Archives: #novel

FINDING IMOGENE by Teri Case: New Novel Launch!

Since releasing my own children’s picture books in 2016 and 2019, I’ve had the privilege of helping several writer friends get their books out into the world as well. Today, I’m excited to announce the launch for Teri Case’s newest novel, “Finding Imogene.” Order any time, but if you order a copy on Amazon today (Sunday Jan. 7), it will help her algorithms quite a bit, and algorithms are the name of the game in getting the most mileage possible in terms of marketing and advertising. It’ll pop up on Barnes & Noble pretty soon, and a large-print version is also about to become available. Here’s a link to make buying easy: https://a.co/d/5qxiRbU

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Frances Jerome has been tormented by the disappearance of her childhood best friend, Imogene, for decades. Despite her best efforts, Frances hasn’t built honest or intimate relationships with anyone since, including her son and daughter, and she’ll never forgive her father for the role he played in Imogene’s disappearance. Worst of all, she blames herself for turning her back on her best friend when she needed her most. After 43 years of remission, Frances’s cancer returns with a vengeance, and she knows she doesn’t deserve to rest in peace until Imogene can too. Frances enlists the help of her daughter Jean, who is struggling with her identity as a mother and a wife, and Griffin, a burned-out private detective whose father was haunted by this case before his death. Together, they try to find Imogene before Frances’s time runs out. But will finding Imogene offer the answers, justice, and peace they each long for? Or will the truth expose far more than they can imagine?

So, how did I get involved in Teri’s most recent book launch? Well, many years ago, I was in a Mastermind group, hosted by Dan Blank. It was a community of like-minded writers—a place for us to exchange ideas, inspire each other, and offer support through our writing journeys. In that group, I was fortunate to virtually “meet” Teri Case, and the rest is history! We initially bonded (still virtually) over a shared love of writing books, and, over time, we began to trust one another as beta readers, advisers, and critique partners. She became one of my best friends, and we never run out of things to say. The funny thing is, we didn’t meet face-to-face for many years! In fact, we’ve only seen each other in person one time since becoming friends in 2016. I’ll share a photo from that 2023 meeting, as it was a really fun in-person get-together in California. I was at a writer’s conference, and she just happened to be visiting relatives in the area, so we met up; we shut the restaurant down (seriously, the waiter kicked us out!), and we could’ve talked all night. I guess that’s the power of the internet, phone calls, texts, e-mails, social media, FaceTime, and Zoom meetings—because that’s the only way we had communicated up until our October visit on the West Coast.

Teri Case and I finally met in real life!

But back to business … Teri’s newest novel, Finding Imogene, would make a great gift for your avid-reader friends and yourself. It would also be a fantastic suggestion for your Book Club(s) that you might be a part of; as a domestic suspense novel, it offers many talking points, conversations and questions about family dysfunction, family dynamics, and keeping secrets. Here’s the blurb I wrote about “Finding Imogene,” which is printed on the back of the book (And yes, I do feel famous!): “A can’t-put-it-down story of a missing girl, a fractured family, and one woman’s quest to unravel a lifetime of secrets before it’s too late.

By the way, Teri has two other novels that I love just as much as “Finding Imogene.” They are called “Tiger Drive” and “In the Doghouse,” so if you’re looking for a lot of new reading material, try those out as well. Tell your friends, because word of mouth means everything, and it will help so much in Teri’s book sales. You can also go online and find your local library to suggest it as a book purchase for their shelves. Or ask your favorite indie bookstore to stock it; they’re always looking for ideas about what to sell. If you like the book, write a review on Amazon after you read it; post about it on your social media sites. Authors, like Teri and I, appreciate everything you do to help us out in these ways.

Check out all the novels by Teri Case!

Thank you for taking time to read this newsletter! I don’t send out very many (hey, aren’t you glad?!), but when I do, it’s because it feels like something important enough to share. As for me, my literary agent, Keely Boeving, is still trying to sell my middle-grade children’s novel for kids ages 8-12; it’s called A NIGHT WITHOUT LIGHT, and I hope it enters the world someday. I’m also drafting a new novel called GHOST ZOO (working title), and I hope to be sending it to Keely in a few months. My writing life is busy, and I continue to do Author Visits at elementary schools where I speak to students about writing, publishing, creativity, and inspiration. What’s really fun about my presentations is that I always invite a real art car to come along; the students hear me speak, and then they go outside to experience the very thing that inspired my first story, Arthur Zarr’s Amazing Art Car. So, if you know a school who would be interested, please send them my way; they can reach me through the Contact tab on this website or email me at catheynickell AT gmail DOT com.

Have a wonderful day and continue to Be Amazing! And don’t forget to order Finding Imogene by Teri Case!

Writing a Novel During a Pandemic

 

On Leap Year weekend this past February, I had no way to predict that it would be my last time to hang out face-to-face with my family for a long while. We were all in Baton Rouge, celebrating my nephew’s wedding. Stephen’s last name—Knight—set the tone for the evening with an “Oh, What a Knight” theme, based on the 1975 Four Seasons hit, “December 1963/Oh, What a Night.” And indeed, it was a fantastic night (aka/Knight).

