Nikki Duncan, Ponderings, This and That

Being a Girl is HARD

1 Comment

It’s no secret that being a girl is hard. Extremely hard. And it doesn’t matter how young or old we are or what we do every day of our lives.

As a mom of two daughters, I’ve always prided myself in being honest with them. One instance, that seems to be happening often with the youngest, I’m always honest regards the subject of bullies, or mean girls.

So often parents tell their children things will get better as they get older. I don’t. I tell my girls that people, some people, are mean and will always be mean. The only thing that will really change, or get better, is our individual ability to handle the bullies. I tell them that no matter how old we get there are always going to be people we do not like or want to be around. People who cannot find it in themselves to be genuinely kind to others. I then tell them it is up to them to find a strength inside themselves, a strength I know we all have inside, to stand against the bullies.

Now, most recently for example, this advise was dished out to my elementary aged daughter. I told her there will be nothing easy about it, but that her best defense against mean girls is to be a happy girl. I told her that nothing pisses off a bully intent on ruining your day more than being happy in the face of their meanness. My girls, being the sarcastic and expressive creatures they are, always laugh at me when I tell them this. Yeah, I admit I see the insanity of the idea.

My girls thrive on music. One plays flute and the other is a singer. This makes it feel natural that I should use music, this seemingly small thing which they connect to, to help my youngest come up with ways to combat the negativity. My current promise is to help her build an Empowering Playlist. A playlist she listens to in the morning before school, in the afternoon after school and in the evening before bed. A playlist that can live in her head and give her something to turn to in those moments when she needs to tune out the negativity around her.

So my question for you, no my plea, is what music empowers you to be a stronger you? What song helps you stand against those who would oppress you? What would you suggest for the sake of inspiring a young girl trying to find her way in an emotion filled world?

Nikki Duncan

NDcent Seductions

Winning her heart may require sneaking a dink past her defenses.

All readers like a good seduction regardless of what we’re reading. As writers it’s the seduction of words and the stories in our heads and hearts that push us. The characters become real people we often view as family members, and we want to share them with the world.

In the quest of sharing our families with as many people as possible, some of us writers have created street teams or launch teams. Teams that in a way become a different kind of family. These teams are made up of readers who love reading romance and are eager to share their loves with as many people as possible via social media, blogs or personal connections.

 

One such team is the NDcent Dames, a group of readers who help spread the word about my stories. The Dames are looking to grow, and the first book that would be available for an early review is SEDUCED IN SAND, the 5th installment in my Tulle and Tulips series.

If you would like to be part of this launch team and be seduced by NDcent ARCs and other goodies, check out the NDcent Dames details now!

Delilah Devlin, New Releases

Sizzling Shorts — Free from Kindle Unlimited!

What’s this all about? Amazon has a new program called Kindle Unlimited. It’s like Netflix for books. You pay one price, $9.99 for a subscription, and then you can download as many books as you can read that month. I thought and thought about how I could leverage this program and have some fun. I had this slew of short stories, some of which readers had no idea about. So, here you go! And more are coming!

There will be a new story every Friday through the beginning of April!

Excerpts, Heather Long, romance

Sometimes a wolf’s greatest challenge is finding their way home…


Amazon | Barnes & Noble | All Romance  

Five brand new, hot paranormal romance stories from bestselling authors. Alpha heroes and heroines with dark pasts and the need to discover their own happy ever after will draw you in and make you turn to the next page.

Each novella offers a look into a different series and world, but each features the power of the wolf. Whether you like your wolves from small town, as billionaires, fighting wars they have to win or wrestling with ancient powers, Under a Wolf Moon has something for you.

Discover never seen before stories!

Meet tempestuous wolves!

Survive fiery battles!

Mark the date to meet their mates!

The wolf moon fills the sky and it’s time to howl!

Warning: Contains alpha heroes and heroines, scorching passion, tough love, family ties, and pack dynamics which bind them together. Sometimes a wolf’s greatest challenge is finding their way home…

Wolf Next Door by Heather Long 

When Claire Webster was five years old Tyler Buckley, the wolf next door, told her he was her mate and then ordered her not to play with one of her friends. Butting heads throughout their childhood, her choice to leave Willow Bend tore them apart. Eight years later, she sends a request to the new Alpha—she wants to come home, and when he grants it, she’s both relieved and terrified. The first person she runs into is the last one who ever wants to see her again.

