I’m rolling my eyes at myself as I begin my “Writing Fears” post. I’m an anxious sort. I’m afraid of tons of things. In fact, my daily specials include irrational terror and crippling self-doubt. Yesterday, Lisa wrote about her fear of losing her work. I’ve got that fear-base covered, too. Will I spill tea on my computer and fry it before I can back it up? Will the cloud implode?…
I forget which author it was who said that we write about what terrifies us—most likely many of them have. Until I read this phrase a few years ago, I’d never looked at my own work in that light, but it strikes me as true. My protagonist in The Dream Peddler suffers the disappearance of her only child, and this is definitely the worst thing I can imagine…
I know fear. Like many creative types, I have anxiety. I have lived with everything from constant, low-level anxiety all the way up to Code Red Panic Attacks. For me, the same overactive imagination that lends itself to worldbuilding also lends itself to imagining every possible way something could go wrong. For the most part, I manage the anxiety by playing along with the what-if game until I can show…
1. Fear of Being Considered a Grey’s Anatomy Knockoff: I hear this a lot. My book contains some similarities to the TV show Grey’s Anatomy, apparently. That’s fine, especially because people love that show. For the record, though, I just wanna state: I have never, even once, watched it. I don’t like medical dramas, partly because I’ll fixate on some inaccurate detail and then ruin the show for everyone else…
I really don’t like talking about fear. Oh, little fears, sure. I detest rollercoasters because I’m sure they’re going to break and kill me, I’ve been known to dive under picnic tables to get away from wasps which are clearly dark minions sent forth from the bowels of hell, and my horror of open water has been reinforced for decades by nightmares and augmented by that time my baby sister almost…
This week’s topic is about the Debs’ fears when it comes to someone reading our books. Besides the “please don’t hate my book” fear, I’ve got a big bag of fears as both a fiction and nonfiction author. I’ve got a few books in the works. Next year the follow up to BECOMING BONNIE releases. That one, called BEING BONNIE, is also fiction and completes Bonnie Parker’s story, diving into…
This week, in prep for Halloween, the Debs are writing about their biggest fears about publishing. It’s no surprise, with all its spookiness, that Halloween comes with its own list of fears. Wiccaphobia (witches), Formidophobia (scarecrows), Coimetrophobia (cemeteries), and well, Samhainophobia (Halloween itself). It’s also no surprise that publishing a book shares some of these same Halloween-related phobias. I’ve done some soul searching, I’ve established a safe word (bestseller), and I’m…
I’m pretty good at handling big fears. I tend to face them head on, stare them down, and dare them to try and crush me. Marshall my inner forces, and defeat them with the mighty force of my indomitable will. But those little things…they get to me. The crazy things, the things no sensible person would waste precious worry-time on, nibble away at my psyche and tie my stomach in…
