How scary do you find the publishing process?

Where’s Your Towel?

By Amber Scott

I’m sure you’ve been there before. First day at school. First date. First...

Posting my first blog article. EEK!

Replying to a fan letter hoping I say just the right-write?-thing. Nerve-rack-ing.

Preparing to promote another new release. (Fierce Dawn, Soul Search) le Gulp. It never fails, when I’m facing a new edge in my comfort zone, I feel like I’ve just stepped out of the shower.

In public. And can’t find my towel.

Yep. Buck naked and sopping wet.

An old Adam Sandler skit comes to mind. “Noooo! They’re all going to laugh at you!” a paranoid mom screams at her children (read as: in my head).

Three Kindle bestsellers, eight published books, eleven successful manuscripts, two screenplays, umpteen articles and podcasts later, how can fear still wriggle its way in? I don’t know.

Okay, okay. So, I do know why. It’s how our brains work. I’ve read enough neuroscience books that I should know this is simply a normal function and part of life. Doesn’t help! Fear will never go away. But, luckily, thanks to a little magic, I’ve learned how to face it.

Here’s how:

Laughter.

“Everybody farts!” said my 3 year old angel to her Uncle Matt after she let a toot loose on his lap.

“Grow a pair!” the accidental great advice my career coach and laugh partner, Ann Charles, once emailed me. (It was supposed to be a link for a hilarious YouTube video. I thought it must be her way of motivating for the latest roadblock.)

Belief. 

Aunt Tammy’s magic dryer. My son is hooked on balloons and when we couldn’t take his onto the plane, my husband went to the local chain restaurant location and put an identical version in our dryer then gave my sister all the credit, saying she sent it to him.

“Big red balloon!” are three magic words that open any closed security gate. I dare you to try it!

Support.

The HOT Club is the misnomer for Amber Scott fans and our secret group on Facebook. The first members of the Amber Scott Books HOT Club absolutely rock. Not only do they wear their flaming heart emblem with pride, but they post things like “Don’t hate me because I’m hot!” They show up when I write articles, they shout out my events on Twitter and high-five me on Facebook.

Love.

With each new release, each new book ‘baby’, I fall in love. Right now, I’m crazy for Elijah Stokes, the winged seeker from Fierce Dawn. I’m swept into this world where human blood is a drug and vampires are the immortals addicted to it. I’m fascinated by human changelings like Sadie Graves, evolving from human into immortal. *sigh* (Don’t worry, Ashlon Sinclair still makes me swoon in Irish Moon and he isn’t the least bit jealous.)

My family has learned to share me with my imagination, with characters so real they make me laugh out loud and cry. My children ask me if I’ve finished my chapter. My husband really means it when he asks how my writing went.

All these things and more, combined, remind me that while I might feel naked and wet in public from time to time, in fact, I’m wearing an oversized, plush towel that fans, friends and family will always be ready to hand me.

To celebrate my next brave adventure, Fierce Dawn, I’d LOVE to give some eBooks away.

Please tell me one thing that helps you face your fears and be sure to include your email address. - Amber