{"id":7105,"date":"2013-01-09T06:00:42","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/?p=7105"},"modified":"2013-01-09T06:00:42","modified_gmt":"2013-01-09T12:00:42","slug":"no-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/?p=7105","title":{"rendered":"No Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"self_esteem\"<\/a>This year has been crazy awesome, and it\u2019s changed me accordingly. It\u2019s quite possible that I, myself, am crazier than I started out at the beginning of the year. Or maybe I started out this way. You have to be at least a little nuts in the first place to choose writing as a career.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the last year I\u2019ve written countless blog posts, more than a dozen short stories (thanks in large part to this blog), and another novel. I\u2019ve also gone through edits with a fabulous professional editor on two other novels. Over the course of all that, I know I\u2019ve improved as a writer. I think it would be impossible not to get better with all that going on.<\/p>\n

Through all the writing I\u2019ve done, I think my \u201cvoice\u201d has become stronger. And my editor has taught me so much about mechanics and story that I couldn\u2019t have learned any other way. At least not easily. So, yes, absolutely, I\u2019ve changed as a writer this year, and I\u2019m certain it\u2019s for the better.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the biggest change.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, I was a non-finisher, too terrified of sucking to complete a short story, let alone a novel.<\/p>\n

One year ago, I was dumbfounded by having found a publisher for the novel I\u2019d finally written, and terrified that I wouldn\u2019t be able to repeat the accomplishment.<\/p>\n

Today, I have one published novel, a second coming out in March, a third I turned in last week which will come out late summer\/early fall, and a contract for three more books.<\/p>\n

I will never be so confident in myself that this doesn\u2019t scare me. But my confidence level this year has taken a definite upturn. I don\u2019t mean the cocky sort of confidence that demands attention or the best table in a restaurant. I mean the confidence that looks at the next project and says \u201cI can do that.\u201d The confidence that looks at a finished manuscript and says \u201cThis doesn\u2019t suck.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll still run into pitfalls. I will still make mistakes. I\u2019ll still have days filled with wailing, gnashing of teeth and, yes, even self-doubt. But it\u2019ll be fleeting.<\/p>\n

The most important thing that\u2019s changed this year is my self-confidence. I know what I\u2019m capable of doing. I may get scared from time to time, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever be paralyzed with fear again. Failure is nothing to be afraid of. Not trying\u2014that\u2019s the true failure.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m confident I\u2019ll never fall prey to that particular demon again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year has been crazy awesome, and it\u2019s changed me accordingly. It\u2019s quite possible that I, myself, am crazier than I started out at the beginning of the year. Or maybe I started out this way. You have to be at least a little nuts in the first place to choose writing as a career. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[159,398,985],"class_list":["post-7105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-process","tag-change","tag-fear","tag-self-confidence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}