One Day with Donald Maass and the 2017 PPWC Prequel

By: Catherine Dilts

According to Donald Maass, New York agent and author of writing how-to books that push writers to new levels: "Your protagonist is your vengeance. Let him loose." 

I attended the Pikes Peak Writers Conference Thursday Prequel with Donald Maass on April 27. The program began as an add-on to the regular Friday through Sunday conference schedule. The Thursday Prequel has become such a success that it is now offered every year. Many of us who can’t attend the entire conference opt for this one full day.

One day with Donald Maass provided nearly an entire writing conference worth of inspiration and education. He opened by stating that our goal as writers should be to take the reader on an emotional journey. How do you do this? Not, as you might think, by getting the reader to feel what the characters feel.

 
I had attended a Maass workshop at the 2012 PPWC. Later that year I would sell my first short story and my first novel. Were the two events directly related? Hard to say, although the workshop certainly pushed my writing up a notch.

In many ways, back then I was like a high school kid sitting in on a graduate school class. I was definitely learning, but a lot of the workshop was over my head. Five years ago I did not know what I did not know. Now that I’ve been multi-published in short and long fiction, I was curious whether there was anything else I could possibly learn about writing.  Silly me.

This year’s Maass workshop was based on his book The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface. I had not read the book, but will have to obtain a copy now.

What this is not: An author creates a character who has an emotional experience. Let’s say – FEAR of walking into the creepy old house. In the course of reading the story, a reader experiences the fear exhibited by the character. Wrong.

What this is: Deeply thoughtful writing that creates emotional connection with the reader. "Finding the meaning in moments is what makes an emotional experience for readers." The reader must actually process the events, instead of passively observing them. 

How I interpret this: Just because the character entering the creepy house experiences fear doesn’t mean the reader will. The reader might think the character is Too Stupid To Live, and fail to connect with the character or the story. Writers have to dig deeper to cause an emotional reaction in the reader, beyond the obvious surface of the story. If you don't care about the characters, or have hope he or she can overcome the odds, you won't have an emotional reaction to the story.

Maass described cognitive evaluation - when we are surprised, we have to stop to process the situation. Generating this surprise comes from not going for the surface, the cliche, the obvious. The processing happens in our working memory. If readers pause to "chew on something," they come to their own conclusions. This emotion is his or her own. Instead of writing in camera shots, Maass suggested writers try a me-centered narration, which he called close third person.

Think of the novels or stories that have stuck with you. That keep popping up in your

thoughts at odd moments. Works that have changed you in some way. These aren’t necessarily classics – well-written genre fiction can have the same impact. These are the stories that connected with you emotionally, and perhaps even elevated the way you perceived your own experiences.

During the workshop, I jotted a dozen pages of notes for my work-in-progress. I was inspired to think in new ways about my characters, and imagined scenes that add layers to the story. I’m excited to start working on this project. Five years after my first published novel and short story, I still have a lot to learn.

About the Author: Catherine Dilts is the author of the Rock Shop Mystery series, set in the Colorado mountains, while her short stories appear in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. The Chemistry of Heroes, which appeared in the AHMM May 2016 issue, was a Derringer short story award finalist. Catherine’s day job involves environmental regulatory issues, and for fun she fishes, hikes, and runs. You can learn more about Catherine at http://www.catherinedilts.com/

Scholarship Recipient Beth Malone talks PPWC 2017

By: Beth Malone

A little over a year ago, the idea for a novel got its teeth into me, and the thing just wouldn’t let go. Never mind that I wasn’t really sure where writing a novel could possibly fit into my schedule. Never mind that, in doing research (I’m writing historical fiction), I’d have to read enough books to fill a bathtub. Never mind that the longest thing I’d ever written before attempting this novel was 25 measly pages, and that was in college, for heaven’s sake.

The novel didn’t care, though, about any of that. It lurked around like a stray cat yowling to be fed. Maybe just to shut the thing up, I wrote a little bit; when it kept yowling, I wrote a bit more. The more I wrote, the more real the characters became.

They acquired backstories and habits and inconsistencies, and they started making all kinds of choices. The problems facing them were like knots I just kept cinching tighter, worrying all the while that I wouldn’t be able to unravel them.

So for a year, I worked on it, and I made, basically, a mess.

That’s where I got stuck. I couldn’t figure out what I needed to do to move the novel forward, so I kept going around and around what I’d already written, caught in a writer’s eddy of endless revisions.

