Best of...

For my retrospective, here is a blog post from November 22, 2009. Enjoy!

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No fear?

A dear friend of mine has characters and stories roaming her head. She wants, no, yearns to write.

Just like the rest of us, she is frightened.

Writing is scary stuff. Let's list a few of the things that scare her.

1. Rejection by publishers.
2. Rejection by agents.
3. Rejection by friends and family.
4. The possibility that you really DO suck.
5. The possibility that you might learn something about yourself that you didn't want to know. (I was pretty surprised that I wrote vampire stories. I wanted to write screw-ball comedies).
6. Bad reviews.
7. Good reviews.
8. Not getting published which leads to...
9. Feeling like you've wasted your time.
10. Not making money.

These fears are real. They stop people in their tracks every day. They even stop me from time to time.

I have no easy answers about how to not be afraid. In fact, these fears are important. You have to look at them and say, "Well. What if I do suck? What if my work does gets rejected from now until the end of time?"

The payoff might not be worth the pain. If so, then congratulate yourself, and realize that there are many other dreams waiting for you! Maybe you will find fulfillment in improv comedy or Linux open-source work.

Make your fears work for you.

Spring is coming, I promise.

My friends in the Midwest and East Coast are experiencing exciting and crazy weather. In order keep spirits up, here are some pictures from our trip to Hawaii.

On the Island of Maui, in the town of Lahaina, there is a banyan tree that is the size of an entire city block. Visiting this tree was one of the highlights of our trip.

I have a tender spot in my heart for trees, especially large, brave trees like this one. So imagine yourself with a yummy shave ice and sitting in the shade of this beautiful tree. And spring will come, I promise. :)

The Charming Man relaxing.

That bright thing is the sun. It is very nifty, and someday, we will all see it again.

Into the branches.