Combustion by Elia Winters (VNBtM, guest post, and GIVEAWAY) GFT ADULT title

It is my pleasure to have a guest post from Elia Winters who mentions that...

It’s Still Scary Sometimes: Dealing With Fears About Writing

Elia Winters

It’s an inarguable fact that nobody likes to fail.

This is why trying new things is scary. Many of us give up trying new things altogether because we’re afraid that we’ll fail and people will laugh at us. Even when “failure” is some kind of intangible, nebulous place that we’re not sure how to identify, we’re all pretty convinced that there’s a group of people waiting to mock us if we misstep. I’m not sure where this mean-spirited mocking group is, but they’re a key part to my fears of failure, and probably yours, too.

The funny thing about fear is it’s always present, but it changes form. Back when I was a new writer, I was afraid that I’d never get an agent. And then I wrote some terrible books that slowly became mediocre, and I got a bunch of rejection letters, and then I wrote mediocre books that slowly became pretty good, and I got an agent. Trigger new fear! After I got an agent, I was afraid I’d never write anything good ever again. But then I wrote some other things that were pretty good, and publishers made offers for them.

Now, I have three books published, which still makes me pretty new at this whole “publishing” gig. Even published, though, I still get scared sometimes when I sit down to write. I’m afraid of two things: 1) I’ll run out of ideas, and 2) No one will like the book.

The more I write, though, the less those fears get ahold of me. Because I love writing! When I’m actually working on a book, I enjoy being in the world with those characters, and even if the writing is going more slowly than I’d like (as it does some days), I’m having a good time putting my ideas on paper. The more time I spend doing what I love, the less time I have to be afraid what’s coming next, and the sillier my fears seem.

Will the fears always be there? Yeah, probably. That’s why I titled this post “dealing with fears about writing” rather than “overcoming fears about writing,” because even if you overcome some of your fears, you’ll probably get new ones. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the wave of panic brought on by a blank page, and there will definitely be people who don’t like what I write. But just like any kind of exposure therapy, the more I sit in the midst of those fears and write anyway, the easier it gets. Then, rather than being these huge insurmountable boulders, my fears shrink down to a-bit-larger-than-average rocks. I can handle a few a-bit-larger-than-average rocks, and so can you.

 

Combustion

by Elia Winters

ADULT title

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BLURB:

A war orphan, Astrid Bailey is content living her adult life alone, working as a contract machinist. Her real passion, though, is inventing felicitation devices that promote women’s sexual empowerment and help them find pleasure independent of a man.

The upcoming World’s Fair, with its substantial cash prize, is an opportunity to open the shop she’s always imagined and hopefully solve her financial woes. Except the committee has denied her entry unless she obtains a “sponsor”. Astrid suspects they mean “male”.

Eli Rutledge, noted watchmaker, knows entering the fair will solidify his reputation as an innovator —but he’s fresh out of ideas. Until Astrid approaches him with her outrageous product line. With no other options, though, he agrees to lend her his good name.

As construction heats up, so does their chemistry—and the complications. Astrid is unaccustomed to asking for help, much less sharing credit. And Eli fights an attraction that could spell professional disaster. As the Fair date approaches, Astrid and Eli must decide how far they’ll go. For the business…and for each other.

Product Warnings Contains period-appropriate graphic language, highly inappropriate amounts of M/F and F/F sex, and copious amounts of *ahem* product testing. May *ahem again* “spark” an online shopping binge for *cough* toys. Of the adult variety.

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EXCERPT

It was a plain brass cylinder, as far as he could tell. What was it, some kind of lipstick or face paint? He held it up to the firelight, puzzled, and finally handed it back to her. “I don’t understand. This is your invention?”

“Yes.” And she spun a dial at the bottom of the device.

Eli jumped when the small device began to hum, vibrating intensely in her hand. All right, so it did that. This still didn’t make much sense. Then, Astrid reached up and touched the tip of the cylinder to his collarbone, right where the white collar of his shirt met the lapel of his coat.

He twitched away. “Wait. That’s…” His voice trailed off as she moved the bullet back and forth along his neck, then to the other side.

“Nice?” Astrid didn’t look away from his eyes, her very gaze challenging him to pull back, to call her on her inappropriate behavior. The problem was, her actions felt so good that he had no intention of stopping her, propriety be damned.

“Very nice.” His voice sounded breathless in his own ears. Astrid reached up to run the device along the back of his neck, wrapping her arm up and over his shoulders, bringing her body very close to his. He was losing his focus, his entire thought process swept away into her flowery smell and some very improper thoughts about what she might look like under all those clothes.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Elia Winters has always been a New England girl, despite having spent much of her childhood in Florida. She holds a degree in English Literature and teaches at a small rural high school where she runs too many extracurricular activities. She balances her love of the outdoors with a  bottomless well of geekiness.

Elia dabbles in many genres, but erotic romance has been one of her favorites since she first began sneaking her mother’s romance novels. In high school, she kept her friends entertained with a steady stream of naughty stories and somehow never got caught passing them around. Her erotic fiction and poetry have been published online at Clean Sheets and Scarlet Letters under a different name. Elia currently lives in New England with her loving husband and their odd assortment of pets.

Elia’s virtual life is as busy as her real life. In addition to her website, you can also find her on

Twitter

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Facebook

Pinterest

and Goodreads

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