 

It was around this time I decided I needed a writer’s conference. I needed a place where I could take a step back from my ordinary life and view my work with some kind of perspective. I needed to clear away all the noise. I needed to be able to focus completely, to judge objectively, to hear ideas from others and to share my own.

Pikes Peak Writer’s Conference wound up being exactly what I needed. Four days jam-packed with workshops on everything from character development to time management. I drank a lot of coffee and scribbled a lot of notes and considered my story from every angle. By the end of the weekend, I knew what I needed to unravel all those knots. 

Some things at the conference encouraged me, for instance one agent calling his audience to write—no matter what—with honesty and hope, because we are hoping not just to tell a good story but to change hearts, to change who someone is, even in some small way. It’s a hope that I’ve always had, but maybe lost sight of, and hearing it come from someone else’s mouth suddenly gave me faith again in the rightness of it.

Some things at the conference challenged me, like hearing an author tell me, “You know the difference between me and you? I finished the damn book. That’s really it.” Somehow, I believed him.

Finally, some things at the conference put my book on an operating table, opened it up, and showed me exactly where I needed to put the stitches in. By breaking the writing into components—character, plot arc, setting, dialogue—the whole project suddenly felt possible, even probable. I just have to go home, pick up the tools I’ve acquired, and use them.

I left PPWC not only with a renewed fire for writing fiction, but with the tools I needed to finish the damn book.

About the author: Beth Malone has snorkeled off the coast of Saudi Arabia, wheedled Syrian border guards into a same-day visa, and slept in a refugee camp in Uganda. Now she lives—arguably—a slightly less interesting life in the suburbs of Denver, which is perhaps why she has begun writing fiction. She is the author of some published essays and one unfinished novel, which you can look for eventually, because she’s an incredibly tenacious person. You can find more of her work on her http://www.bethmalonewrites.com/p/essays.html

PPWC Scholarship: A Fund of Knowledge and Learning

Editor's Note: AmyBeth Inverness was one of many who received a scholarship from Pikes Peak Writers. Here is her summation of what she got out of the conference.

By: AmyBeth Inverness

I moved to Colorado just in time for the 2016 Pikes Peak Writers Conference, but wasn’t able to attend. Even if we’d been able to finance it after a cross-country move, my husband had stayed back east for work and I was taking care of two kids, one of whom has special needs, on my own. I resigned myself to disappointment, and promised myself I’d be able to go in 2017.

In autumn, I had to admit that our family could not afford to send me to conference, no matter how beneficial it would be to my career and how desperately I wanted to go. Fortunately, Pikes Peak Writers has a fund to help people like me, and I was elated when I found out I had been awarded a full scholarship to attend the conference!

My volunteer duties (which are part of being a scholarship recipient) were moderating and helping in the ballroom. With experience as a teacher, moderating was a breeze for me. I asked for and was given all of Michael Underwood’s sessions, as well as Shannon Lawrence’s session on Submitting Short Stories. I interviewed Michael back in 2012 when his debut novel Geekomancy came out, and I’ve followed him ever since. He is not only an enjoyable author, but a kind and encouraging person who is genuinely eager to offer guidance to writers of all types and levels. I interviewed Shannon in 2016 after I’d moved to Colorado and got to meet her in person. Her stuff is usually too scary for me (I’m a wus) but I love her to pieces and I really wanted to learn more about submitting short stories.

Being in the ballroom was fun. I helped with set-up and clean-up, which mostly meant taking anything that did not belong to the Marriott off the tables after each meal. The only downside was realizing a half hour later that I somehow had a plastic leaf stuck to me!

Volunteering did not usurp my time. I fully enjoyed all of the conference, and had a few special moments over the weekend. I finally got to hug M.K. Meredith, whom I interviewed back in 2015. We’ve connected with each other on social media for years but this was our first time meeting in person. I confiscated silverware from MH Boroson and Susie Lindau, but had to give it back. I may have caused grievous bodily harm to JT Evans. (He’s okay.)

There were a number of very meaningful or insightful instances as well. Over dinner with Kristin Nelson, I didn’t intend to bring up my WIP but I had a question about genre, and she asked for an example. I was classifying my story as Science Fiction because it takes place in the future with advanced technology, however it reads more as Women’s Fiction. Her comments led me to realize my real issue was that I had a preconception that every story set in the future must be Science Fiction, and as Science Fiction it must conform to certain expectations. My story was set in the future, but did not conform. Kristin helped me to understand that my novel’s primary category might simply be something different.

