Thank you… I love to write (and receive) letters. When I send one (albeit rarely), I love to imagine the smile on the addressees face as they open their mailbox and see a handwritten envelope in among the bills, and credit card offer letters. Alas, like "writing" the book I have had in my mind and my heart for the past 3 years, taking the time to write a letter is rare.
Hi Diana. I think you really are writing (no air quotes) your book, even if it it's mostly ideas floating around in your head at this point! It will take more shape soon.
Letters are treasures we can hold, smell, and fold and unfold.
I fear all the work I have put into my novels and illustrations will not amount to the desired goal of traditional publication. I push through that fear, but sometimes it overtakes me and I drift away from my inspiration. Thankfully, I always return.
Great thoughts, Meta. I think anticipatory anxiety is exactly the kind of fear that we can take as an inoculation against real trouble. Because the anticipation is deep down grounded on a belief that everything will be ok. It's not dread--though we writers certainly experience that, too, that sense of please let me just read that email from my editor in which I know she's going to say I'm awful and should quit writing. Instead of dread, it's that perfect balance of anticipation and anxiety (as you say!) that lets us have the frisson along with the delight. (I suppose a frisson actually -is- a sort of delighted shiver.)
What's interesting is to think about how we can maybe use anticipatory anxiety--how we can take control of it and create opportunities for ourselves that give us that hit of energy. There's the kind of adrenaline-junkie fear that works that way. Adrenaline seekers put themselves in situations that will evoke fear, but usually a fear that's manageable. And that way the fear frisson can be repeated over and over again, each time yielding a jolt of energy. I did it! I survived! I thrived! I'm pretty sure that that need for energy of that sort is behind a lot of my skiing or other sports-related activities. I like to push myself, but I also really crave the feeling that I succeeded in pushing right up to some edge of fear.
Yes - a "fear frisson"--wonderful phrase. I used to love pitching ideas and waiting for an editor's response--in some ways even more than having a regular column or a relationship with an editor where the response was usually a yes. The "will they or won't they" aspect appealed to me.
What is more wonderful than finding a letter - a card is good but a letter is better - mixed in with fliers for duct cleaning and bills that make up today’s mail.
When I lived in England the post would be delivered twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. What joy because it was in a era pre-email so my American family and friends could visit via letters twice a day!
I never knew that about mail being delivered twice a day in England - I wish we'd known each other then so we could written letters to each other in those blue envelopes for internationa mail!
Thank you… I love to write (and receive) letters. When I send one (albeit rarely), I love to imagine the smile on the addressees face as they open their mailbox and see a handwritten envelope in among the bills, and credit card offer letters. Alas, like "writing" the book I have had in my mind and my heart for the past 3 years, taking the time to write a letter is rare.
Thank you for your series On Creative Courage!
Best
Diana
Hi Diana. I think you really are writing (no air quotes) your book, even if it it's mostly ideas floating around in your head at this point! It will take more shape soon.
Letters are treasures we can hold, smell, and fold and unfold.
I fear all the work I have put into my novels and illustrations will not amount to the desired goal of traditional publication. I push through that fear, but sometimes it overtakes me and I drift away from my inspiration. Thankfully, I always return.
Renee, I think it's the returning that should be celebrated!
Great thoughts, Meta. I think anticipatory anxiety is exactly the kind of fear that we can take as an inoculation against real trouble. Because the anticipation is deep down grounded on a belief that everything will be ok. It's not dread--though we writers certainly experience that, too, that sense of please let me just read that email from my editor in which I know she's going to say I'm awful and should quit writing. Instead of dread, it's that perfect balance of anticipation and anxiety (as you say!) that lets us have the frisson along with the delight. (I suppose a frisson actually -is- a sort of delighted shiver.)
What's interesting is to think about how we can maybe use anticipatory anxiety--how we can take control of it and create opportunities for ourselves that give us that hit of energy. There's the kind of adrenaline-junkie fear that works that way. Adrenaline seekers put themselves in situations that will evoke fear, but usually a fear that's manageable. And that way the fear frisson can be repeated over and over again, each time yielding a jolt of energy. I did it! I survived! I thrived! I'm pretty sure that that need for energy of that sort is behind a lot of my skiing or other sports-related activities. I like to push myself, but I also really crave the feeling that I succeeded in pushing right up to some edge of fear.
Yes - a "fear frisson"--wonderful phrase. I used to love pitching ideas and waiting for an editor's response--in some ways even more than having a regular column or a relationship with an editor where the response was usually a yes. The "will they or won't they" aspect appealed to me.
What is more wonderful than finding a letter - a card is good but a letter is better - mixed in with fliers for duct cleaning and bills that make up today’s mail.
When I lived in England the post would be delivered twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. What joy because it was in a era pre-email so my American family and friends could visit via letters twice a day!
I never knew that about mail being delivered twice a day in England - I wish we'd known each other then so we could written letters to each other in those blue envelopes for internationa mail!