What is your writing fear?

Grinders, did you find your first write in you plan on attending? Where is your kick-off? Will you be going? How is the novel prep going?

I ask the last question because I have been hearing from several people that they are scared about November, and all of the writing pressure they will face. I know first hand that facing this fear can be tough, because you can only really face it alone, and learn to overcome it for yourself. There are tips, tricks, and shortcuts that people can offer, but there is no other solution than finding the way through with your own two legs, or in this case with your two hands.

The fears themselves can be all over the place such as a fear of: not finding the words when November starts, getting started and getting lost or feeling like giving up, not finding the time, not being good enough, fear of another year of failure. The list can go on and on if we let it.

Today is the perfect day to take a minute and look inward and look those fears in the eye. For me it is a wide, vast, and powerful list of fears. I am scared of not finding the right words when the time comes, I worry that my characters will be boring and I won't care for them after a dozen pages, I fear that I won't finish. I am scared that I will let others down, let myself down, and let the project down by not being equal to the task. My greatest fear changes everyday, and it does for most of us.

Tonight, I worry the most about all of the changes in the publishing world, and that I won't be equal to that challenge. I fear that there isn't any room for another author, that I won't be smart enough to overcome the challenges ahead of me, and that I will let everyone down. And it is damned hard to try and move my mind away from these fears.

I don't have a fix for these fears. I'm sorry. But I am telling myself one simply mantra until I believe it. I say it knowing that the publishing world is going through a transformation, and it won't be done for years to come. There are a lot of smarter, more talented, and stronger people out there trying to get published who are impossibly ahead of me. There is no denying that for any of us really. So I say this when the going gets tough and I feel like giving up, "There is room for one more."

There is no logic in trying to be smarter, better, faster and anything else I worry about it. I just need to never give up. No matter how long it will take and the challenges that I will face, it doesn't matter. Because I know deep down that there is really is room for one more, and that is my spot, and I need to invest my time in earning it for myself.

My challenge for you isn't going to be to name, write, or point to your fears, you already know exactly what they are. I am challenging you to come up with a similar mantra. Make it simple. Make it stupid. Make it silly. But make it and do it right now. Now I want you to write it down on a piece of scrap paper and post it somewhere you will see through out your writing in November. It is going to be your personal ethos, your individual slogan, your single tagline to get you through the darkest times in November, and push you to the other side.

Grind out that mantra and get back to the words that matter most.