Princess of the Pack by Saranna DeWylde 

Marchessa de la Luna’s duty is to the marriage arranged to the enigmatic and powerful, but aging Alpha Antony Rommulus. Her passion is for the rogue Cassius who can give her nothing except pleasure. Marchessa must choose if it will be duty or desire that will decide her fate and that of her pack.

Eternal by Rebecca Royce 

Dougal Owens has served on the front line of The Dragon Wars for sixteen years. The last thing this Alpha werewolf expects is his mate to drop in with a plan to end the war. Together, they will battle to save the Wolves or die trying.

Hell’s Playground by Cara Carnes 

The Quadrant Alpha once thought Mira’s death was the worst thing that could have happened. Learning she lives, and worse, survived torture and purgatory gives Adrik a chance to save Redemption and his mate.

Odd Wolf by Virginia Nelson 

Dara is Alpha and used to taking control of the situation when it goes swirly. A rogue on her turf means a fight, and she’s ready to take him on. A woman with no plans to be tamed and a rogue wolf with no plans to stick around shouldn’t have more than a brief meeting to establish boundaries and be done. However, when Dara meets Lynwood, the call to mate might drown out logic altogether.

Read the first chapter of Wolf Next Door!

Continue reading Sometimes a wolf’s greatest challenge is finding their way home… →

Covers, Delilah Devlin, ebooks

Second time around is “Sweeter Than Honey”

There’s a lovely thing that authors know about called a “backlist.” When we publish a new book, it’s automatically on the backlist of things available for readers to find. And after you’ve been around a while, there could be a lot of books on that list—even ones so old readers don’t remember them. Like a fine piece of furniture, a writer can dust off an older title, give it a fresh coat of polish, and send it out into the world again.

I have a book coming on February 10th that’s up for pre-order now! It’s a historical western set in Two Mule, Texas—and yes, to those of you who pay attention, it’s a prequel book to the Lone Star Lovers series. I love this story. It was one of my first print books ever. It has tons of humor and sweaty sex. This one’s all dusted off, polished and ready for a second chance at life. And isn’t this the prettiest cover ever?

Sweeter Than Honey

Something’s on the rise in Two Mule, Texas. And it ain’t just the temperature.

1880, West Texas

Honey Cafferty lives a happy, if precarious, existence as a traveling saleswoman. She sells her elixirs and potions while searching for the one thing she hasn’t been able to brew from the back of her colorful wagon—a sense of belonging. She arrives in Two Mule, Texas, with her Elixir of Love, a potion that improves a man’s libido but might just get her run out of town.

Sheriff Joe Tanner is protective of his little town. Downright hostile toward anyone who might take advantage of the fine folk under his protection. Any snake-oil salesman who rolls into town better just keep right on rolling.

Honey isn’t what Joe expected, from her vibrant red hair and cat-green eyes to her curvy mouth and hips. And when the men of the town begin to plead exhaustion—and place the blame squarely on her sweet-smelling shoulders—Joe has no choice but to launch an investigation. A very, very deep investigation…

Warning: Contains a sheriff who prides himself on keeping his town running as smooth as a well-greased wagon wheel, and a wandering saleswoman who’s more than a bump (and grind) in his road.

Pre-order at Samhain
Read an excerpt

 

Nikki Duncan, This and That

A Child’s Letter

If kids, and many adults, were to write a letter to one of their closest friends these days, given the nasty virus going around, I think it might be something like this.

May you all have a terrific holiday with visits to and from the friends and family you love and value most.

Dear John,

You’ve been there for me since I was little. Sometimes you’re uppity, or back uppity as the case might be. We talk rarely, but we see each other every day. I wonder though, do you ever get tired of seeing me? Especially on days like today when I’ve been blessed with the stomach virus everyone is passing off to the next person faster than green vegetables are shunned at a kid’s party.

