Judy Nichols
Judy Nichols grew up in a Batavia, Ohio a small town 20 miles east of Cincinnati and eventually found herself living in Aurora, Indiana, a small town 20 miles west of Cincinnati. She would be there still if GE Aircraft hadn't made her husband Nigel an offer he couldn't refuse-- a chance to live near the ocean with GE footing the bill for moving expenses.
So now the family lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Ms. Nichols holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Kent State University. She even managed to find a paying job as a journalist but didn't have the stomach for asking the hard-hitting questions. After a long stint of temporary office work in Cincinnati, she decided to go into elementary education and spent three wretched years as a substitute teacher in the Columbus, Ohio public schools. Eventually she moved back to Cincinnati and found work as a customer service representative, which was far less stressful than teaching and paid the bills. And she didn't have to deal with all those surly fourth graders just itching for a fight.
At this time, Ms. Nichols met Nigel, a British national who lived in an old farmhouse outside of Aurora, Indiana. It was in that farmhouse, one day in 1996 while her baby daughter Alysoun slept, she decided it was time to get started on the book she'd always intended to write. She fired up the word processor and five years later, Caviar Dreams was finished.
Ms. Nichols has earned only two awards in her lifetime. Neither of them has anything to do with writing, but she is immensely proud of them nonetheless. Adia Temporary Agency presented her with the "Temp of the Month" award for March, 1987 and The Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy gave her a Volunteer Appreciation Award in 1991.
Ms. Nichols has finished her second novel Tree Huggers, about the clash between militant environmentalists and unscrupulous developers, which is due for publication in 2007. She is currently working on a sequel to Caviar Dreams, titled How Do You Get To Music Hall?
Contact Judy: judy5cents@copper.net
