Guest Blogger, S.E. Holden

It’s my pleasure to welcome author S.E. Holden as the special guest blogger here at Thoughts in Progress today as he makes a stop on his virtual book tour.

S.E.’s latest novel is THE PRESENTATION, which was just recently released by Breathless Press. Here’s a brief synopsis of the book: “Not one for public limelight, Sheila, the new VP of Operations must face her greatest fear: the presentation to her future. Overridden with anxiety and nerves, she could only turn to one person for help—Matt, her husband of eleven years. But his innovative ways pose possible threats to her job. Can she risk endangering her career for the sake of fulfilling her forbidden fantasies?”

Thanks to S.E., one lucky visitor to Thoughts in Progress can win a copy of his book. Visitors can win a copy of THE PRESENTATION by leaving a comment within the three days of the blog posting. One of those commenting will be selected at random to receive his or her copy.

Now S.E. has joined us today to talk about a subject I really didn’t think he would have a problem with - fear of writing this blog.

I wanted to write this guest blog about the fear of public speaking since the main character in my first Thursday Night story, THE PRESENTATION, is dealing with that scary situation at work. I haven't blogged on Thoughts in Progress before so I checked it out to see what had gone before. I found a beautiful site with lots of big name author links, hundreds of followers and tons of content. Great. That's what I need. I can get my little known name (S.E. Holden by the way) out there to a wider audience. I mean, that's the purpose of guest blogging and this whole self-promotion aspect of the epublishing world, right? Exposure. Gulp. Uh. Yeah. This is just what I need. 

So this has to be perfect. I can't make a fool of myself this early in my digital career. I need to become famous first THEN I can be a fool online. But not now, not yet. Most of the people who will read this – I say people in the hope there is more than just poor Mason who reads this because she has to during the act of posting it – have never been exposed to me (S.E. Holden) and this is my one chance to make a good impression. If I screw it up by writing some wacked out, high level piece on glossophobia (fear of public speaking) that doesn't provide any real data or bores them enough to click away, what have I accomplished? Well…I'll look like an idiot and no one will want to read my erotic romance.

I definitely don't want that to happen. And I can't really dig into the roots of the phobia in about five hundred words anyway so now what? Crap. I only have a couple of days before I go live. I need to put something together.

Damn. My palms are sweating so much I have to repeatedly wipe them on my pants so my fingers don't slip off the keys. I already typed pubic instead of public…twice. Calm down. Calm down. Perfect…it has to be perfect. No mistakes and important enough to keep them reading until the end. I can do this. Geez, I'm a writer. I should be able to whip up five hundred or so words in no time. But this is different. This is me. This is personal, not some fantasy world. What if they don't like me or what I write? Then what? Breathe. You got this.

This exagger—err, dramatization, of the emotions experienced during this blog writing process are very similar to those experienced by me, and a host of others, getting ready to step out on stage or up to a podium. In a way, the fear of writing a blog is the digital equivalent of the fear of public speaking. The blogger is presenting his or her ideas in front of the cyber world, which has the potential of being a ginormous audience.

On the plus side, though, the blogger is safe behind an internet connection and doesn't have to physically confront the audience.                

Oh, S.E. thanks so much for guest blogging today. These are feelings I have every time I try to write a blog post and I don’t have the extra worry of trying to promote a book. LOL

Let me tell you a little bit about S.E. Since he was a kid, he has wanted to be an author and explored many genres through high school and college. After greasing the gears of the corporate machine for many years, he escaped the Information Technology vortex to focus full-time on his writing dream. A romantic at heart, S.E. loves to write about committed couples struggling with and overcoming life's obstacles only to emerge stronger. The fact that they have steamy, mind-blowing sex along the way makes it even better. 
 
S.E. lives with his wife and two children on the west coast of Florida. To find out more about him and his writing you can e-mail him at seholden@verizon.net, check out his website at http://www.seholden.com, find him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001173999283&v=wall, and on Twitter at @seholden25.

Now to give you a taste of THE PRESENTATION, here’s an excerpt:
     I don’t see any movement. Are they still breathing? I know this stuff is dry, but come on…something!
     A little, neon-green Christmas tree blinked at her from the last row. After the third blink, the words “Merry Xmas” turned red. Oh my God, he came. Her breath caught and she stammered.
     She paused to regroup, hiding her distraction behind a pull from her water bottle. The tie was a gag gift she gave Matt last Christmas, but he hadn’t worn it yet. Until now. Seeing him brought the night before in the tub into sharp focus. "Just remember this feeling," he had said as she squirmed in the water under his torturous, yet wonderful ministrations.
     She shook her head to clear the images. Once under control again, she continued, "We’ve been watching our corporate expenses very carefully over this time."
     Sheila flushed, unable to ignore the blinking lights off the tie, but it wasn’t embarrassment that tinged her cheeks and prickled her skin. This heat emanated from deep inside—from somewhere only he could reach.

If that’s peaked your interest, you can find THE PRESENTATION at these links:
Breathless Press - http://www.breathlesspress.com/erotic/temptations/the-presentation.html
Amazon Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/The-Presentation-ebook/dp/B004D4YKQ4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1292255568&sr=8-2

What are your thoughts on writing guest posts and/or public speaking? If you’re a writer, have you ever included those emotions in your books? Be sure to add your e-mail address in your comments, if it’s not included in your profile for a chance to win a copy of THE PRESENTATION.