Another Wedding

Well ok so this one was just the party since those involved actually got married elsewhere. It was very different to the last wedding this one being a lot more laid back and relaxed, there was even a BBQ and a chocolate fountain.

I didn't get as much inspiration from this wedding although saying that I can now think of some interesting things to do with a chocolate fountain :) So watch this space!

The writing's going well, I haven't put pen to paper really today I had been planning on doing so once we had got back but now I'm so tired I think I'm just going to head to bed.

Everyone enjoyed themselves which is good and the couple involved seemed very happy so all was well. The chocolate fountain was wonderful and although I didn't eat much actual food (since it was mainly meat) I got my fill of the chocolate! I've seen them before but I'd never actually used (if that's really the correct word) one, so today was fun especially playing and seeing how different types of food tasted with the chocolate. We're not sure if it was actual chocolate though since it was already runny before it arrived and didn't seem to solidify (we tested it and it refused to stop being melted) I'm intrigued to see how it works too (we did see it being put together but I'm going to do some searching online for information I think). Hopefully we'll be buying one at some point although it will most likely involve a lot of saving!

As for the writing no news on any of the pieces that are currently out.

And they are back out

The stories i got rejections for yesterday have now been sent back out. Actually they were sent out last night but then I went to sleep once I had sent them so didn't update on here.

Sometimes what you need or at least sometimes what I need is a little push from rejections to seek out new and different markets, I have done so with those two and now they are out and hopefully will come back with good news. I also sent out another piece which I wrote recently that I'm very happy with.

A lot of people have asked me how I come up with the stories for my sudden fiction pieces and to be honest a lot of the time I don't know. I just tend to sit down and write the story appearing in front of me. It's an exhilarating experience writing sudden fiction because it's something that's so small and yet can be so intense, totally unlike the larger pieces of work that I write that can also be intense but in a much wider sense.

Since I sent the two back out with an extra one I've finished a short story that I've been working on for most of a week and have begun writing another one which I've been really looking forward to putting down on paper.

A bad day

Well in some ways it has been anyway. The first thing you learn about being a writer is that not everything you write is the most amazing thing in the world. Each piece of work that is written is polished and sent on its way with the hope that it will shine out and be noticed, sometimes that happens but most of the time they get sent back with a little note saying they are not quite right yet.

Today I got two rejections, but that's OK I'm happy with the way they were received and they will be soon sent back out again. I've still got a number of pieces floating around yet to report back so I'm just concentrating on the next pieces I'm working on.

Rejections have never upset me as much as I thought they would I know some people find them quite hard to take but for me they are part of being a writer. Every job has its good and bad points rejections just happen to be a less good part of being a writer. I don't say they are bad because they can give you a chance to polish it again, to change something and make it even better.

Current writing projects

I have had a number of people over the past week ask me what my current writing projects are so I've decided to keep a tally of the various pieces I'm working on so everyone can keep track with me.

At present I've got various things going on as well as the writing but i guess that's nothing new, and those who know me personally will understand what is going on in my life at present. However when it comes to writing I'm spending almost all day working on it and try and do at least a thousand words a day.

In recent weeks I've been working a lot more on my sudden fiction pieces and hopefully some of those will be in print soon.

Where my longer writing it concerned I'm just polishing one piece of that will be sent before next Friday, and then I'm going to be working on two short erotic pieces that I'm quite looking forward to writing as they are a little bit different to the types I normally do.

I've also got plans for the wedding stories that I got ideas for on Saturday, I've begun one but it's just the bare bones currently.

Weddings are...

very tiring, but very inspiring.

We've just got back from one of my brothers wedding, it all went well and everyone enjoyed themselves. I thought I would just quickly post before heading to bed for some rest (we've had very little sleep over the past few days and have to get into town early tomorrow morning!). I had fun, and I found myself keeping a mental note of things as they occurred throughout the day/evening so I also now have lots of plot lines and pieces that I can use in future stories.

Words

Sometimes when writing, the same word turns up over and over again. At the moment I'm working on a piece that has a lot of word repetition and I'm beginning to lose sense of the word itself let alone how it's spelt, the meaning behind it is now nothing and it's untangled itself into a list of letters.

