Nikki Loftin

When I was in high school, my Senior English teacher asked one of those questions that seemed provocative at the time, but was really just her pointing out how we were all sleepwalking through our lives since we hadn’t really ever thought about anything substantial. The question was something along the lines of: What is [...]

Oh, Writer Friends, I wasn’t being flippant in my last post. I do adore you. And so, I will share the following with you all: One of my agent-sisters (Suzette Saxton) is having a contest on her blog, with some very nice prizes. The grand prize is a 40-page partial submission WITH critique with Mon [...]

I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve discovered something that’s more terrifying, humiliating, and painful than trying on a pile of swimsuits in April, after a long winter of chocolates and eggnog lattes.
Revising.
I’ve also discovered something that’s more thrilling, energizing, and plain-old-fashioned fun than a trip to Nordstrom’s with a girlfriend to buy shoes.
Yup, [...]

Okay, so I’m not really one of those people who gives stuff up for Lent. I think one year I tried to give up chocolate and lasted for about three days. Since I’m not certain it’s the thought that counts when it comes to Lenten Promises, and I never want to tick off the Big [...]

I can’t help it. I must post this for all my procrastinating writer friends who might have, in a very dark period of their lives, read a few thousand Regency romances. (Unlike me, Heavens forfend! I only ever read the classics in their original languages, no matter how much angst or ennui I suffered as [...]

Hiya, Peeps! Not much to report this week, besides writing like my life depends on it. (Does it? A good question.) So, instead of coming up with something witty and fabulous to say, I will help you blow a couple of hours at a writerly site. Check this out. Authors tell you how to pronounce [...]

For a writer, there’s nothing like that feeling you get when you’ve been to a really great conference, and you come home fizzy and full of ideas, encouragement from your peers, and potential writerly awesomeness.
I just got home from the Best Conference Ever. (Um, the conference was Austin SCBWI, driving distance from my house, so [...]

This week, a friend invited me and thirteen other middle-aged chicks to her house for a night of food, fun, and Bunco. (Which, for me, is like saying, Margaritas, Mojitos, and Root Canal. I loathe Bunco. But I like this woman very much and I’d never seen her house, so…)
When I walked in the front [...]

So, when is your book going to be published? That’s the one, right? That annoying one that unpublished writers get all the time. (Especially, as it turns out, unpublished agented writers. Who’d a thunk it?) My stock answer is both philosophical and Southern: How long is a piece of string?
But recently, someone very near and [...]

I’m not one of those writers who has to “feel the Muse” to get my work done, exactly. I’ve had to write for deadlines before, and I don’t really want anyone as Woo Woo and unpredictable as a mythological creature for my writing buddy. But lately I’ve been wishing I had a Muse, so I [...]