I was once asked, by a newsletter subscriber, "How can I keep fear from ruling my writing career—or business for that matter?"

Believe it or not, it's a common question among those new to writing and those who are ready to take a much bigger leap of faith. You wouldn't believe it from reading my online resume or online publication, TheDabblingMum.com , but fear is something that I, too, combat. 

There are several things you can do to combat your fear, but it will take time. Learning to work, in spit of the fear, or learning end the fear takes time. It just doesn't happen overnight, no matter how much you will it.

The first and most important thing you can do for your writing career is to NOT let fear keep you from writing or submitting your work. Fear can paralyze a person (not just writers) to the point that he never reaches his goals in life.  Fear can keep a wise person from taking a chance on himself and reaching success.  Fear can literally wear a person out and make life feel hopeless. Fear can be all-consuming. That's why everyone needs his own personal cheerleading section. 

You need to become "your own cheerleader." 

Every time you begin to talk yourself out of taking a step towards publication, towards sending a query letter, towards interviewing a source, or towards letting an outsider critique your works, give yourself a pep talk. Remind yourself of your good qualities, of your recent and past successes, and how your writing has grown over the years.  If a pep talk isn't enough to keep you from letting fear rule your life, try these tricks:

1. Before you even step one foot out of bed, praise the Lord for the talents He has given you and ask Him to help you use that talent to write something wonderful.

2. When you start getting fan mail or rave reviews of your published work, print them out.  Whenever fear starts to rule your writing career, pull out those reviews and read them.

3. When you receive rejections or "hate" mail, read them with a constructive eye, write down the things you could use to improve your writing, and then burn the suckers.  Don't keep rejections and negative comments around because you'll only reread them; allowing them to fester and drown out the good qualities in your writing.

4. Find someone you can trust to evaluate your work without stealing it or offering criticism out of jealousy.  

5. And finally, find a charitable organization that can use your writing talent on a volunteer basis.  Sometimes, all it takes is a worthy cause to get you to start believing in yourself.
 

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