Fear in Your Big Girl Pants

The Glitter Globe

The only thing scarier than stepping into the arena, is never stepping inside.

Imagine this scenario. The camera zooms in on a death bed scene. A wasted waif clutches onto sheets with skeletal fingers and whispers profound last words. Oh, thank God I never wrote the book! What if someone hadn’t liked it?

Well, thank God I drive a time travel jeep! Because I’m going to drag your aching bones right out of that bed and take you right back in time to today where I will stuff your yet-wasted hiney into the chair and duct tape your hands to the keyboard if necessary. Start writing. I’ll talk.

Here’s the deal. Not everyone will like your book. Not even if you’re a best-selling novelist will everyone like your book. Does everyone like The Bible? No, they do not. Does everyone like A Tale of Two Cities? The Hobbit? Harry Potter? No, they don’t. We’re people and we’re not always in a cooperative mood! So what? It’s time to cope, deal, tug on those big girl (or big boy) pants and get to whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing in life.

Like the skydivers say, Shut Up and Jump.

What’s going to happen if you do write a book? You’re going to work really hard to finish it. After that you’re going to work really hard to get it edited properly. After that you’re going to get someone else to edit it even more properly, and it will be hard, and it will hurt, but when it is finished you will find peace, for about sixty seconds, because then you will have to get it published and market it—but don’t change the subject.

After you someday get all that work done, you will drag yourself on bloody knees to look at your book reviews. Guess what? Not everyone will like it. Know what? It doesn’t freaking matter. If you want to be petted get a massage. You’re just going to have to write another book anyway. That’s what you do, writer. You write. What if no one likes your book? Now that’s a legitimate fear, but if that happens you didn’t do your job, writer. This is how you write a book so that doesn’t happen. Are you ready for it?

Write a book that you love. Write a book that you enjoy. I don’t give a flying flip what the market says. Write for yourself.

If you do that I promise not everyone will dislike it. You won’t. And if you love it, someone else will too—provided you had the dang thing edited properly.

See, writing isn’t impossible! It’s just freaking hard is all!

S. R. Karfelt

This message was brought to you by my muse. She is a warrior and a butt-kicking ninja (it’s a thing). On one of my next posts I’ll tell you how to Suck It Up, Big Boy, and deal with reviews that try to rip your heart out. You might want to bring a bottle of Armor All for your backside for that post. 

In the meantime, gladiator, tell me why you’re still afraid to step into the arena, because when my muse isn’t kicking bottoms, I’m happy to offer a hand up. You can do hard stuff, didn’t anyone ever tell you that?