Finding the Fun in Being a Little Bit Terrified

This post is going to be about being scared. I am not talking about running for my life from an evil clown with half a face mask. (Thank you American Horror Story for that lovely image)

I am talking about doing something that scares you in the best way possible. The scariest thing I ever did as a writer was letting someone read my story for the first time.

Now...I didn't say I let them read my first story. Nope. Nope. Nope. My first stories were...lets call them interesting.

The scariest thing I did was let someone read a story I actually liked. The only way to get better at this writing gig is to get feedback. When you immerse yourself in a story, it's not easy to see where your imagery isn't working on page. After rocking myself in a corner and remembering this was all going to be okay, I sent it into a publisher.

Then...I got back those first rounds of edits. And let me tell you, there is no amount of stage blood that can capture the image of my utterly destroyed manuscript. It was covered from top to bottom in edits.

Seeing a book dripping in revisions and suggested plot changes is definitely scary. Having to fix it under deadline is cause for a diet of coffee, chocolate, pizza, and alcohol.

But not all things that are scary in this industry are bad. In fact, the things that scare me the most, bring me the most joy when I accomplish them.

Right now I am working on a manuscript outside of the Paranormal Romance genre.  I am going to try and ease you guys away from the mythical sexy for a bit. I'm starting with a quirky robotic romance.

Check out the #robosex hashtag from me on Twitter and Facebook and you can see this strange idea starting from the beginning. Now...if you google "Robosex" I am not responsible for what you find. (trust me...it's scary) But I am hoping to get you to think about people that are different from you, and in a tongue-in-cheek way, I want to look at how we label things we don't understand.

After that...I am working on...*gasp* a contemporary romance.

It's not leaping off the page and rushing to the finish line like I was hoping. The main reason...It's scary. No, I'm not writing a horror, but whenever as an author you are doing something different, it is terrifying.

There's always a chance that it will flop, and fade to obscurity. At the end of the day, that little writer spirit inside (inspiration, muse, multiple personalities, whatever you want to call it) screams at you to put the words down anyway.

So that's what I'm doing now. I am working on something new, and something that scares me. I'm chatting up people and trying to get myself moving forward.


I'm also gearing up for NaNoWriMo next month. NaNo is close to my heart, because it was the kick in the butt I needed to write "The End" for the first time.

If you are playing along feel free to be my accountabilibuddy and watch me procrastinate. I'm Roxy Mews over there.



At the end of the day, I guess I like being a little scared. If what I am working on doesn't scare me...then I'm not doing what I need to. I hope as this writing journey goes on to do something that scares me a little bit every day.

What are you working on that scares you? Can you stay and chat with me about it, or did my clown pic make you go running for the hills? ;p

Here's hoping we all scare ourselves into following our dreams today.

~Roxy