Nicki's debut novel, "Ellis River," won the Independent Book Publishers Association's Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book - Fiction. The next year it won the IBPA's award for Best Audiobook - Fiction. The novel was also a finalist for the Eric Hoffer First Horizons Award, received an Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize, and was a semi-finalist for the Publishers Weekly Booklife Prize. The sequel, "Zephyr Trails," launched in June 2024. Nicki has won additional awards for her poetry and creative writing, including the Writer’s Digest Annual Poetry Awards and the Ray Fabrizio Memorial Award. Nicki holds a Certificate in Creative Writing from Monterey Peninsula College. She is a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association, the Alliance for Independent Authors, the Authors Guild, and the Central Coast branch of the California Writers Club. She is currently at work on the final book of the "Ellis River" trilogy.