My highest moment was during Sunday lunch, when they announced the winners of the flash fiction contest. It was a fun game where we had to collect slips of paper with a single word printed on it from various faculty and staff, then use the words in a 250 words or less story. When I heard my story being read from the podium, I almost started to cry. This was a blind contest…and my story was chosen for first place from among a few dozen entries!

At the end of the conference, I hovered in the staging room where all the PPW stuff was being stored and organized, lending a hand in any way I could. When all was said and done, I received the biggest compliment from Jennifer LaPointe. She thanked me, and said “I hope we didn’t give you too much work. We did it because we knew we could count on you.”

Those simple words meant the world to me. As a scholarship recipient, I have received a huge gift. Our family is going through trying times at the moment, and too often I find myself being the person who has to ask others for help. Knowing that I was the one providing help was the best feeling in the world.

I got a lot out of volunteering. I’d love to be more involved with Pikes Peak Writers, but at the moment I’m the newbie who doesn’t quite know what goes where or how to get various tasks planned and completed. This weekend I learned that the hotel provides a lot of stuff, while other materials are brought in either from the storage locker or loaned from various members. There are a million small tasks that need to be done. Changing signs, making sure the right equipment and materials are in the rooms, preparing a ton of paperwork, and I can’t even touch on all it takes to arrange for all the faculty to come and present, filling multiple rooms at multiple times throughout the day so that there is plenty for every attendee to choose from.

Volunteering is a great way to build a network, but it goes far beyond that. I genuinely like these people, and being around them nurtures my writer’s soul, teaches my writer’s brain, and encourages me in my career. I thank Pikes Peak Writers not only for the scholarship that funded my attendance at conference this year, but for the camaraderie found in volunteering and the lifted spirits of knowing my contribution is appreciated.

About the Author:  AmyBeth Inverness  is a writer by  birth and a redhead by choice, She is a creator of Speculative Fiction and Romance. She can usually be found tapping away at her laptop, writing the next novel or procrastinating by posting a SciFi Question of the Day on Facebook and Google Plus. When she’s not writing, she’s kept very busy making aluminum foil hats and raising two girls, a cat, a dog, and one husband in their Colorado home.

May 2017 Letter from the Editor

Where do you get your ideas? That was the theme and predominant question I heard often over the course of the 2017 Pikes Peak Writers Conference this past weekend. Such a lovely event put on by hardworking volunteers that weaved together every speaker, every workshop and every detail as the Marriott doors opened and the crush began. The weekend was ripe with aspiring authors, some already successful, others looking to reinvent themselves.

From marketing to craft, or workshops to make the writing process easier, Pikes Peak Writers offered something for everyone. I was doing airport runs and missed a few. Fortunately, digital recordings are available for attendees, just in case. 

A particularly fun moment for me was stepping on the elevator to engage a dazed young man who had just pitched his novel. Turns out, he received a full request from an agent who generally doesn’t request complete manuscripts. Or to watch my critique partner and some of the writers who attend Open Critique win and/or double final in the Zebulon. For these individuals, among myriad others, the conference was magical.

Then of course there were the keynotes. Kevin Hearne, Darynda Jones, Donald Maass and Tess Gerritsen who graciously left us laughing, thinking and mesmerized by their poise, wisdom and generosity. Moreover, they shared where they get their ideas, and left those in attendance with a few of our own.

In short, thanks to the authors, editors and agents who graced the 2017 Pikes Peak Writers Conference. Thanks to them and our 300-plus attendees, the event was not only magical, but a complete success.

Shall we proceed with May?

About the Author: Donnell Ann Bell is the managing editor for Writing from the Peak, the coordinator for the monthly Open Critique held on the first Wednesday of every month, and one of Pikes Peak Writer's board members at large. She is a best selling romantic suspense and mystery author. To learn more about her books, find her at www.donnellannbell.com

Meet PPW Faculty Member Gregg Taylor

By: Laura Hayden
Pikes Peak Conference Director

I’ve always been a fan of Old Time Radio (OTR), and enjoy listening to old shows, despite their more limited roles for women who tended to be the Girl Fridays, the secretaries or the hapless damsels in distress.   

