You Will Have a Black Labrador by Nino Gugunishvili - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Nino Gugunishvili and her new book, “You Will Have a Black Labrador”!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Nino and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

You Will Have a Black Labrador

by Nino Gugunishvili

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GENRE: Non-Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Essays, Short Stories

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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 ONE:

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.

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GUEST POST:

Putting Yourself on a Page: What It’s Like to Share Your Most Personal Words with the World

As much as writing is undeniably fulfilling, enjoyable and fun, it can also be scary to the point that it might hold you back from continuing to write. Strangely though, there are stories that no matter how much you resist, need to be put on paper and so you surrender. You write them and slowly switch off the inner critic within you, shouting, that the story is boring, full of clichés and unreadable. What I’ve learned from writing so far is that I have to kill that inner critic with no regrets, until at least the first draft is done.

Writing resembles a battle you deliberately started, bringing into the light all your vulnerabilities, insecurities and fears. It shatters your self-confidence, and many times while writing, you’ll probably wonder why are you doing this after all? Why did you choose to write? Why did you selfishly think that anybody out there would care about your story?

I don’t have answers to these questions, I have discovered only recently that writing nonfiction is harder, especially when some biographical elements are involved. You’re more exposed while your past, your memories, your childhood, your family and friends are transforming into characters of the story.

When your book is finally published you realize that sharing your story is even more terrifying. In a way, the book doesn’t belong to you anymore. Who’s going to read it? Will they like it?  Will they not? You’re desperately imagining the process, trying to put yourself into a reader’s seat, your head is spinning from excitement and anticipation. And then, you receive a sudden call from your long time friend saying: “Tell me, who’s that  guy, that Peter, you wrote about?” She asks, and it makes you smile, it appears you just found your first reader! The magic has begun!

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AUTHOR BIO:

"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.

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CONNECT WITH NINO:

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nino.gugunishvili

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/NinoGuguni

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ngugunishvili

BookBub Author Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nino-gugunishvili

BookBub Book Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/you-will-have-a-black-labrador-by-nino-gugunishvili

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14276355.Nino_Gugunishvili

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49082288-you-will-have-a-black-labrador

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/3c5A3cu

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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/2HPesHD

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2wKZDn8

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Nino will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.