WIP Wednesday: There is nothing to fear but fear its self!

While stumbling about the net while Under the Steps, I came across a fairly straightforward little piece on Writer's Digest's website about the obstacles we directly and indirectly set to sabotage our writing dreams. Top 10 Productivity Pitfalls for Writers to Avoid by Sage Cohen. Read the 10 and I swear you'll find at least half you've done to yourself at one point in the writing process. I did and have. But the one I kept coming back to was #3.

3. Fear. Risk is the hinge on which productivity turns; if we aren’t in danger of failing, we aren’t growing. When we let fear prevent us from taking steps that could bring our writing dreams closer, we limit our opportunities to succeed.

Now I will be the first to accept my old moniker "too stupid to be afraid" and will proudly tell the tales of facing down 6'5 schizophrenics and chasing off thieves with office implements, but I do fear... I fear success. Why that is will have to wait for another day. And I know I'm not alone, which in the end does make me feel better. And seeing those 1o pitfalls spelled out so clear also made me feel better.

Better??? you ask?

Because facing a fear (or issue) with all the lights on, makes me feel braver. When something is spelled out in black and white its no longer allowed to linger in the hazy shadows of anonymity. And if you can clearly see the obstacles you have placed before yourself...


Then you can figure out how to get around, over, under or through them.

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Now a small bit from my WIP, Ghost Mountain. I have been trying out POV's other than my MC Wyatt. This is Mary (heroine) quietly watching Wyatt, her old childhood friend and high school heart break, for the first time in 15 years.

"She found him standing out in the square, staring up at the night sky like he was about to howl at it.

He was taller than she remembered, broader in the shoulders too. His once enviable dark mane was now cut so short it followed the lines of his scalp. And even if she hadn’t seen his shoulders slump when he turned away from the stars, she knew he’d become a whole lot older than he was suppose to be."