Wednesday, October 30, 2013

What Scares You?

by Deren Hansen

It's a scary time to be a writer: it seems the publishing world is full of more tricks than treats these days.

Given tomorrow's celebration of darkness, as a writer, what scares you?

Is it the giant carnivorous commercial publishing behemoths in New York that recently turned the Big 6 into the Big 5?

Is it the relentlessly growing horde of zombie books spawned by authors who rushed to self-publish their still-developing manuscripts?

Is it the ghosts of everyone else in the writing and publishing world who seems to be doing better than you?

Is it the legion of personal demons whisper that you have no talent and conspire to block your feeble efforts to scratch out a few sentences at every turn?

One of the unsung virtues of Halloween is that we have permission for one night to bring our fears into the light. And perhaps, by doing so, we may be able to transcend them when the light of a new day dawns.

So, writers, what scares you?

Deren Hansen is the author of the Dunlith Hill Writers Guides. This article is from Sustainable Creativity: How to Enjoy a Committed, Long-term Relationship with your Muse. Learn more at dunlithhill.com.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

All of it, but the personal demons scare me the most.

Scott said...

The blank page mocks me, laughs at me, and threatens to take my brilliant ideas and spit them out as nothing more than rotten pumpkin guts. It won't stop staring at me with its evil, soulless, emptiness.