Then I found Decoder Ring Theatre about six years ago. Gregg Taylor is the genius behind DRT—the chief writer, a starring voice, sound editor, chief cook and bottle washer.  He has produced well over 250 award-winning full-cast episodes as well as books, audio books and comic books. He pays homage to the OTR shows of yesteryear with two main on-going story lines; The Red Panda Adventures: “In the tradition of the great mystery men of radio, pulp fiction and the golden age of comics comes The Red Panda, famed protector of 1930s Toronto!” and Black Jack Justice featuring “Tough-as-nails private eye Jack Justice and his long-suffering partner Trixie Dixon, girl detective…”  (http://www.decorderringtheatre.com)

Needless to say, I was excited to have a chance to interview Gregg and ask all the questions that struck me as a fan and as a writer who marvels at the quality of what he does.  

Laura Hayden: So origin stories aside, what flamed the love for old time radio and how did Decoder Ring Theatre come in to being?

Gregg Taylor: When I was a kid, there was a radio station out of Toronto that played old-time radio programs on Sunday nights, and I just fell in love with them. I've always enjoyed that era of storytelling, and radio drama is such a creature of pure imagination, it just spoke to me. Many years later some friends and I devised an episodic mini-series as an ill-advised and totally unrequested pilot project for traditional radio. This was before the revolution in digital recording techniques made creating your own audio cheap and easy, so it was neither, and it pre-dated podcasting, so there was no way to get it to the audience.

It was also much too goofy, which was a byproduct of trying to sell it to a mass-market that didn't want anything to do with it. It was, from any kind of business perspective, a total train wreck. It was also the most fun I'd had ever had, and I couldn't let it go. A few years later, podcasting put the means of distribution into my hands, and I was ready for round two. I ran away with the circus and haven't been seen since.

Laura Hayden: I don't know of any other dramatic podcast that has lasted this long with such consistent high quality in both storyline and production. How have you been able to keep The Red Panda Adventures and Black Jack Justice (and the summer replacements) going for so long?

Gregg Taylor: Well, thank you. Audio Drama is a very diverse pursuit, and everybody has their own goals and styles. I think our productions have remained strong because we have kept true to our own hearts — made the kind of shows we wanted to create and shut out the noise of the self-appointed guardians. As a writer and a producer, I've tried to create roles and stories that are worthy of the remarkable performers that have peopled our worlds, and create a product that our audience will enjoy. Nothing else matters. 

Laura Hayden: I've been impressed with the cohesive long-term story arcs in Red Panda. What's your process when it comes to creating a story arc? Is it planned out long in advance?

Gregg Taylor: Yes! It's always fun on recording days, when the actors will pry to see if they can find out what is coming for their characters and they manage to get me talking. I remember revealing the storylines we used in our seventh season while we were recording our fourth. Some things still surprised me as I went along, but it was always my idea to tell a single-creator mystery-man story from very near the beginning until the “end.” We've found ways to keep telling the stories, of course, but reaching that point of fulfilment of the continuity was the most satisfying thing I've ever done. And also the saddest.

Laura Hayden: As I've listen to the shows, it's struck me that you've really mastered character development. We've "seen" characters fall in love, be separated by war, have a child, face their personal demons, grow in wisdom, say goodbye to loved ones, and at same time, fight super villains, battle creatures from other dimensions, and of course, combat the evil Nazis who dabble in the occult. It's quite a balance. Which comes first? The needs of the story or the needs of the character?

Gregg Taylor: From the very beginning, I wanted to let the characters and their relationships grow, but always in the context of a mystery or adventure story. Each episode of the Red Panda Adventures is a stand-alone story, trying to tell a full-cast, golden-age adventure in 25 to 30 minutes. Every episode or two there would be time for a line or two, or little moment, that could advance the natural growth of those relationships. But that slow burn was also true for the characters. They were on a mission, and grew as people in spite of themselves. It made every change so much more significant when it finally did happen. It means we can keep a very simple structure and actually do some nice long-form storytelling. 

Laura Hayden: I know your life has changed since the podcast started in Oct 2005. And now the podcast is facing some changes. What's the future look like?

Gregg Taylor: I don't think there will ever be a time when I'm not planning new adventures for these characters, but I did manage to put myself on a crazy treadmill for a decade or so. We were releasing 24-full-cast audio adventures a year, plus novels and comics. I started to feel like a ghost. When I dialed it back to 12 new releases a year, I found myself with energy to work on other things for the first time in years, and I realized there were other adventures I wanted to have, other stories I wanted to tell. So we went from being the most predictable schedule on the internet to... well, we're still pretty predictable, but a little different. Some new video episodes, some audio prose stories... we're not going to disappear anytime soon.

Laura Hayden: You've written books within the Red Panda and Black Jack Justice universes, but you've also written other non-podcast works. Can you tell us about the new and upcoming projects?

