Sequel to Lilah and the Locket

For a year and a half, I've been thinking about a sequel to Lilah and the Locket. For people who are familiar with the book - the three main characters, a man, a woman and a dog - are all based on real people and a dog :) So, to write a sequel, I needed their approval to include them in a story. February 2008, Kristie and Nathan (the real Kristie and Nathan) became the proud parents of Walker.

A couple of months before Walker was born, I was speaking with Kristie on the phone - her parents were in town and wanted to get copies of Lilah and the Locket from me. During the call Nathan mentioned in the background, that we need a book that includes Walker. That was the opening I needed - so I emailed a release to Kristie and in the back of my mind I was thinking about possibilities for the book.

But, first I had to finish a book I started in November 2007. That book - Book Promo 201: Learn to Promote on the Internet and With Web 2.0 - is finished and in the hands of my publisher. Now, I can start working on the next Lilah book - the tentative title is Footprints in the Sand and take place around the time of the Ash Wednesday Storm on the Outer Banks.



Footprints in the Sand will be a crime novel set on the Outer Banks and Kristie will be pregnant. I'm not ready to divulge any more details at the moment, but to get a very real sense of the storm that will be in this book - I highly recommend The Ash Wednesday Storm by David Stick.

This picture is in the specific area where I plan to focus a good amount of the book - you will learn more about that later :)

These pictures are from the book - which shows pictures during the storm and 25 years later. The pictures that were taken in the same locations 25 years later show how much the area changed and in some cases - how little has changed. These pictures are also featured on this website - http://www.gresham-photography.com/book.html

The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Today is about pure fun :) On the rare occasion that I get out of town - very rare indeed - I love to head to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. For people who aren't familiar with that are, its a very narrow strip of barrier islands on the east coast of North Carolina - in the northern part of the state. If traffic in Richmond and Hampton, VA are on my side, I can be there is under 5 hours - sometimes in just over 4, but it all depends on traffic and road construction.

Its a beautiful area of rugged beach and once you head onto Hatteras Island and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, it is definitely rugged and there are miles where you only see sand, dunes, wildlife and water on both sides of the road. Recently Nights in Rodanthe was released and parts of it were filmed on the northern part of Hatteras Island.

Since I don't have any video, I wanted to share the trailer for the movie - it shows clips from the area and might give you an idea of what the area is like. You can even see horses on the beach like they show - I have pictures from the northern section of the beachfront with the horses about 10' from my truck.

Take a look and let me know what you think :)

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/video/download/00003436/

The week I went to the area to promote Lilah and Locket - people were getting ready because the film crews were coming to town in a couple of weeks. Just missed Richard Gere again :) Maybe he will be in the movie version of Lilah and the Locket -----

For some additional pictures of the Outer Banks visit my website - I have hundreds of pictures from the area, but these are just a few.

http://www.nikkileigh.com/obx_pictures.htm

Nikki Leigh

I Always Say, "It Never Hurts to Ask"

I figure it never hurts to ask. The worst most people will do is to say no, so I figure we might as well ask if we want something. When I was on the Outer Banks in May, several people suggested that I should contact David Stick about talking with me. He is a very well known historian that has written many books about the Outer Banks. He's the person that is interviewed for all the documentaries about the area.

This is the link to his pages on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/102-9689285-3643329?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=David%20Stick

Anyway, the reason I mention this is because, I'm going to interview him for my next Lilah book. We're meeting this Saturday and it turns out that he was the county commissioner during the time when the story will take place. How cool is that?

Its going to be a rush trip, but any trip to Nags Head is fine with me :) I even found a place to stay for about $50 a night. That will work into the budget and I'm going to contact the bookstores that are carrying my books to see if I can restock anyone while I'm in town.

Now, I get to cram a month of research into about a week to get ready for our meeting. Good thing I love to read :) I also met with the real Kristy (main character in Lilah and the Locket is based on her) and we talked about some research I want to do with her for the sequel and she's excited about getting started. And, the newest character who will be introduced in the sequel is due to be born in January :)

Nikki Leigh

NaNo - Day Six

I worked for a client today and got another repair on my laptop today. My brother, dad and I also went to dinner -- so all around, no writing, but I got other important stuff done. But, tomorrow I'm back to work on Amazon info. I think that I also got a few contributions lined up for the book :)

Nikki Leigh

Lilah and the Locket - Book Trailer

I finally just took some time and finished putting together a book trailer for Lilah and the Locket. I would love to include all kinds of pictures, but that would make the trailer much too big. There are a couple of that I should add and it will probably be updated. But, for the moment - the link is - http://www.youtube.com/v/cXkhTX5s4l4

If you would like to share your thoughts, that would be wonderful. Now I need to create one for each of my other books :)

Nikk Leigh

www.nikkileigh.com/lilah.htm

www.nikkileigh.com/book_promo_101.htm

PS - I updated the link about 4 pm EST to reflect some nice changes :)