The Two Times the Desert Nearly Kept Me
I rolled down a Kelso dune at dawn with nobody for miles, and I got lost in Joshua Tree half a mile from the road. Here are both stories and what I'd tell anyone hiking the desert alone.
Tag: Fear
Fear stops more books than lack of talent ever has. These articles cover fear in the writing life: of the blank page, of publishing, of judgment, and the working relationship every finished author eventually builds with all three.
FamilyThe Fear of Being Judged for Your Memoir: My Father Told Everyone to Burn Mine
Almost every memoir writer is afraid of being judged. I mailed a 2,000-page autobiography to twelve relatives and my father told them all to burn it. Here's what I learned about writing the truth anyway.
FearWhen Your Own Memoir Sounds Like Bragging
He sold six companies and told me chapter eleven reads like a highlight reel. It does. That is the premise, and the problem is almost never too much achievement.
Character DevelopmentBehind the Book: Don’t Live in Fear
I kept watching people I care about hit the same wall for years without trying the door. Then I looked at my own life and saw it there too. Thirty-three years, and I called it a career.
Business BooksBehind the Book: My Job Sucks
The book does not claim frightened employees are more productive. It claims companies believe that, and they are wrong. I did not see any of it clearly until after I left, and the transaction was never eight hours a day.
FearDon’t Live in Fear: The Walls You Built and How to Get Past Them
The fence isn't in the yard. It's in the dog. The job you won't leave, the raise you won't ask for, the dream you filed under too late, you got shocked once,
Authority Through AuthorshipThe Hiccup of Hesitation: Beating the Fear That Stalls First-Time Authors
The thing that stops most first-time authors is not the writing or the publishing. It is fear, and it shows up as a small hesitation at the exact moment action is needed. Here is the simple practice for beating it,…
FearI Spent Thirty-Three Years in a Box and Called It a Career
Never went looking for better, never went back to school, never reached past the edge of what I had. Comfortable is the wall people mistake for a career.
FearThe Fear That Stops Writers
For years I would not submit my fiction anywhere, not because the work was not ready but because the thought of someone judging it triggered a physical reaction I could not reason past. My chest would tighten and I would…
FearFrom Fear-Based Living to Choosing Love: Atousa Raissyan on Healing, Emotions, and Her Bestselling Book
Author and healer Atousa Raissyan on her bestselling book Change Yourself, Change the World, moving from fear-based living to choosing love, and the emotional work behind real transformation.
Author BusinessIs Fear Fiction or Nonfiction? Confidence, Cold Calls, and the Dancer Who Almost Quit | The Exceptional Scribble Show, Episode 242
The December 18, 2018 hour on confidence: publish the imperfect first book, the freelancer as salesperson, approaching agents through conversation, Richard Branson's accept-and-figure-it-out, fear as fiction, the pretend-no-savings mind game, Bonnie's 80,000 words at 78, the pop-and-lock dancer nobody clapped…
CybersecurityDon’t Live in Fear: A Cybersecurity Expert’s Guide to Scams, Passwords, and Staying Safe Online
Richard Lowe, The Writing King, joined Sue Zawacki on Aging Info Radio as a cybersecurity expert, drawing on decades spent responsible for enterprise