Gregg Taylor: A couple of years ago I was approached to do some writing for a company called Stitch Media that was developing some interactive children's books under the name "Together Tales." It was a pretty fascinating process, and a very different narrative style. I found that I really loved writing for young people, I just fell in love with it.

At the moment, I'm working on a middle-grade series about a girl named Abagail Branagan who starts her own detective agency in her parents' garage. My daughter keeps demanding new Abagail stories, which keeps my nose to the grindstone while I'm busy leaving Daffy Duck-shaped holes in the brick wall of the publishing industry. It does make one miss the DIY ease of podcasting!

This is just a taste of the mad genius that is Gregg Taylor. I heartily suggest you listen to some of his podcasts, starting with Season One for each, especially if you’re planning to attend the upcoming Pikes Peak Writers Conference.  

All podcasts are free and can be found on the DRT website or iTunes,

Red Panda: Riddle of the Sphinx:

http://decoderringtheatre.com/shows/red-panda-adventures/season/1

Black Jack Justice:
http://decoderringtheatre.com/shows/black-jack-justice/season/1

P.S.  Okay, this is when the inner fan took over the interview. If you’re familiar with DRT, you really want to hear these answers. If you’re not a fan yet, see the links above to the first episodes.

Laura Hayden: So, as a fangirl, I want more "missing" RP adventures/Kit's Diary while I'm also curious about Harry Kelly's future as the Black Eagle. And while I'm dreaming, what about a crossover storyline between your two major universes?

Gregg Taylor: Here are things I am most interested in doing in the near future in the Red Panda universe: Some serialized stories (15 min episodes, full of cliffhangers, like the old Superman or Captain Midnight shows) set in the year we skipped (from August 1939 to December 31, 1940), during which time we would most be foiling fifth columnists in the Archangel network. Also, would like to do a Black Eagle serial, with Kit in the Perry White role as Editor of the Chronicle. The crossover was never in the cards and is even less so now. Kit's diary is a good idea though.

Gregg Taylor is a writer, performer and podcaster. He has published novels, interactive children’s books, graphic novels and an absurd number of full-cast audio drama programs in the style of the golden age of radio. He is the Chief Bottle Washer of the Decoder Ring Theatre podcast and creator of The Red Panda, the masked protector of 1930s Toronto, and the detective series Black Jack Justice, and has won both the Podcast Award for Cultural/Arts Programming, and the Parsec Award, for excellence in Speculative Fiction podcasting. He is a great believer in the power of the spoken word.

April 2017 Letter from the Editor

Can you imagine writing a novel without a transition? Without transitions in your story, nothing happens. Characters walk about like zombies, worse, one-dimensional characters; the setting grows as stale as the inside of a prison cell, and your plot flatlines straighter than an EKG.

Writing requires transitions. In addition to conflict and emotion, transitions are equally important.

That’s in a story.

You know who else requires transitions? Writers. In a few weeks, Pikes Peak Writers celebrates its 25^th Silver Jubilee, The 2017 Pikes Peak Writers Conference. Our volunteers and our steadfast members have kept this organization thriving through— you guessed it —transition.

For the past 25 years, we’ve learned what works, and we’ve learned what doesn’t. Writing from the Peak is all about learning and helping writers transition into better scholars of craft. This April we have fantastic articles that center around this topic. I’ll keep you posted.

On a final note, the 2017 Pikes Peak Writers Conference is going to be one of the most important learning/networking/meaningful opportunities available. Writing requires transition, and so does a writer’s growth. 

Have a sensational April. See you at conference.

Donnell Ann Bell is the managing editor for Writing from the Peak, the coordinator for the monthly Open Critique held on the first Wednesday of every month, and one of Pikes Peak Writer's board members at large. She is a best selling romantic suspense and mystery author. To learn more about her books, find her at www.donnellannbell.com

Prequel to the 2017 PIkes Peak Writers Conference

By: Patrick Hester 

The Pikes Peak Writers Conference is fast approaching, and with it comes the Thursday 
Prequel on Thursday, April 27^th. Prequel is an add-on event featuring the 3-hour morning and afternoon workshop of your choice with lunch to boot and all for only $90 when you add it onto your PPWC Registration through March 16^th. Not planning to attend Conference this year? Great news - you can attend the Prequel as a stand-alone event for just $150 through March 16th! After March 16th, the prices will go up - so be sure to register asap!

If you’re still on the fence about Prequel, let’s talk a little about the fantastic presenters and workshops for writers of every level we’re offering!

