There is no Fear

I went to the one of the local RWA meetings last Saturday to hear Candace Havens speak. I love her. She’s so motivational and inspirational. Her topic was how to maximize your writing time and motivating yourself to do it. And if anyone can, she can. She is probably one of the busiest people I know (tv/movie critic, goes to grad school, writes books). She’s amazing. And she proves there are no excuses. In fact, she said the only two acceptable excuses were coma and death (I presume your own *grin*).

She had us all chant the following affirmation. I want you to say it out loud as you read it:

I’m a great writer and I fear nothing.

Isn’t that great? Let’s do that again.

I’m a great writer and I fear nothing.

See part of her talk was about fear. And made us write down all our fears in about three minutes. Yes, we all have writing fears. Mine? Afraid I’ll never have another good idea; afraid I won’t be able to meet deadlines; afraid I’ll never be able to finish another book; afraid my ideas suck. The list goes on.

But you know what Candy said?

Fear is not real.

Fear is your Excuse.

Then she had us write down five goals, whether they were daily, weekly or even more long term. I wrote mine down. I know what I want out of 2011. As we approach month four of the year (really??), I look at my list of goals at the end of every month, see what I’m doing to acheive them and make modifications as necessary.

Still, there is that Fear looming over me.

After I walked away from the meeting on Saturday, I drove home (a 45 minute drive). I told myself you can do it. I knew Candy was right.

Fear is not real. Fear is the raodblock to what you want. Fear is what’s standing in your way of writing the next synopsis and the next book. Fear is not real.

I am a great writer. I fear nothing.