“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” 
— Anaïs Nin
”Write what you are afraid of.” That’s a quote I got from Bob Mayer at his Warrior Writer Workshop at the ECWC conference hosted by the Greater Seattle RWA Chapter.
I have to say that I really related to his workshop this week-end, particularly the part about confronting your fears. What are you afraid of? What fears may come between you and successs?
Sometimes there are no easy way to confront these fears and you kind of just have to face them, get down to it and conquer them. “Attack the ambush” as Bob Mayer, a former Green Beret and West Point graduate, said to us.
I keep wondering what I am afraid of. Will my editor cringe when she receives my revisions? Will I get decent sales from my debut novel, will I get bad reviews?
Will they all laugh at me and tell me to go back to my day job and forget this writing business?
Will people think I’m crazy for writing the things I write?
What is the worse that can happen? I have always used that phrase is my life. Usually the consequences of failure are not so dire. I’ll survive.
And the truth is having the courage to write what comes straight for my heart drowns this fear I have because in the end, I love what I write and yes, I would still write it, readers or not.
And who knows, I may actually succeed in my own little way!
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2 Comments, Comment or Ping
Marie-Claude, good post. I, too, confront my fears, sometimes in a big way, sometimes very timidly. Love the quote by Nin. Where did you get that picture?
October 15th, 2009
Good for you Carole. Yes, isn’t it a great quote. I can’t remember where I got that pic. A fantasy site maybe? I was looking for art of Red Sonja at some point.
October 15th, 2009
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