Monday, April 7, 2014

F is for Fear

F is for Fear. A feeling every writer has felt. We writers are accosted with several fears all at once. The fear of not doing justice to our stories. Of not being able to meet deadlines. The fear of our books never getting published and our stories remaining inside our laptops.

Even after we sign a contract, we are filled with fears. These are all new fears that fill a published author’s heart. Fear of our books not selling enough copies and being pulped (sold as ordinary paper after they have been stripped of their covers). Fear of not recovering our advance. Fear of reader rejection. Fear of harsh reviews or unjust criticism. 

Honestly, we writers are brave word warriors who fight daily, even hourly battles with these evil enemies. And after putting down these fears we go on to write stories that makes the readers smile, laugh and cry with our characters.

I have all kinds of writing fears. My main fear is not being able to meet deadlines and my books being pulped. What about you all? What is your worst writing fear?

Note: this is my post for the A to Z Challenge. My theme is Emotions and Feelings writers experience.

17 comments:

  1. Great post today, fear affects so much in our lives

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  2. So true, Rachna. We must overcome our fears at all phases of our writing career.

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  3. Right now I'm worried my current manuscript isn't going to come together.

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  4. I fear not selling enough copies.

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  5. There are two F.E.A.R. acronyms I learned from a therapist friend: Fear Everything And Run, and Feel Everything And Recover. I like the second one :)

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  6. I used to have a really big fear of bad reviews. I still get it sometimes, but after the first time someone rips your book apart, at least it's out of the way!

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  7. This reminds me of Paul in the novel Dune. "Fear is the mind-killer." I often tell myself that in order to focus and move past my doubts and fears. It's great when a fictional book helps you to live a better life in the "real" world:)

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  8. 26 days of emotions and feelings. You put up a real challenge for yourself. Uncertainty, love, and hope sum it all up for me. I'm curious to see what you come up with for x.
    From an a2zer at http://eveonalimb.com

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  9. A lot of fears we put on ourselves, especially in writing.

    Fear can be a good motivator, as well, so it can be a good thing, sometimes.

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  10. The worst fear is the one that stops you even trying.

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  11. My fear is that no one will buy my books or will hate them when they do.

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  12. My fear is self publishing my book, promoting it and then no one buys it. Ugg.

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  13. That I won't get to finish the works I have in my head before I die. Kind of morbid I know.


    Brandon Ax: Writer's Storm

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  14. You have listed all my fears, Rachna, but my worst fear is success, believe it or not. Thankfully I doubt this will be achieved, since I do very little to promote my work. I wonder why?

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  15. My biggest fear is my books not selling many copies and collecting dust on the bookstores :(

    I am trying not no let that fear from hounding me.

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  16. I'm mostly afraid of my critique group. They're a tough bunch to please.

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