You’ve got a really difficult decision ahead of you… Which morning and afternoon sessions will you pair together? Maybe I can help with that.

Chris Mandeville

For the beginner looking for the tools to take an idea from concept to finished manuscript, consider Christine Mandeville’s Everything You Need To Know To Write A Novel. This workshop provides a comprehensive overview of novel writing including plotting, planning, story structure, editing and revision. Consider pairing this with Scrivener Bootcamp so you can take everything you learn from Chris and setup your Scrivener to maximize your writing time.

For the writer who is further along, consider Make your own Middle Earth: Worldbuilding - presented by Mike Braff & Kevin Hearne. In this three-hour long workshop you will learn the fundamentals of worldbuilding from New York Times Bestselling author Kevin Hearne and Del Rey editor Mike Braff. This is certain to be a fun, interactive workshop as participants will be given the tools needed to write a short piece set in a shared world the whole class will read, critique, and discuss as a group. Be prepared for a fun and enlightening workshop!

Pair this class with Be an Agent for a Day - presented by Kristin Nelson, and learn how to take your world and present it to an agent or editor for publication.

For the thriller or mystery writers out there, consider a double-barreled workshop pair with Squared Away: How to Accurately Write Military Characters - presented by Kevin Ikenberry and Misdemeanors to Murder: Nothing but the truth from a Criminal Lawyer and Private Eye - presented by Colleen Collins & Shaun Kaufman. These two reality tracks will help you get your crime, military and law enforcement stories and characters into shape!

Remember, the Pikes Peak Writers Prequel Thursday are in-depth, 3-hour workshops on a variety of topics and range of skill levels. You can pair any morning workshop with any afternoon workshop to suit your individual needs. Lunch is included with your ticket! We strongly encourage you to register today and take advantage of the discounted pricing before March 16th rolls around!

About the Author: Patrick Hester is an author, blogger and two-time Hugo Award Winner. He lives in Colorado, writes science fiction and fantasy, and can usually be found hanging out on his Twitter feed - @atfmb. His novel, SAMANTHA KANE: INTO THE FIRE is available at all major retailers. His short fiction can be found in the anthologies Space Battles: Full-Throttle Space Tales #6 and An Uncommon Collection, as well as the eBooks Conversations with my Cat, Witchcraft & Satyrs, Consumption, Cahill's Homecoming and Cahill's Unfinished Business. His Functional Nerds and SF Signal weekly podcasts have both been nominated for Parsec awards, and the SF Signal podcast was nominated for a 2012, 2013, and 2014 Hugo Award. His Scrivener Quick Tips articles exploded on social media and the web in 2012, and he’s been teaching writers how to use the software ever since.

Action Cures Fear

By:  Stacy S. Jensen

Fear did not help me write this post, complete a book project, or meet my monthly submission goals last month.

Fear is not my friend. It feels more like my frenemy when ...

... the fear of a blank page stops me from writing.

... the fear of rejection stops me from submitting.

... the fear of criticism stops me from sharing my work.

The truth is ....Action cures fear.

I've heard that quote multiple times. I did my fair share of procrastinating to verify the source of the quote too. Goodreads attributes the quote to David J. Schwartz, Magic of Thinking Big.

Action cures fear. Those three words sums it up. It doesn't clear up the problem I have sometimes as a writer.

I know in my heart that ...

... Putting words on the page gives you a draft.

... Submitting your work won't kill you.

... Sharing your work may give you new ideas to shape, change, or improve your story.

We know these things, right?

How many times have we cheered on our fellow writers on social media?

Write that shitty draft. Just do it!

Congratulations on pushing send.

Be brave. Share your work.

Don't worry. You've got this!

But, the truth is sometimes it is easier to encourage another person to overcome his or her writing fears than deal with your own. Or maybe that's just me?

I keep telling myself that my draft is a beginning. It's not permanent. It can be changed or deleted. I need to write to be a writer.

I know, as I get ready for conference, that publishers, editors, agents, and other writers are human like me. I know it will be fun to be together for a weekend and talk about our work, our stories, and our goals.

I also know that someone will offer a dose of inspiration that will enough to remove fears about writing, submitting, or creating new stories. For those inspiring moments, I can deal with a little fear and my frenemy. I'll be repeating "action cures fear" over and over.

I would love to hear what helps you overcome your fear in your writing world. And, see you at conference!

About the Author: Stacy S.Jensen worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for two decades. Today, she writes picture books and revises a memoir manuscript. She lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and son.