I'm Feeling The Fear - And I'm Stuck

I advise a reader who doesn't know how to start again

Photo by Elin Lundqvist on Unsplash

Hello Team CCC! Happy Friday! Howaya? My teeth are chattering - I just went for a swim in the tidal pool with my friend Lisa, and we think Autumn started when we were in the water, it was choppy. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve craved a hot bath! I’m also working on a piece about horoscopes - why I love them, and anything else that makes me feel hopeful and open to magic. (Mercury Retrograde ends on 27th August - watch that shadow but also, phew! The other night I dreamed that I accidentally ran the marathon backwards. My subconscious is not subtle.)

This week we finished this season of the You’re Booked podcast with a dream guest,

Catherine Newman

- you can listen here, it’s a real heart embiggener. (But it will not raise your cholesterol, even though CN is delicious.) You can still sign up for the READ YOURSELF HAPPY retreat next year - read all about it here, and register your interest here. PITY PARTY is a Spotify Editor’s Pick - woo hoo! If you have Spotify Premium, the audiobook is included in your subscription! If you’d like the hard copy you can order a signed, dedicated, personalised one from The Margate Bookshop here.

And I’m so excited about this - my fiction course, Write Like A Reader is back on Monday 9th September. There will be five sessions, all taught on Zoom, so you can join us from anywhere in the world! It’s for writers at all stages, and the course is designed to make you feel confident, joyous and excited about writing. Email creativeconfidenceclinic@gmail.com and I’ll send you all the details!

Now for this week’s Dear Daisy question. If you have a DD dilemma, do drop me a line! creativeconfidenceclinic@gmail.com

Dear Daisy, 

At the beginning of this year, I took myself on a solo trip to Cornwall away from my copywriting job to finish my first book which I’d been working on for just over a year. There was no blood, but a hell of a lot of sweat and tears went into the process. I felt overwhelmingly proud of myself for a whole 5 minutes. And then remembered a couple of things: 1. Now I need to find an agent. 2. I’ve finished on a cliffhanger and I need to write the sequel, and then, well, the *threequel*… So I haven’t actually finished at all.

I gave myself a writing break, thinking "it’s fine, I’ll get the agent, I’ll get the editor, they’ll help me with the next bit, 2024 is going to be great”. Seven months later and I still don’t have the agent or the editor, and I’ve only written one chapter of book 2. I’m so scared of being scared of writing and finishing a book again that I just don’t do it. I know my difficulty is in plotting and the fear of not knowing what comes next or how I’m going to get there. I have the big, main, overarching plot ideas, but I don’t have the little, in-between sub-plot ideas. I don’t know how to overcome this, so I just don’t. How can I get through this fear? 

Love,

Feeling The Fear