Feel the fear and do it anyway is one of the great all-time phrases ever. And I certainly can’t take credit for the words. It was the title of a book that came out years ago, by Susan Jeffers, and I clutched that book to me like a life raft at the time. I was […]
When you read this, I'll likely be sitting on an airplane from Seattle to Paris. It'll be cramped and the flight attendants will be speaking in French and I'll have no idea what they're saying and the person next to me will look like they just got out of prison, or the hospital. Yeah, you're […]
Note: I grew up in the printing plant my father owned, and he had a whole stack of pads titled While You Were Out, with check boxes and lines to fill in about things that happened in his absence. I am going to be out for a few days at a wedding, so I thought I'd fun […]
We don't always think of fear and focus at the same time, but there's very good reason to pair them. Focus. It's what we all desire, what gets the writing done. Because the words don't go on the page without it. Fear. It's often what keeps us from focusing. The kinds of fears we writers […]
While I'm in Orlando, at the Suzanne Evans 10K business intensive, I'm posting old posts. This is one of my all time favorites. Jan. 22, 2010 I'm afraid of everything. At least that is how it seems some days. Most days. Most people, looking at me, assume that I'm brimming with self confidence. I travel […]
I hate earthquakes. Like hate hate them. They terrify me. And yes, I've been in a few. Not big ones, because we generally don't get big earthquakes here, even though the experts say that the Northwest is due for a whopper like the one that hit Japan. And so I, like so many others, have […]
First there was the story I read online about how the Northwest, including Portland, could expect a major earthquake of the sort that just decimated Chile sometime in the next 50 years. I hate earthquakes. I expect the earth beneath my feet to stay steady, thank you very much. Then I watched a little bit […]
I'm afraid of everything. At least that is how it seems some days. Most days. Most people, looking at me, assume that I'm brimming with self confidence. I travel alone, I speak and present workshops, I talk to strangers wherever I go. And maybe, if self confidence means constantly pushing at barriers, I am overflowing […]
We interrupt the current series on scene to bring you this post on writing, fear, and creativity. I was having breakfast with my wonderful Nashville friend Sue (wait, should I say she's from Nashville if she is originally from Portland?) this morning and we started talking about feeling skittish and being nervous and anxious. (Did […]
