by Brett Nelson
January 14, 2022
Welcome, readers, to the January 2022 edition of my AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT blog.
Happy New Year! I hope you had a blessed Christmas season with friends and loved ones. I know many people are glad to see the holidays end, but I’m not one of those people. It always makes me sad when the excitement of the holidays has dwindled, when Christmas movies no longer show on television, the 24/7 Christmas music disappears, and the tree, decorations, and lights are put away. Suddenly, the house looks a little more sparse and we find ourselves thrust back into the grind of work and the many other things life throws at us. As I heard in a movie once, “December 26th is the saddest day of the year.” For me, it really is.
The month of January can be a cold and dreary month, even down south where both today’s guest author and I reside. I love cold weather and always dread seeing those first shoots of green in the lawn because, let’s be honest, it signifies that lawn mowing season, accompanied by unbearable heat and humidity, are about to spring their relentless, ugly heads upon us. But, let’s not dwell on that unpleasantness right now, because the nine months of summer (that might be a slight exaggeration, but I’m a writer–it’s what I do–ha!) will be here soon enough. Dead lawns, thick sweaters, and a foot of snow–even though we rarely get it this far south–is my happy place right now.
That said, what better month than January to stay home out of the cold as often as possible, fill your mug with your favorite hot beverage, burrow under a thick blanket, and read your favorite book. Or, in my case, my favorite BOOKS!
The guest on my AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT this month is a new author to me. This past August, I picked up my first Lexie Nicholas novel entitled, HURRICANE BEACH. Not only did the title pull me in but also the book cover, because it depicted a crashing ocean. I read the entire book in two days and immediately looked her up on Amazon to see if she had other books available, which was how I found TWIST OF FATE.
The book cover on TWIST OF FATE really pulled me in because it had a tornado on the cover. I didn’t even need to read the description to know it was a book I wanted to read, because I’m a storm nut. And, of course, like the first book, it didn’t disappoint.
I often wonder if I’ve missed my calling in life because I love weather–especially the severe stuff. I don’t enjoy the devastation that results from severe storms, but standing outside to watch storms pass through town excites me, and I love watching television shows about weather chasers.
I remember years ago when I lived in the Oklahoma City area, I had just moved from my parents home into my very first apartment. We got all my stuff moved into the top-floor apartment, and the first night on my own–you guessed it–a huge storm blasted through the area. I didn’t have a television yet, and it was before the days of smart phones, so I was literally at the mercy of anything horrible that could happen. I think I may have had an alarm clock/radio to listen to, but I wasn’t that smart. Instead, I stood on my new balcony watching the seventy mile-per-hour winds whipping through the trees, lightning blazing across the horizon, and thunder rumbling through the plains. In short, I was in my element that night.
Just before the rain hit, I heard a round of panicked pounding on the front door. Since I knew no one in the complex, I got nervous and grabbed the closest thing I could think of to brandish as a weapon: a can of hairspray.
I stood at the door, squared my shoulders, lowered my tenor voice to the lowest register my vocal cords would allow–which pathetically probably wasn’t much–and bellowed a gruff. “Who is it?”
“Sweetie, it’s mom. Open the door!”
I yanked open the door and looked at my parents in surprise. “What you are you doing out in this storm!”
“You don’t have a television and we wanted to make sure you knew storms are on the way.”
Well, yeah, the thunder and lightning kind of clued me in that something was going on. That was what my smarty-pants mouth wanted to say. “Yeah, I knew we were about to get storms,” I offered the more diplomatic response instead, because, you know, there’s that whole “honor thy father and mother” thing.
“And why are you standing on that balcony with all this thunder and lightning?” Mom said.
“I was going to come in when it started raining.”
About that time, a torrent of drenching rain hit, and I rode out the first storm in my first apartment with my parents. I think that night, they may have realized I don’t make logical decisions when it comes to storms.
To this day, my mom still calls or texts to remind me to “get inside the house and stay there,” when severe storms roll through our town. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Which, believe it or not, brings me around to today’s AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT guest.
Up to this point in my blogging history, I’ve had the opportunity to interview a few interesting authors, but I must say, today’s author probably could be the closest to a “soul sister” than any other author I’ve interviewed. Lexie and I are both bonkers for stormy weather, we both seriously missed our callings for meteorology school, we both love Hallmark movies, and we both like to write our novels listening to ocean sounds and movie soundtracks, though my taste in soundtracks leans toward orchestral soundtracks like Batman, The Age of Adaline, and The House of Sand and Fog, just to name a few.
I’m super excited to introduce you to today’s guest–Lexie Nicholas. To date she has written two novels and one novella in her Southern Storms Sweet Romance series of books.
