Nell Dixon Talks About Writing What You Know

For a long time Nell Dixon resisted writing a romance set in a medical background. As a qualified general nurse, midwife and health visitor of many years standing she had the perfect credentials. Somehow though, the idea had never held much appeal, despite her fondness for reading Betty Neels, Kate Hardy and Fiona Lowe’s books.

Then at an RNA conference she got talking to Sheila Hodgson, from Mills and Boons medical line who also suggested Nell should give it a try. The story, then entitled Charlie Darling, after the little boy in the book, was duly submitted. Time went by, revisions and tweaks took place until eventually almost two years later it was rejected.
So, what to do with a category length romance in a medical setting with a domestic violence subplot? Too short for Nell’s other publishers and too niche market for her American e publisher, the manuscript lay forlorn and neglected in a drawer. Then a writing friend suggested she try Freya’s Bower, a small American electronic and print press.

More revisions followed, but finally success. His Darling Nurse will be released by Freya’s Bower on the 17th of this month three years after the original version was finished. Proving, determination, being willing to revise and writing what you know really can pay off.

Juliet Darling needs a fresh start. With the end to her disastrous marriage, she hopes that moving to the village of Chandler’s Gate—where she landed a job as a practice nurse—will give her and her small son Charlie just such an opportunity. Her ex-husband, however, doesn’t plan on allowing them to escape his clutches quite so easily.

Dr. Neil Forrest finds his quiet and orderly life disrupted both at work, with the arrival of Juliet and her new ideas about what a practice nurse should do, and at home when the accident-prone Juliet and her son move in to the house next door. Neil has deep-rooted insecurities about life and relationships since the premature death of his wife. The loss has left him clinging to his precious routines in an attempt to protect himself from further pain.

It takes a very special little boy, an out of control barbecue and a terrible accident before Neil and Juliet can finally get together and Neil can make Juliet his very own darling nurse.

Freya's Bower
http://www.nelldixon.com/