my mouth and—

“I want to move to England,” I say.  And before I can stop myself, more words tumble out.  “I want to enrol in a university and study something useful, and something interesting.  I don’t want to study English, I want to speak it, live it.  I know I can do it.  I…”

I peter out, feeling foolish.  Surprisingly, my lecturer, who had previously slouched in his swivel chair with an expression of bored detachment, is sitting upright and regarding me with new interest.

“Then why don’t you?” he asks, simply.

 

He took me seriously, even if my family didn’t.  I knew they wouldn’t, I knew they would put all manner of obstacles in my way, the obvious one being money.  So I didn’t tell them.  I quietly and with an unfamiliar sense of purpose, destiny and absolute certainty, went about obtaining application forms for various universities, taking a crash-course in the English admissions system (then still run by UCCA) and in filling in wholly unfamiliar forms in a non-native language.  Amazingly (and thankfully!) the institutions at the other end took me seriously, too, and before I knew it, offers started rolling in.  The third letter was the one I had been waiting for, an unconditional offer from Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London, in Egham.  I completed and returned the acceptance slip, and then I told my Mum.

Mum, bless her, was completely bowled over.  Presented with a fait accompli, she hugged me with a proud fierceness that took me by surprise.  There was a glint of something in her eyes that I have since discovered was admiration, and envy.  Apparently, and without knowing, I was fulfilling one of her lifelong ambitions:  to leave the country, to start over, to do something fresh.  And scary! 

The next four months were a whirlwind of planning and organisation, preparation, packing and goodbyes.  I don’t think I ever once stopped to consider the enormity of the task I was undertaking.  It was just what I was meant to do.

 

So when I arrived in Egham on an extremely rainy and dull late September day in 1993, I knew that I had come home.  That was slightly odd, bearing in mind I’d never even been to Egham before.  In fact, the longest time I had ever spent in England before that day was a five-day trip to London with my boyfriend (yes, he of the stale relationship) just after A-levels.  And still, I belonged.  I don’t quite understand how, or why, but I slipped into a life, my life, over here in the UK as though I belonged.  I had never belonged anywhere before, not like this.  I spoke the language, I learned the customs, I made friends, and I never looked back.

Clearly, I never went back, either, even though my family expected me to return home within three weeks.  OK, then, three months.  Well, certainly after three years at the end of the degree course, right?

Wrong.  I found a life and a sense of being here, a confidence and an outgoing personality that I didn’t know I had (and still don’t have when speaking German!).  At the end of the degree course, I moved on to another course, then found a job, eventually met my husband, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Looking back now, I shudder to think at my utter naivety.  I certainly couldn’t emigrate, up stick and leave, just like that, ever again.  I might have made it all sound very easy, but it wasn’t, in retrospect.  For starters, within three hours of arriving, I hit my first bureaucratic obstacle when the local bank refused to open an account for me as they classed me as ‘overseas, with no source of income.’  It took the signature of a guarantor to open an account, and then it was on strictly limited terms.  Hey ho, never fear!  Obstacles were there to be overcome, and I was an unstoppable force.  I committed many a cultural mishap along the way but was fortunate enough to find friends to show me the light (or the right way to hold your fork in these parts).  So no, it didn’t feel like taking the plunge, but it does, now.

I simply hope that I will afford my children the same level of freedom and trust when they get ready to do something seemingly utterly insane, irrational or crazy.  I also hope that that endeavour doesn’t take them to the other side of the world!

 

 

~ Told you it was a biggie, didn’t I? Nicky, my parachute jump pales into insignificance by comparison.  At least I was landing in familiar territory – I hoped.  I take my hat off to you!  And, oh boy, I – along with your reader fans and the many other friends you’ve helped make feel at home at loveahappyending.com  – am sooo glad you stayed. ~

 

 

About Nicky Wells: Romance that Rocks Your World!

 

Rock On! Nicky Wells writes fun and glamorous contemporary romance featuring a rock star and the girl next door.  She recently signed her work with U.S. publisher, Sapphire Star Publishing.  Nicky loves rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters.  When she’s not writing, Nicky is a wife, mother, and occasional teaching assistant.

Originally born in Germany, Nicky moved to the United Kingdom in 1993, and currently lives in Lincoln with her husband and their two boys.  In a previous professional life, Nicky worked as a researcher and project manager for an international Human Resources research firm based in London and Washington, D.C.