She also writes under the pen name Nickie Cochran, where she has published three novels and a novella (which you can get for free by subscribing to the newsletter on her website–stick around to learn more on these books in the interview to follow).
Lexie is married and lives in Alabama with her husband. She likes to read and write small-town and inspirational novels about ordinary people struggling to make it through life.
Without delay–here is today’s AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT guest, Lexie Nicholas.
Brett: Lexie, before we start talking our favorite subject—BOOKS—let’s go back a few years to before you were a writer. As a child, were you an avid reader? If so, who were your favorite childhood authors?
Lexie: Hi Brett! First of all, thank you so much for inviting me as a guest on your Author Spotlight blog. It’s such an honor! To answer your question, oh yes, as an only child, books were one of the many ways I kept myself entertained. I grew up in Germany, so as a girl, I got hooked on a book series called Hanni & Nanni, a set of twins who lived at a boarding school and solved mysteries. Doing a quick internet search, the books were written by English author Enid Blyton and the series is called St. Clare’s in English. Think of it as the British version of Nancy Drew. Now, my absolute favorite as a kid, though, was Die Unendliche Geschichte – The Neverending Story written by German author Michael Ende. The book was so awesome, because not only was it written in green and red ink, depending on which world you were in, but it’s also written from the point of view of the boy hiding out in the attic of his school reading this forbidden book, and you get to go on the adventure with him. Just awesome!
Brett: At what age did the writing bug sink its teeth into you, and you thought, “Writing is something I’d like to do?” Was a novel your first attempt at writing, or did you start smaller and work your way up to full-length novels?
Lexie: Like many authors, I always enjoyed writing. I was the weird kid in my class who always enjoyed writing essays and other writing assignments—I just hated to write them when there was a short time-limit, because I wanted to get deeper into my stories. Fast-forward a couple of decades, I mean, literally decades here, hubby was stationed in Germany with the Army. I just had finished reading the last of Lynn Kurland’s gazillion really cool time-travel highlander novels (she also has a fantasy series, but I never got into those). Anyway, fresh out of books to read, I couldn’t find anything that interested me. Paranormals were too dark and steamy for me, and at that time, all the books I found in stores were more women’s-fictiony (come on, where’s the love?) and not so much small-town romance. Then it hit me. Why don’t I write the book that I want to read? And so, The Heidelberg Ghost was born, a fun, full-length sweet romance, where the main character returns home to Germany and falls in love with a mischievous ghost. What’s not to like about that?
Brett: Since you beat me to the punch and mentioned your first novel, let’s talk a little deeper about that. Putting a novel out there for public consumption, especially for the first time, can be very scary, because even though it’s fiction, a little of the author gets embedded in the story, and you’re opening yourself up to criticism. How did you feel when you published The Heidelberg Ghost and realized your first attempt at novel writing was out there for anyone in the world to pick up and read?
Lexie: When I self-published The Heidelberg Ghost as Nickie Cochran, I was scared to death. What if people didn’t like it? What if readers are brutally honest and write a ton of 1-star reviews? It didn’t matter, because if I brightened only one reader’s day with my story, it was all worth it to me. Two happy readers? That would be super awesome!
Brett: When it comes to novel writing, are you a “plotter” or a “pantser?” Do you plot your novels before writing them, or do you just jump in and figure it out as you go along?
Lexie: I’m a 100% plotter! I couldn’t even imagine taking on a huge project without knowing where I was going. It would hurt my soul if I’d wrote myself into a corner and had to delete days’ worth of writing and then rewrite that portion. Ouch. No. Not doing that! I usually start with an idea and my 4’ glass whiteboard or jot notes down on my Boox notepad (it’s like a kindle but you can write on it like a notebook). Then I use my writing program, Scrivener, where I create my scene outlines. My final step before I get to the actual writing is to use a template I created based on the Story Genius method by Lisa Cron to write down what happens in each scene and why it matters to my point of view character. I try to write a scene a day, so when I look at my little cheat-sheet, I know exactly what I need to write, then watch the movie play out in my head, and let my fingers do the typing.
Brett: This is a nearly impossible question to ask an author because our books are our blood, sweat, and tears, but of all the books you’ve written, can you pick one as your all-time favorite? Why is that one your favorite?
Lexie: You’re right, it’s almost impossible to answer. Can I cheat and go one per pen name? We already know that The Heidelberg Ghost was my passion project and my first novel—although, Her Christmas Angel that just released in the fall is a very close second. It’ll always have a special place in my heart. Writing as Lexie, Hurricane Beach is the one…so far. I’m such a weather nerd and Hallmark addict, and moving back down to Alabama inspired me to write a love story with crazy weather all around. Besides, who doesn’t love sweet small-town second-chance romances with storms?
