Guest Blog (Day 4): Gallimore by Michelle Griep

Fear Factor

by Michelle Griep

Fear. Not the instant electrical zing roiling your gut, quivering your heart into atrial fibrillation, and leaving the acidic taste in the back of your mouth near your uvula. No. I’m talking the heavy wool kind. Permeating and relentless. The storm cloud type of fear that settles into your bones and sets up house.

As a rookie writer, I lived with that fear. What if I can’t master showing versus telling? What if my plot and structure is a bowl of spaghetti? What if I can’t land an agent? All those doubts compounded into one sickening terror—what if I never get published?

The obvious cure-all was a contract. Signing a contract would mean I’m a for-real author and all those doubts and fears would suffer a quick, painless death.

Wrong.

As soon as my pen left the page and before the ink dried on that first contract, more fears sprang to life. What if no one buys my book? What if I get bad reviews? What if I don’t meet my deadline?

Good thing I started hanging out with Isaiah, or rather, in Isaiah. As usual, when I needed it most, God made a verse jump right off the page, stilling my erratic heartbeat. Isaiah 41:10 says “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I’m sure glad that promise is in black and white, especially now, facing the daunting task of writing guest blogs. I don’t know how to do that. What if…

Hey, Isaiah!