Nike Chillemi

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

A:  I’m an urban girl, living in New York City in one of the more residential areas. Houses, not apartment buildings, but still quite urban. Rush, rush, rush…you get it. I grew up in upstate New York and have always been writing. I penned a tome about my love of horses as a girl. Actually, it was written in Crayola. I’ve always loved animals and have a house full of pets. I also crave the seashore and now live in close proximity to a salt marsh. Yup, NYC has protected wetlands…quite a few as a matter of fact.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

A. I always knew I had a flair for writing. But writing an “A” college paper is quite different I discovered from writing fiction. I started seriously writing fiction about five and a half years ago. It’s been a process. I keep my first manuscript around just to get a good laugh now and then.

Q:  Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?

A.  With my breakout novel BURNING HEARTS, I felt I had a quality story. Several people suggested I submit to Desert Breeze. I did and Gail Delaney, the Editor and Chief gave me a contract for a series. The rest is history.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release?

A: GOODBYE NOEL is the second novel in the Sanctuary Point series. It’s a Christmas/New Year’s themed romantic historical suspense set on the south shore of Long Island, NY in 1946/47. The first body is found under a trimmed Christmas tree, the second as they ring in the New Year , the third goes head long out a window. So then the question is will pediatric nurse Katrina Lenart be able to care for an infant whose mother was murdered and escape the killer who has struck again and again? Can she trust Ian Daltry, a widower with a charming four year old daughter who is the stalwart village detective? Katrina grew up strong willed and she finds her her maternal instincts are taking over to the point she’s willing to fight anyone who might not have the infant’s best interests at heart, even the man she’s growing to love. After an attempt is made to kidnap the baby, she and the detective team up and do some sleuthing, undercover at a cult as well as at a fancy ball. There is a warm love story that is esential to the plotline. In fact Katrina gets her first kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for GOODBYE NOEL?

A:  Before I became a homeschooling mom, I worked in the fashion industry, in bridal gown manufacturing. I’m a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in the garment district in NYC. I’ve always loved 1940s hair styles and fashion. So, I thought, why not create a heroine who is a post WWII fashionista. I thought it would be great fun and it was.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A:  I want to show how ordinary people can rise to great heights in standing for what is right and against evil. I hope my readers can see the “natural nobility” unpretentious people can display when against all odds they do the right thing. I hope my main characters Katrina Lenart and Detective Ian Daltry come off in this way. I want to show that LOVE is the greatest power on the earth, that the depth of human love is something that will always persevere. Of course, Christians understand this powerful love is God’s love in us.

Q: What is your favorite scene/chapter from the book?

A:  I have several scenes that are favorites, but I think the one that stands out is chapter five, scene one. This is where Katrina gets so miffed at Ian because he’s flexing his authority as a police officer and insists on taking the baby to his aunt many miles away even though there may be inclement weather. She want to shove him into a snow bank. She doesn’t make things easy for him in the early chapters. Quite the contrary, she drives him crazy. The challenge she presents begins to grow on him. He becomes more and more intrigued by her

Q: What inspires you to write?  

A.  I’m the type that is always coming up with story ideas. I usually catalog them in a “story idea” file. I’ve got over fifty potential plotlines now. Most of them are horrid, but a few have some potential and may wind up in print one day.

Q: How has being a published novelist differed from your expectations of the profession?  

A: I had no idea that I’d spend as much, or even more time marketing my novels than I did writing them. But that is the case. I do have a PR background and luckily, I enjoy marketing.

Q: What advice or tips do you have for writers who are just getting started?

A:  Keep writing. Discover your voice and don’t let critique groups, beta readers, or editors change that. Second to that, and almost as important is to read those you admire in your genre. Read the work of those who you feel are at the top of their game, the best of the best. And yes, get into a good critique group. American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) has a wonderful critique group system set up. Some people prefer Beta readers. If you’re going to use Beta readers, get more than one so you can compare what they say, and get ones who aren’t afraid to be critical. I love the critique group process. However, I don’t change things in my manuscript just because a critique partner suggests it. If two or more crit partners see the same problem, I’ll take a real close look at it and will probably make the change. I also suggest taking real time and online classes and seminars about writing technique and also about the business of publishing. After the manuscript is polished, the writer still has to query it, get a contract, and after its release market it.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?  

A.  I’m working on PERILOUS SHADOWS which is the third in the Sanctuary Point series. In this novel, a Scotsman who’s a radio news broadcaster and a young woman who left high society to become a newspaper reporter hunt the killer of a college coed.

Q: What is something your readers might be surprised to learn about you?  

A. I don’t know if it’s surprising, but maybe because so many think I’m some kind of urban tough gal. But I have a decorator’s hand. I am always doing little things to beautify my home. I don’t spend lots of money. Who has it these days to spend? I might rearrange furniture to get a different look in a room. Take the afghans thrown across the bottom of a bed in a bedroom and toss them across the arm of the sofa or the back of an easy chair to give the living room a new feeling.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?  

A. I like to take our little malti-poo Sophie out for long walks. Last night we went a different way than we usually do to see houses decorated for Christmas. It was a lot of fun. I like to spend time with the little tike. She’s so cute.

Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us?  

A. As some might know, I’m the board member and Chair of the Grace Awards, a reader driven faith-based fiction awards. Reader voting will begin December 31^st and will end February 29^th. Any novel written in 2011 is eligible. There will be notices up on the Grace Awards blog.

GOODBYE NOEL will be released December 15^th and will then be available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the Sony Reader Store, and Christianbooks.

Purchase at:

Amazon

Barnes and Nobel

Desert Breeze Publishing

Nike Chillemi ~ Crime Fictionista