You Will Have a Black Labrador by Nino Gugunishvili (VBT, excerpt, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

I have the pleasure of sharing a guest post by author Nino Gugunishvili, who muses about...

What scares you the most or makes you the happiest about writing?

by

Nino Gugunishvili

 

 

What scares me most about writing? In fact, so many things that I could probably write a novella about my writing fears. Procrastination scares me; what if I won’t be able to write another word tomorrow? Am I good enough at what I’m doing? Is the story good enough to be told? What if I can’t finish it or make it the best it can be? Is anyone going to read it? Love it? Will it find its readership at all? I guess it’s a matter of my self-confidence, which shreds into pieces whenever I write.

 

It never gets easier; each time I sit down to work, the unreasonable expectation that it might get easier vanishes.

 

But it’s the desire to get rid of, defeat my inner anxiety and uncertainty that drives me to move on. Fear can often turn into a powerful motivator… I know it may sound bizarre, but you can even befriend it!

Don’t be scared, dear reader; now comes the brighter part!

 My happiest moment, almost elation, comes when I start working on something new,  even before the actual writing process, when something I’m about to write is only forming, bubbling inside.

I love the thrill and excitement of beginning a new story; I’m never plotting; I’m just moving along to where it goes. Of course, I may know some essential elements of it, but never the whole picture. It always surprises me how my mind seems to be switching into a different mode when I’m writing. It feels like leaving one reality and entering another universe, solely made of your book, settings, narrative, language, and characters, the world where you’re entirely free.  You crawl in there, you stumble, you’re lost and flabbergasted, but at some point, you get out of the complete dark, and you have the draft of your story in your hands… You put the final full stop. I love the magic of ending, that final sentence, the last line, the end, because yes, the end is always the beginning…   

 

 

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You Will Have a Black Labrador

by 

Nino Gugunishvili

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GENRE: Nonfiction, creative nonfiction, essays, short stories

 

BLURB:

 

Love, memories, family, enduring friendships, cooking, movies, dogs, travels, hairstyles, and saying Yes to many No’s in a witty, yet often sentimental, journey of self-discovery… 

 

You Will Have a Black Labrador is a collection of semiautobiographical essays forming a narrative about a modern Georgian woman. Her stories range from the search for a perfect romantic partner to exploring food as an integral part of the Georgian culture. Many of the vignettes center on childhood memories or weird family traditions, such as the way family members stay connected no matter if they’re deceased or alive. One essay reveals how making a simple omelette can change your life; and that No can be the most powerful word in any language. She shows us, too, that a haircut can be a tribute to the movies you love as well as a path to your freedom; and how owning a dog always brings unexpected experiences. In this poignantly humourous collection, reality mixes and interferes with an imaginative world in so many surprising ways.

 

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EXCERPT

  

For my first-ever cooking fiasco, I blame my brother and the day he asked me to make two boiled eggs. I threw myself into the task unaware of the consequences it would have on my life.

 

‘Don’t forget to salt them, okay?’ he told me nonchalantly, and that detail of adding salt completely ruined my teenager years. The dish I prepared after an hour of struggle resembled boiled eggs like a giraffe resembles a cat. I had no idea how to boil and salt the eggs simultaneously, so I decided to simply smash them into the hot water. By the end of my first-ever culinary attempt, we had no more eggs in the house and I had to clean every surface in our kitchen, accompanied by my brother’s hysterical laughter.

 

This story became an anecdote. My family members would tell it over and over to their friends and to friends of friends. It mercilessly followed me everywhere I went, and resurfaced when I least expected it. Two boiled eggs—the embarrassment of my life.

 

That’s why, from the age of eleven or twelve, I was willing to have a go at any new challenge except, well, cooking. But—I have to add a huge but here—in my family, cooking and serving a meal always was, and still is, quintessential. The most important question you’d hear at our house is either ‘Are you hungry?’ or ‘Have you eaten?’ presuming that as long as you were not hungry, everything else was secondary.

 

 

Amazon link

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

You Will Have a Black Labrador is Nino Gugunishvili’s recently released collection of short essays.  She is also the author of a women’s fiction novel, Friday Evening, Eight O’Clock, published in English and Russian. She resides in Tbilisi, Georgia.

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter: @NinoGuguni

Instagram: ngugunishvili

Facebook Author page: Nino Gugunishvili

Goodreads

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

The tour dates can be found here