Brett: I can’t speak for anyone else, but I LOVE the idea of small-town romances with a few severe storms built in…ha! As of the publishing of this blog, Twist of Fate is the novel you’ve most recently published. For readers who haven’t read the book, tantalize us with some of the highlights of that novel.
Lexie: Twist of Fate is a sweet, enemies to lovers medical romance, where the new doc in town is on a mission to save his patients—and himself—from the progression of chronic diseases, especially diabetes. Unfortunately, the tempting aroma from the cupcake bakery across the street from his practice makes his quest nearly impossible to accomplish, as his patients flock to Jenna’s shop to take home a couple of treats after their appointments. For the good of his patients, Cody tries to shut down the bakery, but Jenna is not one to give up that easily on her dream. When a tornado threatens the town of Magnolia Hill, both Cody and Jenna are forced to compromise and get along. Can they even go as far as to find love?
Twist of Fate is a very personal story. I’ve been a pre-diabetic for almost a decade and have been fighting from becoming a full-blown Type 2 diabetic. So far, so good!!! Many of my personal experiences show up in Cody’s struggles, so this is another book near and dear to my heart. Adding the element of diabetes to this story is my way of raising awareness and giving other patients hope that diabetes can indeed be managed, and there’s plenty of research that supports this.
Brett: I have read your novels HURRICANE BEACH and TWIST OF FATE. As a huge lover of rain and thunderstorms, I’m the crazy loon who stands in the garage while the wind whips at fifty miles per hour and tornado sirens blare in the distance, just because I want to watch the action. Your covers really grabbed my attention (one has “hurricane” in the title and the other has a tornado on the cover, so I was instantly hooked!) What made you choose weather as a plot for your novels?
Lexie: Wow, Brett! We had a tornado come through our town just after I had submitted Twist of Fate to my editor. We watched the radar and did a quick Walmart run before the storm came. Just before we turned back into our neighborhood, we saw three wall clouds dipping pretty low in separate spots. We finished unloading our couple of bags, then watched from the garage as the line of storms approached. The clouds were swirling wildly above us and we noticed a rotating motion. Putting my new iPhone to use, I recorded all the action. We heard the commotion in the trees as the first gusts approached and knocked down all the trashcans that were not secured after trash pickup that morning. At that time hubby yelled: “Let’s go inside. We’ve got to close the garage door.” I told him that I could see a wall of rain coming right at us and that I wanted to see it, then we could go in. It was so awesome to watch as a distinct rain line wet the pavement about the same speed a car would drive through our street. The rain blew almost horizontally in the wind and there was so much noise around us. My adrenaline was definitely flowing. Happy with having witnessed the storm roll in, and not wanting to get wet, I told hubby I was good now and we could go inside. Halfway to the door into our house, the power went out and tornado sirens blared, then all our phones, battery powered devices, and our weather radio went off at the same time. We manually closed the garage door – it slammed shut with a loud bang – then waited out the weather. Turns out, it was an EF1 tornado that dropped down in the busiest part of town were all the stores are. Luckily, no one was hurt, although the damage was considerable. So, Brett, I think we’re kindred spirits when it comes to the love of stormy weather. My hubby calls me a weather nut. I love the excitement and watching the awesome displays of mother nature—as long as nobody gets hurt, that is, of course. How could I not sneak it into my novels?
Brett: On average, how long does it take you to write a novel?
Lexie: I still work full-time to support my writing habit. Actually, I’m only 8 years from when I can begin drawing a pension— the gift that keeps on giving—so it takes me a little longer to write my books. It also doesn’t help that I’m a bit of a perfectionist and that I’m not particularly blessed with speed-reading skills (yes, I confess that I do that read-every-word thing—always have). Therefore, I can’t even fathom how some authors can crank out a book every month. Wow—hats off to them. A realistic speed for me from planning to publishing a full-length novel is about 6-9 months.
Brett: Think back over the books you’ve written–you’ve written several characters. Which character would you not get along with in real life? Which one would be a friend you wish you had in real life?
Lexie: I would want Anna to be my friend in real life, because she’s fun and we could go storm chasing together. Then, if something would go wonky, she could save me. My husband was a paramedic for a while when he had a break in his military service, but he doesn’t get as excited as I do about storms. Bummer. Want to know a fun fact? I almost got into meteorology in college and did a semester of Air Force ROTC to become an officer, but we quickly realized that with hubby being active duty Army at that time, it was almost impossible for me to follow through with that plan.