I think a break is in order!

70 Days of Sweat update

Near the beginning of July I signed up to do the 70 Days of Sweat. The idea was you set yourself a certain goal and wrote a few pages a day for 70 days. I've been working steadily on the writing, and I thought it was time for an update on here.

My goal that I set myself was to write two pieces with approximately 5000 words each. Since the start I have now written over 16 thousand words which I am very happy about. Since I've managed to get my goal done I'm now just working on pieces far in advance so that they are also done and adding extra deadlines to my to do list. I've submitted a much more varied selection of writing and I've even had chance to take part in some extra submissions I didn't think I would be able to do. If anyone feels that they need a gentle nudge to keep them writing I would suggest signing up for the next 70 Day's. They haven't decided on a date yet but when it's announced I'll place the information on here.

A bit of moving around

Since I write in many different genre's and use certain pen names for the various ones I thought it would be a good idea for people to be able to quickly get to the posts specific to those pen names. As of a result I've gone through all my old posts and have worked out a system that will mean that people only need to click on the link they would like to read upon.

So now if you would like to see news with regards to Nicole Gestalt then click on that link, likewise for Heidi Cook etc... hopefully this will mean people don't end up reading something that they would rather not.

Anything that isn't pen name related will just go into general.

Name a character result

Well i had some really great names and it was hard to pick a winner. However I have decided to go with the name Kevalan which was suggested by Brenna Lyons.

If you can get in touch with me Brenna I'll send you over your copy of Summer of Fire, and of course will let you know when I have more information on the story and the now named male character :)

Well done everyone for entering and I hope you all keep reading

Name a character UPDATE

The deadline came and went and I had some great names. I've placed them all in one file so that I can look at the names objectively and then once i've picked a name I will place up here who suggested the name. If a name has been suggested more then once I will give the prize to the person who suggested it first.

The winning name will be put up tomorrow.

Name a character and win a book!

My current WIP is based in a fantasy world very similar to Earth. The main male character lives in an ice palace. He keeps himself away from the rest of the world. After rescuing a young woman he falls in love with her.

At the moment he is unnamed - since he lives in an ice palace I don't want to use the name Jack (as in Jack Frost etc...). So I would like people to suggest names for him. The name I feel fits the best or is the most interesting will be used within the story itself (although I will keep all authorship over the characters involved and the story etc..)

The person who suggests that name will win a copy of my recent ebook Summer of Fire (published by Phaze).

Good luck everyone and get creative! The deadline is midnight (EST) Sunday 5th, the winner will be announced Sunday night / Monday morning.I will announce the winner here.

Nicole

Day long author chat

All the way through the month of August Phaze is running a series of chat days. My chat day is on Friday although also pop in on the other days as you will find other great authors talking about their recent releases and you might even win some prizes.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PhazeChatters/

Is the url. I will be there on Friday (tomorrow!) all day to answer questions and post excerpts of my recent book and also my WIPS (works in progress), there will also be a chance to win a copy of my recent story Summer of Fire.

I hope to see you all there!

Summer of Fire competition

Now that Summer of Fire is out I wanted to announce a competition I'll be running during the month of August. All you have to do is answer a question relating to something that happens during the book. At the end of the month I will take all the correct answers and place them in a hat and draw out one. The lucky winner will win an encaustic painting done by me - examples of the type of pictures can be found here: http://www.lady-morbannaon.deviantart.com/gallery

The question is:

What is the one thing that Mark would never admit to anyone?

Please send your answers to spanknicole@hotmail.co.uk with the heading Summer of Fire competition (otherwise it will get eaten by the spam filter and I might not see it).

Good luck!

Summer of Fire by Nicole Gestalt
Force - Contemporary $2
1-59426-477-5 978-1-59426-477-1
Release 7/30/07
2 Nova

Published by Phaze

Helen is a young, sexy policewoman. Mark is a handsome, widowed fire-fighter. Together they are investigating a series of arson attacks that have earned themselves the nickname The Summer of Fire. As the tension between them gives way to passion, they soon find that its not just the flames that have been getting them hot, but will Helen live long enough to give Mark a second chance at love?

It can be bought at:
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Summer+of+Fire+by+Nicole+Gestalt