I Have A Foe Named Fear

(Sigh)

I am a writer. I am more than a writer, I am an author. I am an author that has published 3 books. Two poetry books and a children's picture book. I am currently working on a picture poetry book, a regular poetry book, and four novels. Yes, I am an author.

I am an author who, as much as I would love it, am deathly afraid of the limelight. I don't like the attention or the acknowledgement that my writing brings. It probably doesn't help that my social skills come off as if I am a child who was told continuously NOT to speak to strangers; so in a way, I don't, or try not to anyway.

My social etiquette is kind of lacking. Partly because I am very humble about my talent and I feel like to talk about it, would be to brag about it. And partly because I don't like to discuss my emotions and A LOT of my poetry is based on my emotions. I'm a very private person and I instantly put up walls when it seems as if my private life is being invaded. Crazy thing is, I knew that was going to happen when I set out to publish my first book.

Fear can be a crippling foe. It is crippling my ability to get out there and promote my work like I should or even like I want to. It is crippling my want to read at open mic events. It is crippling my behavior when a fan approaches me with questions or compliments. It is just all around crippling.

And quite frankly, I'm tired of being crippled.