lwidmer | Words on the Page

Writers Worth: Fear Not Your Time Away

Posted on May 28, 2018May 3, 2018 by lwidmer

Some lessons are easy to adopt. Today is one of those lessons. Today’s Marketing Move: Take Time Off Seriously, it’s Memorial Day. If you’re working, stop it right now. Who cares if you have deadlines? Work late tomorrow. Today, don’t be afraid to walk away from the lists and the deadlines and the research. Today…

Writers Worth: Coming Out of the Shadows

Posted on May 25, 2018May 21, 2018 by lwidmer

This post is proof that Emily Montgomery knows how to conquer fear. I’d read a post on Devon Ellington’s Biblio Paradise last week. A great post. Emily’s post (her first, it seems). I sent a quick email to Devon — would Emily contribute here? The next day, Emily’s first email to me came in. In…

Writers Worth: When Fear Has Many Faces

Posted on May 24, 2018May 24, 2018 by lwidmer

Jenn Mattern is one of the most fearless people I know. She’s an aggressive marketer, planner, and writer. I don’t know a time since I’ve known her that Jenn hasn’t had several projects going on at once. Her whiteboards in her office (she has a few) scare the hell out of me. They’re loaded with…

Writers Worth: Fear Without Apology

Posted on May 23, 2018May 16, 2018 by lwidmer

There’s an honesty about Yolander Prinzel that is what I would call refreshingly disturbing. It’s refreshing because she gives you her genuine feelings. It’s disturbing because her words often make you face the very shit you’ve been trying to cover and hide from. I adore Yo because she’s never afraid to say what she’s thinking,…

Writers Worth: When Fear is Your Friend

Posted on May 22, 2018May 10, 2018 by lwidmer

Join us on Twitter today at Noon ET for the second Writers Worth Month chat – Use hashtag #WWMchat to take part! Reasons why I adore Paula Hendrickson: She showed up one day and made friends quickly She volunteered to run this blog when a liver surgery sent me into a nine-day hospital stay She…

Writers Worth: Fear of Taking it Seriously

Posted on May 21, 2018May 3, 2018 by lwidmer

I need to stay off writers’ forums. A recent conversation that started seriously enough turned ridiculous far too quickly. The guy asked a serious question: How do you know if freelance is your choice? Facing a full-time offer, he was having second thoughts about taking that offer. While right there he’s pretty much answered his…

Writers Worth: Kicking First

Posted on May 18, 2018May 7, 2018 by lwidmer

I’m a Sharon Hurley Hall fan. In fact, I sort of stalked Sharon for years on social media. I was there, hanging in the background, hoping to get a chance to reach out. Why I was nervous about saying hello is beyond me, and now that I know Sharon, I realize how silly it was…

Writers Worth: Is Fear Getting in the Way of Your Worth?

Posted on May 17, 2018May 3, 2018 by lwidmer

If life gives us a do-over, I would want to come back as Emily Fowler. She’s vegan (okay, I’m vegetarian — close). She’s tattooed (I’m too fickle to get a tattoo — what if I change my mind?). She’s pink-haired (this week?). She’s about to be a new mom. And she’s British. Geezuz, do some…

Writers Worth: Removing the Mind-Killer from Client Relations

Posted on May 16, 2018May 10, 2018 by lwidmer

Some friendships are purely coincidental. Such is the friendship that Dana Ford and I share. A technical writer by day, he dons the garb of Super Friend in his off-peak hours. We bonded over fathers and loss. We also bonded over all sports Pittsburgh-related, sharing snippets of “Can you believe that call?” or “Where was…

Writers Worth: Snipe Hunting and Other Scary Freelance Things

Posted on May 15, 2018May 3, 2018 by lwidmer

Mary Schneider has already overcome a lot of fear. She reached out on this blog, on social media, and made friends. She pushed down the fear of rejection and built connections and friendships. She opted to work hard at her freelancing instead of waiting for success to come to her. And she’s pushed past a…

Cathy Miller

May 15, 2018

Well done, Mary. No snipe hunting for you. 🙂 I had a goal to hit 6 figures in my corporate career. Not a bad goal, but not all it’s cracked up to be (for me). I hit it the last several years of my career. And, surprise – it did not make me happy. I wanted to leave the corporate world behind for some time. My fear of leaving that 6-figure behind stopped me more than once until I finally blew.

The funny thing is, I found endless articles and self-professed gurus telling me how I could gain bliss by hitting that magic six-figure level again in freelancing. Been there. Done that. The very thing I feared is not my 1st priority. And once I realized that, life and work came much better. I’ve bumped up against the six-figure but it’s not my focus. I do quite well (in more ways than one) despite that old fear.

Thanks for an inspiring post, Mary!

1. lwidmer
  
  May 15, 2018
  
  Cathy, the funny thing about that six-figure goal — it’s not the number that makes a person happy (as you’ve found out). The journey what the goal should be (I think Chogyam Trungpa said that). If the journey is enjoyable, it’s worth it. If not, change the goal so that your journey makes you happy.
2. Cathy Miller
  
  May 16, 2018
  
  Spot on, Lori.
3. Sharon Hurley Hall
  
  May 18, 2018
  
  Right on, Cathy!
lwidmer

May 15, 2018

Mary, great post. The “what ifs” plague us all, no matter what level we’re at. What if that client doesn’t like my price? What if they don’t like my approach? What if I lose this client and need to find another?

Personally, I’ve found that once I get a rhythm going in my business, those what-ifs calm themselves down pretty well. Sure, all of the above could happen, but I’m now equipped mentally to deal with it.

Paula Hendrickson

May 15, 2018

So that’s what Snipe Hunting is. Or isn’t. I knew it was fake, but since I was a kid I confused it with the annual Smelt Runs, which always sounded just as, dare I say, fishy.

You raised a lot of great points, Mary. Fear takes many forms, but the worst kind of fear is the type that makes us doubt ourselves and our abilities.

Jake Poinier

May 15, 2018

Well done, Mary. You made me think about something that I’d never considered before: When I don’t get a particular job, I’m usually the only one who knows other than the person who dissed me. It makes it much easier for me to dismiss them mentally. (Heck, I don’t even tell my wife about new projects unless they’re signed!) And yes, I realize that others may do the complete opposite for their own equally valid reasons.

Gina

May 15, 2018

I can’t believe how much this one line went off like an epiphany in my head: “Write down that project that you know could be incredible, if you could just pull it off.” Somehow, of all the advice I’ve ever heard, that one line registered as if for the first time — not to mention all the other great advice. Thank you!!

1. lwidmer
  
  May 16, 2018
  
  Lightbulb moment! Good for you, Gina. So now, what is that project? How soon can you give it your best “what the hell” moment?
Sarah

May 15, 2018

It seems that almost anything worth doing involves some aspect of fear or possible rejection. It’s a sad reality that has held me back in life, too many times to count. Lost several opportunities and wasted a lot of time being afraid and too fixated on the opinions of others.
My first “wild goose chase” was merely finishing something. And having the gall to share it with someone…or several someone’s, if they desired.
Doing things I was “afraid” to do, both in writing and the course of life, have ultimately been some of the most rewarding experiences I can remember.

1. lwidmer
  
  May 16, 2018
  
  Sarah, I’m with you on that. Sometimes the toughest thing is getting over the stuff in our heads, isn’t it?
  
  Each roadblock we break through makes it easier for the next one to come crashing down. 🙂