Author Spotlight - Nell Dixon

The Minxes are very excited to have author Nell Dixon here with us today. Nell's pretty modest, but last year she won RNA Love Story of the Year for Animal Instincts from Little Black Dress. Today is  a very special day in a couple of ways for Nell, the first is... (shhh it's a secret) it's her birthday - Happy Birthday, Nell! And the second is that it's the Launch Day for her book, Making Waves.
And now for the minxy questions...

1. Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?

Five years ago in 2006 I’d seen the release of my first published books and I was thinking about writing Blue Remembered Heels which went on to become my first book for Little Black Dress.

2. Where did you get the idea from for this particular book?

This particular book, which is a short novella, was from an idea I’d dreamed up with my then critique partner, the wonderful Jessica Raymond. We wanted to create a small fictional Cornish seaside surfing town. I love being by the sea and the summer surf community atmosphere is fabulous. Lots of gorgeous guys in wetsuits and pretty surf bunny girls, sunshine and heavenly Cornish icecream, what was not to love?

3. Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?

In five years time I want to be top of the NYT chart – what writer doesn’t? It’s kind of like my dream to win the lottery or move to the sea. I want to still be creating warm feel-good stories that readers enjoy and give them a small escape into another world for just a little time.

4. Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?
Oh, this is tough. I love Jennifer Crusie, Jessica Hart and Liz Fielding so pretty well most of their books. The last book I read that I thought I really wish I could have written though is Queen of the Big Time by Adrianna Trigianni. I really loved that book, she’s a wonderful writer.

5. Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?

I am a huge reader, I read anything and everything – except horror and really gory crime. As a teenager I adored Jean Plaidy/Victoria Holt, Violet Winspear and Betty Neels. I love the Peoples Friend magazine and their pocket novels and I fell in love with warm, tender romance which made me feel good, made me laugh and made me cry. I decided I wanted to try and give other people that same feeling from my writing.

6. Do you find writing love scenes giggle-worthy or cringe-worthy?

 For me a love scene always reveals something about the characters, quite often they are opening themselves up and making themselves vulnerable to the hero or heroine for perhaps the first time so I get very involved in the emotions of the scene rather than the mechanics. I try to make the reader’s heart bump a bit faster for my characters at those times.

7. What's the most romantic moment of your life so far?
Mr Nell is not big on romance as anyone who knows us will tell you. This Christmas though he bought me a Kindle, even though he couldn’t really afford it. It wasn’t that he’d spent the money but that he knew that above anything else he could have found for me it was what I wanted more than anything. He knows how important books are to me.

8. What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were pubbed?
This is another tough one. I wish that I’d made the most of the time before I was published enjoying the process more instead of angsting so much over everything.

9. What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?

To keep writing, that at the end of the day the words you produce are the only thing in this whole crazy publishing world that you have control over.

10. Tell us about your latest release.

My latest release is called Making Waves – it’s a re-release of my out of print story which originally came out with Moonlit Romance as a duet as A Taste of Summer. It’s short, fun and feel good. If you like hunky surfers, Cornwall, and a big dollop of miscommunication then it’s the story for you. It’s released by Astraea Press, a new sweet romance e publisher.

11. What’s next for you?

Well, I’ve an exciting small project coming out later this year with two other authors so keep an eye on my facebook page, website and Twitter feed. I’ve another audiobook coming out with Audiolark. I also have some more things in the pipeline but again I can’t say anything just yet. I’m working on more new material too.

Thanks so much for joining us here today, Nell!
Find out more about Nell at her website, here
And her latest release, Making Waves, can be found at the Astraea Press site, and also at Amazon.co.uk here (It's also at Amazon.com for non UK kindle owners like Minx Sally),