Out In The Dark now available!

As promised, information on my just released latest novel.

OUT IN THE DARK, written under the pen name, Nicola Adams, is now available in both Ebook and paperback format.

Straight from the back cover:

Description:

Jake’s father is one of a group of psychic warriors from a CIA/Stanford University project designed to train people in “remote viewing,” but he's been taken by a rogue unit with more sinister plans for his skills. Now, seventeen-year-old Jake must set out on a journey to rescue his father. Jake doesn't know where his father is, and his only clues are the flashes of images he gets in his mind. Taking his father's vintage 1966 Pontiac GTO, Jake sets out across the Cascades from Washington, to Nevada. Along the way he picks up Shelley, a girl scarred by poverty and who has had to do some pretty unpleasant things to get together enough money to go to college. He was only going to give her a lift to Nevada, but soon they're both running for their lives.

 “A fast-paced roller coaster adventure for a daring young man, trying to save his father’s life.” Lynne Kennedy, author of Pure Lies

“Following secret government psychic experiments, Jake needs all the help he can get to save his father. The psychic link helps him … mostly! Stephen King needs to watch out!” Richard Hardie author of the Temporal Detective Agency series.

The book can be purchased directly from the publisher, Untreed Reads, or other fine retailers and online sources. 

Please consider leaving a review!

Buckle up and enjoy the ride!!

A break from blogging

On this first day of a brand new year, I'd like to wish everyone all that is wonderful, joyful and peaceful.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to let you all know I'll be taking a break from blogging and social media for a while. The muses have come and sat me down. There is much writing to do and I am on the cusp of reaching the next level in my career as a writer.

So, I've let the muses chain me to my desk as I research new paranormal forms of communications for an exciting new book, "Supersense", I'm working on.

I will also continue to research Morocco during WWII where book 2 in the "Coming Storm" trilogy will take place, and I will be preparing for author visits/book signings and readings for when "Out in the Dark" hits the shelves later this month or early next month through publisher Untreed Reads.

I will update you all on important news when it comes. In the meantime, if you need to contact me, please do so through my website: www.elynnhwriting.com.
There you will also find a great short story for only a dollar. Yes, I'd love to give it away, just for you, but a little coffee money keeps an author happily writing.

Do Stories Matter?

For the past few weeks I’ve been struggling to make sense of our world. The horrors inflicted on nations, people and children. The streams of refugees that are paraded across my screen, and then the horrific attacks in Paris and Beirut. 

Not only does it make me question where we as human race are headed but it also makes me question my own path. Here I am sitting behind my computer happily making up stories. Sure some are stories of people struggling, or people living in war time, or teens using psychic powers to find missing parents, but still, I’m just here making up stories. 

What value does that bring to the world? Shouldn’t I be out there physically helping those in need? Nursing the sick, or building bridges, or raising money?

By chance I came across this quote from Stan Lee, comicbook (he prefers it as one word) writer that put it in perspective for me.

“I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: entertainment is one of the most important things in people's lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you're able to entertain people, you're doing a good thing.

STAN LEE, The Washington Post, July 23, 2010”

Perhaps writing stories is not such a bad thing. Perhaps that is helping others in some small way. I know books were alway a place where I found solace as a child, and even now, a good book can change my mood. So … maybe I am helping, just a little. 

Another interview

If you've ever wondered about my journey to publication. Or which literary character I'd like to have dinner with, wonder no more. Click the link below to find out.
You'll also learn how I feel about vampires, and who I think should play the leads in one of my novels.

Enjoy!

https://nickypeacockauthor.wordpress.com/2015/10/23/interview-with-lynn-hooghiemstra/

Interview

The below link will take you to an interview with me. Everything you ever wanted to know about "Tales from the Fountain Pen" explained. 

There will also be a give-away of one copy of the book, so if you haven't read it yet this might the opportunity to get it and enjoy it. 

Let me know what you think of the interview too.

Thanks!

http://www.arecafe.com/cafe-news/qa-with-e-lynn-hooghiemstra/

The Doldrums

Aside from it being an interesting word, Doldrums, and a nautical phenomenon. “A colloquial expression derived from historical maritime usage, in which it refers to those parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean affected by the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a low-pressure area around the equator where the prevailing winds are calm.” According to Wikipedia. 

It is also a real state of being and one many writers and artists can probably relate to. 

That sense of listlessness after completing a project before you start that next one. It also indicates a time of recharging, even if you don’t feel like it. You wonder if you’ll ever start that next project. Or which one to start next. 

You could say I’m in those doldrums right now. “The Coming Storm” is out there actively working to bring me an agent + book deal and I’m debating starting on book 2 in the trilogy or finish up an action-adventure book I started writing six months ago. 

Sometimes it’s good to do something completely different, but then again, I do want to know what happens next with the Detweiler kids who I kind of left off the coast of Morocco in the first book. But I also want to know if my FBI team catches the bad guy. 

I think what this kind of situation calls for is just to relax and let the right answer come. I’ll do more research into WWII Morocco and write my daily quota on the action-adventure, unless I feel inspired to start chapter one of the sequel to "The Coming Storm". The stories are all there and in time I’ll write them, no need to rush and trip over myself to get them all done one after the other. 

Life runs more smoothly if we accept the cycles of ups and downs, activity and rest. I’ll admit it took me many years to learn that valuable lesson. 

Stay tuned for two interviews with me coming up this month! 

Waiting

A clock tower in Amsterdam

Have you ever noticed that a good portion of life consists of waiting? That’s in addition to the time you spend sleeping where very little gets done either. 

This month has seen its fair share of waiting for me:

Waiting for the school strike to be over so my offspring can start his senior year of High School.

Waiting for agents to get back to me after submitting my manuscript to them.

Waiting for my publisher to get back to me with edits on my novel which comes out Dec. 15th.

Waiting for my new passport - not that I’m planning any big trips, but I like to be ready just in case. 

Waiting for friends to be free for a coffee date.

Waiting for the cat to finally come in off the front mat.

Waiting for Netflix to get season 10 of Supernatural.

Waiting for the delicious cake I just baked to cooled off enough to slice.

Waiting for my elbow to heal up after spraining it so I can write at full speed again.

Waiting for Mercury to go direct again … those retrogrades can really mess you up…. 

As frustrating as waiting can be, it does give me time to reflect, to think through the next step. To get some much-needed rest and plan. 

While I wait, stories develop and play, like movies, in the back of my mind. Characters come to the forefront and fade away again if they don’t fit the story. All in preparation of the next books. 

So I will reluctantly admit that waiting isn’t all bad because it gives me time to step back and prepare for the next big thing ... which hopefully doesn't keep me waiting too long.