Now, who would I NOT want to be friends with? Oh, that would be Roberta, the dragon, from Mamaw’s Diner. Even, though, there might be a story there…
Brett: You also write novels under the name Nickie Cochran. Give us the names of some of these books and a short description of each.
Lexie: I got my author career started when writing the Spirits in Waiting series. These books are sweet contemporary romances with a fun ghostly twist. In The Heidelberg Ghost, Andrea reluctantly falls in love with a 400-year-old ghost, and only she can set him free from this curse that keeps him in his less than solid state.
The second book in the series is The Shadow of His Past, a love story set in a haunted house. But the bumps in the night and strange coincidences are not what you think they might be.
Finally, Her Christmas Angel, which was just released this fall, is the story of a Christmas store manager who befriends a little lost ghost boy in search of his family. Soon she has to decide if she wants to spend her evenings with the little boy, the son she always hoped for, or finally cave in and go on a date with the handsome firefighter and part-time Italian chef, Tony.
Brett: It’s not uncommon for an author to write under different names (Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb are the both the same person, and J.K. Rowling is geared toward teens while her pseudonym Robert Galbraith is the name she uses for her adult-geared novels). What made you choose to write under two separate names?
Lexie: I had been wrestling with the idea of publishing all books under one name, but the more I thought about it, and the more I listened to other authors, the clearer it became that it was probably smarter to keep them separate. Even though both series are sweet contemporary romances, they are very different. The Spirits in Waiting books have paranormal elements in them and take place in my hometown of the beautiful city of Heidelberg, Germany. The Southern Storms books are straight small-towns taking place in Georgia. I think they are different enough to where maybe only a small group of readers would crossover to both, and I don’t want to confuse my readers. Although, it’s not a secret that I write under two names.
Brett: When you start writing a book, do you always know the title before you begin writing? Or have there been times when the title didn’t emerge until later in the writing process?
Lexie: Usually, the working title for my projects are pretty close. Hurricane Beach actually started as Hurricane Season, then Twist of Fate would’ve been Tornado Season, and finally, Fire Watch, would’ve been Fire Season. However, the title Hurricane Season was already taken and that book was displayed all over book stores, I didn’t feel it was appropriate to take that name and adjusted the titles. But yes, I usually have a pretty good idea what the title will be in the end.
Brett: It’s disappointing, for sure, to realize your book title is already taken, especially if it’s taken by a more notable author, but I must say, I like your secondary titles best, so it worked out in your favor, if you ask me. Now, let’s move the conversation to novel completion. Do you ever finish a book and worry you’ll never be able to write another one?
Lexie: Not really. Planning and outlining a new story are a lot of fun for me. I love the challenge of making puzzle pieces fit, in this case story pieces, and make them flow.
Brett: After completing a novel, how long does it take before you launch into the next one?
Lexie: Usually, I have a good idea where each book in a series will go before I start writing a book. After I publish my paperbacks about a week or two after the eBook releases, I often need a little bit of a break to reset as I shift into a new project. Besides, I can’t really focus much during the excitement of releasing a new novel. Once my batteries are recharged, I’m ready to jump right back into writing the next novel.
Brett: Give us a short description of your working space. Is there anything you must have to flow in the creative process? When you take a minute to look out the nearest window, what do you see?
Lexie: I actually have three favorite writing spots. When it’s nice outside, I like to sit on our covered back porch. The view is gorgeous with a large oak tree and a cute shed that looks like a small house. It’s especially inspiring to me when we have storms about to roll in. Another spot I write a lot in is in bed before I go to sleep. No judging! It’s quiet, and I usually have Alexa play ocean sounds or film scores on Pandora. It’s like having a soundtrack to your story as you write. My other favorite writing place is our dining room table, which is just far enough away from the TV where I can concentrate, but I can also talk to hubby while I do “my words.” That way I don’t have to feel guilty for disappearing after he comes off a 12-hour shift. We get to hang out, but I also get to write. It’s a win-win situation!!!
Brett: I remember the first time I cried when writing a particularly emotional scene in my Christmas novel. I wasn’t expecting that to happen, and it took me by surprise. Has this happened to you? If so, can you describe which book and scene that was?
Lexie: This happens in all my books during difficult moments. For example, when Andi has to decide to set Volker free. She knows, the minute she utters the last words, that will reverse the spell and she might lose him forever. I sobbed. It took me another 15 minutes to gather myself and continue writing.