 

Visit Nicky on her blog where you can find articles, interviews, radio interviews and, of course, an ongoing update on her work in progress, the second and third parts of the Rock Star Romance Trilogy.  You can also follow Nicky on Twitter and find her on Facebook.  Nicky is a featured author on the innovative reader/author project, loveahappyending.com and has joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Nicky also has author pages at Sapphire Star Publishing and, of course, Goodreads.

 

 

 

About Sophie’s Turn

 

 

Slapper.  Slut.  Adulteress.  These are hardly words that Sophie Penhalligan would normally use to describe herself.  Yet this is exactly how she is behaving, all things considered, even if she isn’t quite married to Tim yet.  And it’s all happening because her past is coming to tempt her!  Nine years ago, she met her teenage idol and rock star extraordinaire, Dan, up close and personal.  Well, almost.  Now Dan has crash-landed back in her life.  How could Tim ever stand a chance against the charming, handsome singer?  How could she?

 

Sophie, now twenty-eight and a budding newspaper journalist, is happily embroiled in a relationship with Tim, her boyfriend of two years.  Until recently, she was confident that Tim would eventually propose—probably as soon as he could get his act together.  But just as Tim’s persistent inaction is beginning to cast a cloud over their relationship, Dan’s sudden reappearance turns Sophie’s world upside down.  Thus unfolds a roller-coaster of events including an ill-fated trip to Paris with Tim, a night of unfulfilled romance with Dan, Sophie and Tim’s engagement party gate-crashed by Dan, and Sophie’s professional secondment to accompany Dan’s band on their revival tour—at Dan’s special request and very much against her will. 

And then, one fine day in Paris, Sophie suddenly finds herself engaged to Dan while her erstwhile fiancé Tim is...  well, doing whatever it is Tim does back in London.   What is she to do now?  Who wouldn’t give anything to meet their favorite star, let alone marry him? 

 

Find out how Sophie gets into this impossible situation, and how she turns it around, in Sophie’s Turn, the honest, funny and sometimes bittersweet story of one woman’s entanglement with a rock star.

 

Sophie's Turn is available in Kindle edition from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and many other Amazon sites.

 

The paperback edition is also available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

 

In addition, you can obtain Sophie’s Turn from Barnes & Noble.

 

 

Cast YOUR vote for the Festival of Romance FILM & TV Awards!

 

 

 

Your Vote Counts!

 

Cast YOUR vote for the Festival of Romance FILM & TV Awards!

 

The Festival of Romance will be presenting awards this year to the BEST ROMANTIC FILM of the year and the BEST ROMANTIC TELEVISION PROGRAMME of the year. Please CAST YOUR VOTE now and help decide the winners on the big and small screen – and you could WIN a pair of tickets to mix with the stars of romance at the gala Festival of Romance Awards on 16th November 2012.

 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8M6DMC5

The Next BIG thing!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Last week I was tagged by talented author and promo queen, Mandy Baggot, to take part in THE NEXT BIG THING! I wasn’t quite sure I was ready to reveal my big thing, but I’m going to give it a go. The idea is to answer ten questions about my Work In Progress and then tag other writers to bare all. So, without further ado, and sparing no blushes… ta-dah …here I go!

• What is the working title of your next book?

I have two WIPs (you knew I’d be awkward, didn’t you?).  Sooo, which one?  Um, Learning to Love, I think. It is very much a working title, but reflects the theme of the story, which centres around love and trust issues.

• Where did the idea come from for the book?

Now there’s a question.  My ideas tend to grow from feelings evoked by life events.  My main female lead is a mother of two teenagers and a toddler.  She also has her slightly dotty mother living with her and finds herself doing battle with her partner when she wants to change her career.  Her partner seems dead-set against it, reminding her how many balls she’s already juggling.  We learn, though, that he has other reasons, secrets he’s not sharing with her and which have devastating consequences.

My male protagonist, a doctor, has recently moved into the village – where no one knows him, ergo there’s no fuel for neighbourhood gossip – to start afresh with is eight year old son, if only he can get to a place where his son wants to speak to him. His son is grieving the loss of his mother and Dr Gorgeous (yes, he is) doesn’t know how to reach him, or help him.  Where does he start when he’s been an absentee father – and his son blames him for the death of his mother?

The village drums soon start beating, fuel aplenty when it turns out someone does know him – the woman carrying his baby.

• What genre does your book fall under?

Now, I know it doesn’t sound like it is, but the story is most definitely a romantic comedy.  I simply can’t write without looking at life’s little mishaps, along with the quirky side of people’s characters, and bringing humour into play.

