2011 Message from Fear of Writing

From Milli…

From my Aquarius horoscope for 2011:

All in all, 2011 is a favorable year, mostly about relationships and enhancing your skill sets. New experiences, dreams and ideas are all favored. This is the right time for you to spread your wings and fly high. By the end of the year, you’ll have a clear vision of what you stand for and hope for.

To my mind and heart, that sounds like a pretty nifty horoscope for Fear of Writing, as well. Let’s work and play together to make that come true!

This is a fitting moment to officially introduce you to Judy Clement Wall (a.k.a. ‘j’), who is someone special here at Fear of Writing. Since 2002, when my dear friend Jenny Turner left her positions as FoW Gazette editor, course presenter and chat room moderator to pursue rockin’ success as an author (see her author website: J.R. Turner), I’ve been searching high and low for someone who can help me run FoW. Because I can’t do it alone.

Enter j, who was the first writer to survive my super-rigorous new training program for course presenters. j is now out in the field helping students on their 8-week journey through the Fear of Writing Online Course.

She has also put in several months already as my blog manager, and I know you’re all reaping the benefits. The FoW blog was always a hit-and-miss affair while I had so much else to take care of. We now have guest bloggers on a regular basis and—with j handling the bulk of what it takes to run this blog—I’ve been freed up to bring back the ever-popular 10K days.

Year 2011 brings you hope, strength and compassion. Plenty of opportunities, in almost all aspects of life, but you need to be aware of how you are spending your time, especially on things that matter!

Taking another leaf from my Aquarius horoscope for 2011, I’d like to say how important it is for me to watch all of you doing your best to give writing the priority it deserves in your life. We try to do fun and also challenging things here at Fear of Writing to help make that easier for you. Please use us to the hilt! It’s our pleasure to help you reach for your dreams and goals.

I now hand the mic to j, who will share her visions for FoW in 2011.

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From j…

Hello!

When Milli invited me to play over here, I immediately said yes. Not only does this give me a place to write about writing, it gives me a place to hang out with writers. About four years ago, I met my first writing mentor. I had not yet found a writing community and I thought he was magic. He said things like, “when you’re writing a book, you feel rarefied; there is nothing else quite like it.”

It felt as though he were reading my soul.

Eventually he went away but in his wake, I realized it wasn’t magic. It was just that he was a writer. Far from being disappointed, I felt like an explorer discovering a new land, a whole world of people who understood perfectly the joy, frustration, love, hate, fear and thrill of writing. I have been connecting with them ever since. They have awed and inspired me, cheered me on, held me accountable, challenged, loved and expanded me. I am a better writer because of them.

They are you.

We are all finding each other.

I’m so looking forward to the year ahead. I think this blog is just getting started. We are on the lookout constantly for guest bloggers to share their passion, fears and insights into the writing life. I want us to dig deep and fly high in 2011, be funny and brave and honest and amazing – here, and in everything we write.

I think we are about to be (even more) spectacular.

Feel free to check out our Guest Bloggers Invited page We would love to hear from you.

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Milli Thornton is the author of Fear of Writing: for writers & closet writers. She is lead course presenter for the Fear of Writing Online Course, where her mission is to put the fun back into writing. Milli also blogs at Milliver’s Travels.

JUDY CLEMENT WALL (j) is a Course Presenter for the Fear of Writing Online Course and a FoW blogger. She holds the same community-building vision for FoW that Milli does. j is putting the final touches on her novel, Beautiful Lives, and she blogs about the perils of life, love, writing and cheesecake at Zebra Sounds.