Illness and suffering may be a reminder for us to be grateful for the good things we have, like reliable friends like you. But John, I hope it doesn’t hurt your feelings too much for me to say I’d like a little space. The urgent need to race through the house and kneel before you is a little too close to obsession for my comfort. It’s just not healthy for a girl to be so reliant on a boy.

Please accept this letter in the spirit intended. I hope we can still be friends.

Sincerely,

Sick Kid

 

Delilah Devlin, ebooks

Burnin’ Up Memphis is out!

Well, Burnin’ up Memphis is available on all sites now! I can hardly wait to hear from you. I hope you love it. I hope you love my guys. I have an inkling where I’ll go next, but it’s always nice to hear which fella struck your fancy.

The only thing I have left to say is this: If you love the book, please let someone else know it. You can tell a friend or post a review. The only way I can stay a success and writing full-time is through your continued support. I’m very appreciative of everyone you do.

Enjoy! DD

Burnin' Up Memphis

She’s the one fire he may not be able to control.

Firehouse 69, Book 1

When a roof collapse kills his best friend and his girlfriend clears out his apartment and leaves, firefighter John Cooper knows he shouldn’t sit alone in his empty apartment. But when he accepts an invitation to Club LaForge, his feet get colder with every step he takes inside.

The sights, sounds and smells of the BDSM club make him sweat, and not because he’s turned off. Yet he can’t bring himself to admit—to himself, or to his luscious guide, Moira—that this lifestyle might just be what he needs.

An experienced BDSM trainer, Moira senses that Coop is not only a Dom in the making, but exactly what she’s been looking for. A man to be her lover and her Dom. The only problem is, Coop isn’t looking for anything complicated.

Moira’s willing to start slow and easy, but even once there’s enough trust to bring Coop into her world—and to her Dom—she’s still worried he’ll look for the nearest exit.

Warning: Do you smell smoke? Don’t worry, it’s just a hot and sexy firefighter getting down and dirty. Contains BDSM scenes, ropes, floggers, some spanking, some sharing, and some five-alarm sex.

Buy it now! Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Samhain | Kobo | iTunes

ebooks, New Releases, Nikki Duncan

A Color Coded Post It Girl

6 Comments

I seem to have officially become a color coded Post It girl. I’m can’t say it’s something I planned, or would have expected. For years I’ve kept a running list of things needing to be done on a legal pad. And for those years I found myself irritated by the messiness of the list with all the lines through it. Always wanting a clean list, this meant I was rewriting the list over and over, which isn’t as effective as just doing the item. You know?

Then, I made a change in my workspace. I got rid of the large desk in the open area upstairs and instead moved to a small writing desk in a corner in my bedroom. It was an adjustment, but the move has forced me to rethink my organization. I cut down on the clutter, which always makes me happy, and I’ve figured out the most effective way to use the space.

One change to using the space was to move from the never ending list rewrite to sticking Post It Notes on the wall I now face. I’ve found that with the stickies staring me in the face I’m more inclined to get things done because I would rather look at a blank wall than an Post It filled one.

I’ve also found that color coding the Post Its makes things easier. Apparently I like to compartmentalize, because I’ve gone so far to do Green for Day Job, Orange for Personal, Pink/Melon for Band/School and Red for Writing. There’s also a major feeling of accomplishment when I empty things off the wall.

This has me wondering, though, what kind of person are you? Semi-organized? Scattered? Obsessively methodical? Somewhere in between? Do you like lists or do you just have an amazing memory that doesn’t requires lists?

CyberIllusions72lg

Commenters will be entered into a drawing for an eBook giveaway. In celebration of the recent release of Cyber Illusions (Sensory Ops), the final chapter in the Sensory Ops Series, I am giving away a digital copy of the first five books in the Sensory Ops series.

 

Check out Nikki’s online homes to learn more about her and her books.
www.nikkiduncan.com
www.facebook.com/NDuncanWriter
www.twitter.com/NDuncanWriter
www.twitter.com/TulleTulips 

Covers, Delilah Devlin, Excerpts, New Releases

Meet Sergei Gun…

I have a book coming out September 2d. If you haven’t read the first book, you might want to do so now—both books in this series are great fun. Mystery, suspense, murky bayous, hot sunny Mexican getaways, ex-SEAL operatives, and women in need of their brand of care and protection….

