A Writer's Many Fears -- Guest Blog by K. S. Augustin

A Writer's Many Fears

by

K. S. Augustin

I don't really suffer from writer's block. I'm sorry if that sounds a bit smug, but it's true. I'm a plotter by nature so even before I put finger to keyboard to type “Chapter One”, I have already written a synopsis, broken it down roughly by chapter, and have five or six scenes seared into my brain. With those kind of milestones, writer's block doesn't get a look-in.

Not finding the right word for the right sentence is always a cause for concern, but I have a dictionary and thesaurus stashed away in almost every room in the house. If I'm hanging out the upstairs window, scrubbing dirt from a pane of glass, you bet I'm also within reach of a tome that will tell me the precise meaning of the word “obstreperous” or how many synonyms there are for “accident”.

Readers hating my work is always a cause for concern but, in the main, I get positive reviews and I know that not everybody is going to like my writing. As long as my supply of valerian herb lasts, I truly believe that and will not go on a literary rampage down Main Street. Promise.

Since starting my own press in 2011, I only have myself to blame for my book covers. As you can imagine, that makes me happier than I've been for a long time. Blame myself for something? Are you kidding?

Which leaves, dear reader, what I'm doing here. The one thing that scares the living crap out of me is promotion. And I say that as an extroverted, opinionated, loud-mouthed woman who has a husband, two kids, two cats and a dog to terrorise. (The fish don't mind me at all. They just flick their tails, splashing water my way, then shoot off to the other end of the pond. Ingrates.)

There are so many things to do, so many places to be. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, LinkedIn. Myspace is back, like a stumbling zombie intent on eating at any spare time I may have. Gotta have a website. Gotta have a blog. Promote your books but don't sound too desperate. (Buy my book or the Maine Coon gets it!) Show interest in other people's interests. (Yes, I agree that zero-gee pool is the most fascinating sport I've ever heard of.) Pay it forward. (Yes, that's right, I'm Kaz Augustin. You haven't heard of me? Oh.) Spend time marketing. (How fast am I going to burn through that AdWords budget again?) Don't spend time marketing, just keep writing books. (You know that book I released two years ago? It only has one 2-star review from someone's virtual hamster.)

Do you imagine a cross-eyed, wild-haired author stumbling around the room in a daze at this point? You do? Good, because that's what I usually look like when I start looking at my list of marketing options. I can face a line of charging gerunds and not flinch. I can wing a simile at a hundred paces. But oh!, tell me that I have to do some promoting of my work, and I crumble faster than the overcooked apple pie I attempted to bake back in Home Economics class.

If you have any compassion at all, take pity on me and buy my book. I'll be ever so grateful. And send some valerian. That always comes in handy. 

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MKT here: 
Want to win a $25. Amazon card?

This blog is part of a tour ending on 13 June 2014. Augustin is  giving away the gift card in a random drawing from all the people who comment on the various blogs in the tour. So, make a comment below. You might win."

 

 

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Author Bio:

K S Augustin

KS "Kaz" Augustin loves writing human stories, whether set on Earth or out among the stars. Malaysian-born, she has travelled a goodly portion of the world and lived to tell the tale! Her urban fantasy release, The Complete Check Your Luck Agency, consists of five books, exploring the myths and legends of the melting-pot that is south-east Asia. Come for the food, stay for the monsters! (Ghosts included at no extra charge.)

As if all that's not enough, she's also Chief Editor of the free online quarterly magazine, Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly. http://www.scifiromancequarterly.org/

Kaz's website is at http://www.KSAugustin.com and a list of her books can also be found at http://www.SandalPressOnline.com She occasionally tweets as @SandalPress

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BLURB:
The Check Your Luck Agency

Sometimes life is stranger than fiction.After the tragic death of her parents, and with nothing left tying her to the United Kingdom, Ursula Formosa returns to her homeland and a job with the eccentrically-named Singapore firm, “The Check Your Luck Agency”.

What begins as an attempt to stave off boredom turns into a new way of life as the scales drop from Ursula’s eyes and she tentatively enters a realm that contains vengeful ghosts, toyol, demons, pontianak and curses, not to mention old-fashioned fraud and larceny. As she befriends bomohs, mediums and a young woman already centuries old, Ursula’s ideas of friendship expand into a fresh view of the world that surrounds her.

But she isn’t going to be left to ease into things. A criminal mastermind, who is also a powerful sorcerer, is gathering mythical creatures to help him possess every living soul in Singapore, and he isn’t about to let the members of The Check Your Luck Agency stand in his way!

Excerpt:
The Check Your Luck Agency

“So you can’t feel anything?” Shariff’s voice sounded very faint even though I knew he wasn’t more than one wall away.

My second thought was that the ghost wasn’t bad looking. He was slim but looked fit, with broad shoulders that filled out the thin v-necked t-shirt he wore. His hair was short and sandy coloured. His fingers were long and a little knobbly-looking. He had a pair of casual khaki trousers on. Pale bare feet. He wore glasses.
"No,” I croaked, then tried again in a louder voice. “No, I can’t feel anything.”

The spectre didn’t like that. I could tell by the way his face tightened. Deny me, would you? he seemed to be saying.

He made the slightest movement with his right index finger, just a flick where it rested against his leg, and a cupboard door beside me swung open then slammed shut.

Footsteps approached and the ghost of the previous occupant faded as Shariff entered the room. There was a frown of concern on his face.

“Is everything okay?”

“I, er, I was just checking the cupboards,” I told him, my voice trembling. I coughed a few times. “The shelves are a bit dusty and some of the locks are sticking.”

He eyed me intently. “Should I tell Gerry that someone’s been pulling his leg?”

There was a frozen moment between us. If I told Shariff even a little of what I’d seen and felt so far, I knew it would start the process of opening me up to a world I had denied for decades. For my own sanity, I couldn’t do that to myself, not even for the sake of furthering a relationship with a handsome young man.

“Sorry,” I told him, clearing my throat. “I couldn’t feel a thing.” 

 Buy Links

The Complete Check Your Luck Agency is available from: Amazon, Amazon UK, Apple, Barnes and Noble, OmniLit, and Tomley.