Synopsis

The San Ramos High students are busy rehearsing their performance of Our Town when the school and the surrounding towns are rocked by a 7.1 earthquake. As a series of unusual aftershocks disrupt the town further, their school is deemed unsafe, and the show is postponed indefinitely unless they can find a way to turn that bad luck around. Dealing with their own personal difficulties and led by the stage manager, Sandee, who is working her way through the loss of her brother, they attempt to bring the community together, make the performance a success, and do their share to raise funds to rebuild. Both the show and life must go on!

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Guest Post

Taming Fear

A writer’s fears often manifest in questions:

• What if my story is rejected?
• What if I get a publisher, get bad reviews, and my writing career is over?
• What if my writing offends my relatives?
• What if my writing will never be good enough?
• What if no one ever reads my work?

I can catastrophize with the best of them, but a better strategy when these questions come up is to jump right into solutions.

You’re probably not writing for the fabulous income or for fame and fortune, though you may have that fantasy on a back burner. Even so it’s difficult not to let fear dampen or stifle some promising instincts. So here are some tips for rising above the fears that most writers, including good ones and even famous ones, face when they sit down at their computer.

1. Take a deep breath.
2. Read a line or two of praise from a reader or critique partner. Remind yourself of your motivation. What do you want to tell the world? What, specifically, are you afraid of? Why? Who could it help? Why are you the right person to share it?
3. Try writing about your fears. Explain the problem. Ask yourself why you’re holding on to the fear? Ask yourself what you have to lose, and what you would do if you lost it?
4. Then brainstorm solutions. Pick your favorite and act on it today.
5. How many words did you write as you wrote that out? Congratulate yourself. You’re priming the pump and getting ready to write the big stuff.
6. Next, let your protagonist ask you why you’re afraid to tell your story. Write your answer. Keep going. Dig deeper. As soon as ideas for your story pop up, get back into it.

Fear is the opposite of faith, love, and courage. You don’t want it to win the battle you’re engaged in, do you?

You believe in your story, don’t you?

Is it something that others might gain insight from? Then get back into it. Write your heart out. You can edit later—and you will—but you must have material on the paper before you edit.

Trust yourself, trust your story, ask for help when you need it, and know that no one can tell your story but you. Lean into the positive and let the negative fears slide out of the picture. If fear rears its ugly head again, beat it back with the same tools. Burn it out and let your story rise from the ashes.

Answers to the questions at the top of the article may be beyond your control, but your actions aren’t. Take the actions needed to tell, show, and share your story.

About the Author

B. Lynn Goodwin is the owner of Writer Advice.

Talent was short-listed for a Literary Lightbox Award and won a bronze medal in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and was a finalist for a Sarton Women’s Book Award. A second edition came out on November 1, 2020, from Koehler Books. She also wrote You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers.

Her memoir, Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62, won a National Indie Excellence Award, a Human Relations Indie Book Awards Winner, a Dragonfly Book Award, a Next Generation Indie Book Award, Best Book Awards Finalist & NABE Pinnacle Book Achievement Award Winner.

Her next book, Disrupted, will be out on January 25th.

Goodwin’s work has appeared in Voices of Caregivers, Hip Mama, Dramatics Magazine, Inspire Me Today, The Sun, Good Housekeeping.com, Purple Clover.com, and elsewhere. She is a reviewer and teacher at Story Circle Network, and she is a manuscript coach at Writer Advice. She always has time to write guest blog posts and answer questions. She loves working one on one, troubleshooting, and helping writers find what works. Contact her to see how she can help you.

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