Brett: Since Christmas has just passed us for another year, let’s talk about that for a minute. I’m the biggest “Mr. Christmas” I’ve ever met. I love all things Christmas. Since you like to write about weather phenomena, any chances you’ll ever give us a Christmas-themed novel where your characters get snowed in by a blizzard? (I know authors HATE when people give them book ideas to write about, but hey, I had to ask…LOL!)
Lexie: Ha! Here you go giving me ideas… You know, many of my readers expressed in a poll they wanted me to keep writing stormy books. The problem is, there are only so many types of disasters I can put the poor people of Magnolia Hill through. But then, a Christmas blizzard would be cool, I’d just have to get creative, because the only snow we got when we were stationed in Fort Stewart near Savannah was during the Blizzard of 93 (and that was in March). But… I have a big whiteboard hanging in my home office that can hold a lot of what-if scenarios and brainstorming notes…
Brett: You primarily write cozy romance reads. What are the chances of you ever genre jumping and writing something in a different genre? If so, what genre would you like to write in?
Lexie: I think I found my home with sweet small-towns, but I also feel drawn to write more inspirational romance in future stories, because they can give so much hope, and maybe shine a little light into readers’ hearts. By the way, I love watching Christian uplifting movies, even though I have to keep tissues nearby every time…
Brett: If I were to drive to your home in Alabama to have dinner with the Nicholas family, what would be on the menu?
Lexie: As I mentioned earlier, having lived on the cusp of developing type 2 diabetes for many years now, I was able to prevent full-blown onset so far by eating low-carb. To the delight of my hubby, we like to throw nice ribeyes on the grill on random days. Not to his delight, I roast veggies like broccoli or cauliflower or make creamed spinach as my sides. But lucky for him, I’m a nice wifey and cook him a batch of just-right, buttery, boiled potatoes, decorated with parsley. Or on busy nights, I bake him up frozen garlic bread slices to go with his hunk of meat. Yes, we eat well and mostly from scratch. It just tastes sooo much better!
Brett: If you could spend an entire weekend doing nothing but bingeing your favorite television shows, what would you watch?
Lexie: Hallmark movies, medical dramas, and select ghost shows like Kindred Spirits or Dead Files.
Brett: What’s your favorite hobby/activity for the rare occasions you’re not writing?
Lexie: Huh? Is there anything else? Oh yes, there is!!! We do enjoy going down to the beach a couple of times in the summer. That’s where I get my inspiration or at least relax long enough on a beach chair without a laptop after wearing myself out playing in the waves. Somehow, the story ideas seem to come more easily that way.
Brett: What’s your favorite format when you have time to sit down with a book (ebook, physical book, audiobook?)
Lexie: For non-fiction, I prefer paperbacks or hardcovers, and I keep them in my many bookshelves as references. For fiction, it varies. I love my kindle on the go or when traveling, use the iPad when I read at night, or have Alexa read my kindle books to me when I drive to work or cook dinner. AI voices have come a long way, and they sound natural enough to me. The cool thing is that each device is synced to pick up where I’ve left off on another device.
Brett: We authors usually don’t like talking about our work before it’s completed, but give us ONE word that would best describe the novel you’re working on now.
Lexie: Adventure.
Brett: Lexie – Thank you very much for taking the time to be a guest on my AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT blog. You’ve been a joy to get to know. Is there a date when your next novel will be published?
Lexie: Fire Watch will release March 19, 2022.
Lexie enjoys hearing from her readers. If you’d like to email her, you may do so at: [email protected]
If you would like to learn more about Lexie or her books, please visit her website at: https://www.lexienicholas.com/
Her books can be found at Amazon by clicking on the following links:
“Hurricane Beach”: https://www.amazon.com/Hurricane-Beach-Second-Romance-Southern-ebook/dp/B08BBN4D2Q
“Twist of Fate”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B095VFNRTR
Lexie’s upcoming novel Fire Watch will be available for purchase March 19, 2022. You can click the link below to pre-order: https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Watch-Romance-Southern-Storms-ebook/dp/B09PGWBLSY
“The Heidelberg Ghost”: https://www.amazon.com/Heidelberg-Ghost-Haunted-Love-Book-ebook/dp/B0098RDV20
You can also follow her on the following social media platforms:
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Lexie-Nicholas/e/B08BC94T7P
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LexieNicholasAuthor
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lexie-nicholas
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexienicholaswriter/
Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20424666.Lexie_Nicholas
Finally, thank you for visiting my website and blog. If you’d like to check out Brett Nelson’s books, click on the Amazon link to visit my Amazon Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/Brett-Nelson/e/B08D2C1YSC
See you again in February for another great Author Spotlight!
Brett
