Fear

Fear is not a good feeling. It can be helpful, say, in getting out of the way of a speeding car or quickening one’s pace sensing danger, but often I think fear paralyzes and causes futile worry and angst.

I was reading a weekly post of life coach Dane McCullough this morning; I am blessed to count her as a friend and I read her posts every week with great anticipation. They are always worthy of thought, but sometimes they hit me square between the eyes. Like today. Not the main part, but in a PS she wrote to address many of her client’s concerns about the earth. Here is her statement back to them:

I invite you to remember that fear is never part of the truth.

Her point being that fear might bring attention to a problem, but it is not the best way of solving it. Rather, one should reach inside and outside to find a peaceful answer.

I love that. Then I thought about how to apply this philosophy to writing. Writers fear many things. Will I ever get that big break? Did I piss off that agent because I sent her my book twice by mistake? Ditto a publisher who wanted something after the deadline had passed and I’d already sold it? Will I ever be able to support myself with writing? But I think the number one big bogy of a fear underneath all of that is: am I any good?

As I’ve stated before, “good” is in the eye of the beholder. However, I believe most writers would like a big slice of the population to consider their work “good”, aka, a publisher bought it and then lots of people bought it.

The truth is, no matter how hard a writer works and/or how good a writer is, there will be only a small population that ever has a best seller. And some of those happen posthumously. That’s the reality. And that’s the fear.

I have days where fear dominates. Why keep trying? Have I already done my best work? And is that work just not good enough to generate a best seller? Sigh.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

I keep covers from every book I’ve sold or magazine I’ve been published in. Sometimes I make myself read old stories. I’ve started doing more shorts to get that published “high” more often. I send stuff to my sister. She always likes my stories. :-) New nail polish has been known to work. Or a bath and a glass of wine. These are my fear strategies.

And next time Big Bogy Fear comes knocking, I’ll have another helpful routine: remember what Dane said. I will let fear motivate perhaps, but I won’t let it influence my solutions.

Oh, and if you ever want to read an incredible story about how Dane didn’t allow fear to keep her from leaping into the unknown, read her bio.

She’s a great coach too, if you need one of those.


Dane McCullough
317.455.DANE (3263)
www.LifeCoachDane.com

Just In Time Writing

I’ve worked many different jobs, some good, some bad. Most a little of both. One of the more interesting professions was working in a warehouse. I was one of the few women back then driving large pieces of equipment. The environment was challenging on a number of fronts, but I learned a lot about myself, men, and how I would never be cut out to be a fork lift driver.

Anyway, something that was implemented while I was there was the Warehouse Management System, or WMS. We called it We’re Missing Something because the system didn’t work so well at first; it was intended to supply materials at the very last minute to save space and spoilage. No longer would there be moldering rubber stoppers on the top shelf. Supposedly. In practice often a shortage would cause an order not being filled on time.

But the system got better. It did save storage and money. And interestingly enough, it also caused us to get a lot faster, because we were all competing to get those orders filled.

I thought about that with regard to my writing. I used to pick anthologies that had far away submission dates. I’d write my story, polish, send, and wait. And wait and wait and wait, just like I do with my novels.

Recently I’ve decided that was not using these venues to their best advantage. Writers rarely get dates by which they will know if their work was accepted, so why not write for ones dated sooner rather than later?

So I did. And like the WMS system, I’ve become a whole lot faster. I’ve been amazed how quickly I can write a short story when a two week deadline is looming. And I don’t have to wait long for a reply, which is nice.

I really wasn’t a very good fork truck driver. But hopefully this new approach will sharpen my writing skills and I will have even more stories published.