Her Only Desire

HerOnlyDesire_600

Sultry Summer Nights, Book 1

The moment Tilly Floret sees the sleek Bentley driving down Main Street, she knows trouble has arrived in her sleepy little town. A mysterious job posting keeps appearing at the diner where she works, and she can’t resist applying. No matter that the entire town of Bayou Vert is whispering about the wealthy, powerful man behind it all and his scandalous return home. The moment his ice-blue eyes meet hers, he ignites an all-consuming desire she never imagined possible, one she can’t deny.

Ex-navy SEAL Boone Benoit never thought he’d set foot in Louisiana again. As soon as Tilly starts her new job in his pleasure club, he senses a kindred soul. One who has carefully guarded secrets of her own-and a simmering hunger for the taboo rites of mastery and submission. The only difference is she doesn’t yet know it. Now as Boone tutors Tilly in the tantalizing world of leather and lace, she will shed her every inhibition and surrender to him, body and soul.

Buy at:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million

His Every Fantasy

His Every Fantasy_600

Sultry Summer Nights, Book 2

The last thing ex-SEAL Sergei Gun needs is a complication. As part of a powerful black-ops company, he’s led an extraction team into the Mexican jungle to rescue two men who have been kidnapped. Everything has gone according to plan until Serge discovers a third hostage-an exquisitely beautiful woman with a secret haunting her stormy gray eyes…a woman who refuses to make this rescue easy. With no choice but to bring her back to the compound deep in the sultry, steamy Louisiana bayou, Serge vows to protect her, body and soul…

Kara Nichols never imagined that she’d capture the interest of a powerful man like Serge. Yet from the moment they met, she’s fantasized about his strong hands caressing her naked skin, his musky scent lingering on her sheets. What began as a simple rescue mission ignites into a passionate affair. As Serge teaches her the tantalizing art of surrender, Kara finds herself more than willing to shed every last one of her inhibitions and submit to him fully. But the dark, dangerous forces that captured Kara aren’t ready to let her go so easily…

Buy at: Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million

Meet Sergei Gun…

He’d been here before.

A makeshift tent city on a lonely stretch of Iraqi desert with a shamal wind kicking up fine, wheat-flour sand into a blinding storm.

Tar-paper shacks nestled in a rock-strewn valley in the Hindu Kush mountains under fat snowflakes whipping into a blizzard.

And just like those times, this ramshackle camp hidden in the middle of a Yucatán jungle was surrounded. About to be destroyed. The men guarding the perimeter, smoking cigarettes and bragging about their latest sexual conquests, were already dead. They just didn’t know it. Continue reading Meet Sergei Gun… →

Nikki Duncan, romance, This and That

Love…Vintage Style

Love is…patient.

Love is…kind.

Love is..a swift kick in the butt we don’t always want.

This is certainly the case in FIERY, my fourth Whispering Cove novella. Carmen has always wanted a place to call home, where she felt like she belonged. She came close when she and her sister made a home in Whispering Cove, but when no one is looking, when she’s alone with her thoughts, she drifts into a loneliness she hasn’t been able to fill.

Writing FIERY allowed me to shop for fifties style clothes and home decor, and it was fun to figure out why a modern day woman would want the kind of life a housewife in the fifties led. Or the life she thought they’d had. Ryan and Carmen challenge each other the way great partners should. They push each other’s buttons, but are just as quickly ready to help each other. They’re just not sure they fit as smoothly together as Whispering Cove’s matchmaking grandpas think they do.

Fiery300

 

Carmen is convinced that life in the fifties was simple, women were cherished by their husbands and kids were never left behind. Families were filled with love instead of dysfunction. And the clothes were cool.

What do you think? Do you agree with Ryan that Carmen is looking for an ideal that does not, and has never, existed?

 

Connect with Nikki at her other online homes.

Icon-TwitterGoodReadsLogo1