• What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Ben Affleck.  Can’t help myself.  Dr Gorgeous is typically tall, dark and handsome, moody and broody.  I’m desperate to see Ben Affleck in Terrence Malick’s film, To the Wonder, despite conflicting reviews. Or Ewan McGregor, he plays moody and broody beautifully. I’m torn.  Actually, I’d be hard pushed to turn either of them down.

Female lead? Ooh, decisions. My all time fave female leads are Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts. I think either would be a match for our ‘hero’.

• What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Separation, arson, attempted murder; bereavement – can two broken hearts overcome such trauma and learn how to love again?

• Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Published – by Safkhet Publishing, if they love it enough. Pleeeease love it!

• How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

I’m currently writing it, so that’s a difficult one.  A first draft can take about six months, depending on other commitments: work, life, family…  I may run away from home!  I do usually rewrite (sometimes twice) and then there are edits, so I reckon about a year to write a book to the point where I feel it’s as good as it can be.

• What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I’m not sure I can compare the story with other books I’ve read. As mentioned, family dynamics play a big part in my writing, however, and I was originally inspired by Marika Cobbold, who often has family issues running through her wonderful stories.  I love Katie Fforde’s style of writing, too, and suspect I hold her in mind when writing. I’ve recently read Julie Cohen’s, Getting Away With It, a fabulous story that centres around family and sibling issues. I’ve also read D I Ingram’s, Angel Girls, which looks at family issues (fabulously realistically) and my current read is The Cornish House by Liz Fenwick, which is totally my sort of read, and, again, looks at the sometimes thorny issues surrounding family. 

• Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I think I’ve part-answered that above.  In truth, though, women everywhere inspire me to write, the problems and issues we juggle on a daily basis. People in general and the events life might throw at us, which we’re often ill-quipped to deal with.

• What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Dr Gorgeous (Daniel Adams). He starts out as seemingly aloof and arrogant, a surly, self-centred Casanova sort.  But would such a man risk his life to save a family in peril and then offer them refuge under his roof?  Would such a man hug his eight-year old son to his chest and cry with him, hot tears of anguish?

 

The writers I am tagging are:-


Nell Dixon http://nelldixonrw.blogspot.co.uk/

Anneli Purchase http://wordsfromanneli.wordpress.com/

Debra E Ingram http://wordswithyou.wordpress.com/

Sophie E Tallis http://sophieetallis.wordpress.com

I can’t wait to read about their latest WIPs!

Sheryl J xx

 

Guest Post ~ Carol Hedges ~ Write about what you know...

It's the advice given to all writers, and it's probably the reason I write about strong women, and not giant spiders on Mars. It's also why, at the beginning of Jigsaw Pieces, my first ebook just published on Amazon Kindle, there is a sentence that says: "Not all the events and characters are fictitious".

Some people have asked me about this, because it isn't the usual thing you read. So, after first thanking lovely Sheryl for her generosity in hosting me on her blog, I'd like to share a couple of events that prompted me to write the story.

        

I was on my first teaching practice. I'd decided to retrain as an English teacher so that I could fund my daughter through uni. One Monday, I arrived in the staffroom to discover a strange silence. Nobody was speaking, or making eye contact. Curious, I asked my mentor what was going on, to be told that over the weekend, a student had committed suicide. Nobody knew why.

      
I remember quite clearly how it felt as the news ripped round the school. And something inside me said: one day, you have to write about this; it is important. Thus "Grant Penney's" death became the central plot line for the book. As you read the initial chapters, you are seeing and hearing exactly what I experienced that day.
         
But I didn't want Jigsaw Pieces to be a totally tragic story. And so I gave the narrative to Annie Skaerstad, a feisty 19 year old Norwegian student - a cross between Sarah Lund and Lisbeth Salander. She is based on a couple of girls I taught in my first teaching job. Streetwise, sassy and full of attitude, they gave me, and everyone else a hard time!
         
They had a big thing about 'respect' - something they felt teachers never gave them, which was why they did not give it back. I struggled to connect with them, was sure I'd failed. But then, unexpectedly, at the end of the last lesson before study leave, they dropped a card on my desk as they left. Inside was a single word: Respect.
         

And so, a book was born....

Carol is an author of eleven novels and several short stories. Her Spy Girl series is published by Usborne, and currently available on Amazon. She has one daughter, now left home, and lives in Hertfordshire with two cats and a lovely husband...

... and she drives a pink 2CV! Wow! I want one!



Connect with Carol ~

On Twitter @carolJhedges.

On Facebook

On Carol’s blog: http://carolhedges.blogspot.com

Taking the Plunge ~ Carol E Wyer!

Today I have with me Author and Indie Book Award Medallist Carol E Wyer!