A couple kissing at their wedding ceremony.
Stephen and Paige KNIGHT, sealing it with a kiss. Credit: The Roberts Photo/Andy Roberts.

I mean, how does one plan an outdoor wedding and pull it off without a hitch? Stephen and Paige did just that. The weather was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky, and an acoustic guitar player set a natural mood for the breezy ceremony. We ate Louisiana cuisine—yum!—and danced all night (aka/Knight) to the Groove Factor Band. [By the way, hire them if you are planning a wedding or event… they’re amazing!]

It was a beautiful weekend, watching this young couple start their lives and future together. We all hugged and said our goodbyes, and my husband and I returned to Houston. Within the next few days and weeks, news of the coronavirus pandemic began ramping up. Sure, I had heard way back in January that it was declared a global health emergency, but I was still feeling safely insulated in Texas. In mid-February, for instance, the virus was given a name, Covid-19, but I wasn’t worried yet. Ignorance is bliss, as the poet Thomas Gray wrote.

By the end of March, however, stock markets had plunged, U.S. schools and businesses shuttered their doors, and stay-home directives were in place. New terminology like “social distancing” and “flatten the curve” and “relief bill” and “Zoom meetings” and “are you essential?” would become the norm. But back on that gorgeous Southern evening of February 29th, the Grahams and Knights and other wedding friends were leap-year dancing. Mask-free, glove-free… FREE. Before all the international debates began—should we close down, should we not, and what the heck is Sweden doing???—we were dancing our hearts out. Oh, what a night (aka/Knight).

A couple poses for a picture in front of a brick wall.
Oh, what a neon-filled KNIGHT!
Credit: The Roberts Photo/Andy Roberts.

I came home from the wedding with a renewed dream and goal: finish my novel. It’s a middle-grade story that I got the inkling of an idea for in early 2018, or maybe even sooner. The details percolated in my brain for months, until I finally put pen to paper towards the end of the year… well, fingers to keyboard. Middle Grade (not to be mistaken with middle schoolers) is the name of a children’s literature genre for kids ages 8-12. Some people loosely call them chapter books, but that’s actually the name of yet another genre. Not confusing at all, right? HA!

My MG novel’s working title includes the word “Night”—which is kind of coincidentally cool, considering the awesome night theme I’ve got going here (aka/Knight). I’m not ready to publicly reveal the premise or theme of the story just yet, but I’m very excited about it. I wrote about a third of the novel during those early months, but then life got in the way, causing me to set it aside for way too long. I attended a fantastic small-group writer’s conference in September 2019, called Better Books, set at the beautiful EarthRise Retreat Center in Petaluma California. There, I received critical feedback on my very-rough draft from professional agents and fellow writers, and I flew back to Houston with a fervor to finish my novel. I knew I needed accountability, so, through a company called Author Accelerator, I hired a writing coach to help guide my plot and scenes and to push me on my deadlines. Thank you, Jen Braaskma for being the best writing coach I could ever hope for; and thank you, Jennie Nash, for having the vision to create Author Accelerator. You are both amazing.

When people were asked to self-isolate for the greater good, I decided to make my time at home count. I set up a makeshift office in my dining room—the one spot where I can best see people walking and biking along my beautiful tree-lined street. And I started writing. Writing. Writing. Writing. For me, it’s an urge I can’t escape… a muse who never leaves me… an inexhaustible source of magic. (Not to sound dramatic, lol!) And so, there I found myself, every day, at my laptop writing during a pandemic.

A plastic container with many yellow post it notes on top of papers.
My Post-it Note writing view of late.

Fingers crossed, I should finish this manuscript in June. Then, I’ll show it to my critique partners and beta readers… as well as to my hubby, best friends and close family (simply because I enjoy hearing their biased praise about how awesome I am—they love me far too much to be purely objective). After that, I’ll likely send it off to a particular editor who, at that conference in Petaluma, asked to see it upon completion. [Dream Big!]

Like so many, I haven’t hugged my parents in well over two months, preferring instead to visit in front-yard chairs spaced six feet apart. I haven’t had a haircut, haven’t eaten with friends at a restaurant, and haven’t bought groceries without a healthy dollop of hand-sanitizer at the ready. And like you, I’ve worried ad nauseam about the millions of Americans who filed for unemployment, about bankrupted businesses, about all the children, about our leaders, about our front-line healthcare professionals, and about the death toll. I’ve struggled with a daily mental ping-pong tournament as to what I personally believe to be the right course of action.

A woman wearing a face mask giving the peace sign.
My dear friend Tammy Kic has sewn and given away (for free!) over 1,120 masks, to date. She’s been donating the monetary tips people give her, raising over $1,000 (and counting) for The Star of Hope homeless shelter in Houston. She’s amazing, and I love my fabric heart mask. 🙂

But despite everything, I feel accomplished. I’ll have something to show for this emotionally heavy period in history… the time in my life that the world shut down.

The words to that happy, vibrant song keep echoing in my mind and heart:

 

 

Oh, what a night

Why’d it take so long to see the light?

Seemed so wrong, but now it seems so right

… Sweet surrender, what a night (aka/Knight).

BE AMAZING!

© 2024 Cathey Graham Nickell
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