Largely self-taught, Nicholson began a newspaper career in 1884 at the Indianapolis sentinel. He moved to the Indianapolis newspaper the following year, where he remained until 1897.

He wrote Short Flights in 1891, and continued to publish extensively, both poetry and prose until 1928. During the first quarter of the 20th century, Nicholson, along with three others, helped to create a Golden Age of literature in Indiana. Three of his books from that era were national bestsellers: The House of a Thousand Candles(1906), The Port of Missing Men(1907), and A Hoosier Chronicle(1912).

Nicholson was married first to Eugenie Clementine Kountze, daughter of Herman Kountze, and then to Dorothy Wolfe Lannon, whom he later divorced.

Nicholson died on December 21, 1947, in Indianapolis, aged 81, and is buried in the Crown Hill Cemetery.