Chosen as Stafford FM Book Club Book of the Week!

Take it away, Carol!

I am honoured to be on Sheryl’s Blog today. Many thanks for letting me clutter up your place, Sheryl, and spend hours droning on about myself.  I hope I don’t frighten off your followers.

We all have things we have to face up to. My mother always told me that problems and fears would grow if you didn’t face up to them and as always, she was right.

I come across as a ‘gung ho’ sort of person and I certainly have had a jolly good old go at tackling challenges, both physical and mental. I’ve taken up all sorts of activities that make people say, “Wow! Aren’t you brave?” The fact of the matter is that I am not brave at all. I am just a woman on a mission, a mission to enjoy as much of life as I can, while I can. What you read next might surprise you because I am, after all a person who writes humour, is glib about almost everything and doesn’t seem to take life seriously.

When I was a young adult, just turned seventeen about to take my A levels, I had trouble with my back. The situation deteriorated rather rapidly and I found myself stuck in hospital for thirteen weeks on traction. I got to stay in bed for weeks, every teenager’s dream, with large weights suspended from my legs. I lost three stone, also every teenager’s dream but after undergoing major spinal surgery I came out feeble and with my spirit dampened.

I bounced back; after all I was only seventeen and I went on to University where unleashed for the first time I discovered freedom, fun, alcohol, boyfriends and intense back pain. (Not due to any activities with aforementioned alcohol or boyfriends.) I was admitted to hospital at the end of my first academic year for tests which involved enormous needles full of dye being injected directly into all of my discs. The reaction was terrifying. My back went into violent spasms. Consequently I was admitted to the emergency ward and worse still, I lost the use of my legs the morning after the procedure. I was paralysed. The discs in my spine had collapsed, my spine was weak and I would need further major surgery.

An operation was out of the question until they could ascertain why I could no longer walk. No one knew if I would regain the use of my legs. The surgeon and my parents sat in huddles at meetings while I lay on a trolley wishing my life could just end, there and then. My future was bleak. I was twenty years old and afraid.

I turned to writing at that time. I wrote about all the people I met in the hospital: the little old ladies smelling of lavender that had come in to have hip operations and who sat by my bedside telling me stories about their lives, each one with twinkling eyes and an optimistic attitude.  I wrote about daily events in the hospital, about getting a cold bed pan bath at five in the morning from two giggling nurses dressed as rabbits who thought it would be a “bit of fun” and about one of the more grumpy of the patients wheeled outside into the corridor late at night because they snored so loudly they were keeping the ward awake. I wrote about the amusing characters on the ward. There were plenty of them. I wrote about the funny side of working in a hospital with episodes such as the man who was admitted with a Hoover attachment stuck to a certain appendage and other funny incidents regaled to me by the nurses. Over the following weeks much like if you lose your sight, your hearing intensifies, so in the face of bleakness, I developed a crazy sense of humour about it all.

After a while I was sent home. Baffled surgeons still couldn’t work out why I had no use of my legs and decided to leave nature to take its course for a while. That night I decided I had a choice. I could mope about being miserable or I could try and take charge of my life and health. When my parents went off to work that morning I tried to get out of the bed. Even though I am a writer I cannot convey in words how difficult it was for me to move. The pain in my back was excruciating but worse than that was the fact that I couldn’t get my mind to will my legs to move. There is a saying that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”.  I persevered. Every half an hour I tried again. I even tried every hour when my parents were asleep at night.

Without dragging out the story, it took a further gruelling week but eventually I could pull myself out of the bed and stand for a short time.  A couple of days later I told my father that I thought I could attempt a few steps to the landing if he helped me. The look on his face was worth every ounce of effort.

I gradually got better. I had the all important operation and my spine was fused together to prevent further problems. I promised myself that when I was recovered I was going to milk every drop out of this life I’d been given and that is why to this day I take up opportunities and challenges.

  

  

I am not brave. I was lucky enough to have been given a second chance. I continue to spend it enjoying life but also encouraging others to appreciate theirs too.

Never be too serious. There is always something to make you smile. Laughter and optimism have seen me through most of the dark times and I live by the mantra “he who laughs...lasts!”

Surfing in Stilettos

Due for release: 16^th August 2012.
Available from: FeedARead, all good bookshops and Amazon

Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines

Available in paperback and Kindle format
Amazon.co.uk (buy): Amazon UK
Amazon.com (buy): Amazon US
Also available in eBook format from: Smashwords

Author website: http://www.carolewyer.co.uk
Facebook Page: Carol E Wyer
Twitter: @carolewyer