CONQUERING FEAR by Author Renee Wildes

I am a true April Taurus—earthbound, practical, stubborn and temperamental. My life is ruled by fear. In true “bull” fashion, I tend to meet it head-on. It’s what drives me, not a weakness but a motivator.

I’ve always been a tomboy, preferring horses to boys growing up. I belonged to the Wilderness Challenge Club in high school (Wisconsin Academy in Columbus, WI). Whitewater rafting, caving, rappelling, canoeing. If it meant sunburn, mosquitoes and getting dirty—that was where you’d find me. Very glamorous stuff. Now, I’ve always been afraid of heights. Like—freeze atop a 6-ft ladder scared of heights. We won’t even mention airplanes. Sedatives. LOTS of sedatives…

So, the first time I went rappelling was at Devil’s Lake, from atop Devil’s Rock. Guarded by all manner of…rattlesnakes. Saw two, sunning on the rocks. So there I was on a snake-infested rock atop the world. Beautiful view. Wasted on a sixteen-year-old in a cold sweat. See, the secret to rappelling is to WALK down the rock face. Anyone who’s walked across a floor knows the easiest way to do that is to be perpendicular to the floor surface. So if the floor surface is almost entirely vertical, that means the walker gets to be the one who’s…horizontal. And that translates into standing backward at the edge of a cliff, the true ground several hundred feet below, and LEANING back against a rope-and-nylon-harness-affair into thin air until you’re lying down on NOTHING—and then walk down the wall. 

Sure. Uh huh. (Never said I was a BRIGHT kid. Well, okay, I was. Straight A nerd.) And Mr. Snyder was right there like some hairy bearded cheerleader from Buffy saying stupid things like, “It’s easy. You can do this. Nothing stops you. Just leeeeeean back and walk down.”

But it was my best friend Annette stating “Don’t be such a chicken shit” that got me going. Okay, it took me 20 minutes of whimpering like a toy poodle in a thunderstorm before I leaned back enough to start walking. Reaching the bottom to more Buffy reject cheering felt like conquering Mount Everest.

That’s how I tackle life. I let fear motivate me into moving, defeating, conquering. It can either stop you or get you going. Being a Taurus, stubbornness gets me a long way through life. As a writer I try to let the quality bleed off into my characters. Set them up against a bad situation some would consider impossible, but the character just takes a deep breath, says “Who if not me?” and forges on to start, to try. And so the stories go.

So we go through life observing, learning, challenging, attempting. Sometimes failing, other times triumphing. Always growing and changing. We shape the world around us and the world shapes us. So it is with our characters. They are a product of their world and ever-changing belief system. Old habits die hard. New skills challenging to learn. They are moved by fear—the fear of what will happen if they do NOTHING. And intelligent, resourceful beings that they are, they observe the world around them and learn from it. USE it.

The SIX SENSES class I’m teaching will explore just how characters use their own unique perspectives to do just that. 

BIO:

Fantasy Romance Author Renee Wildes writes the “Guardians of Light” series for Samhain Publishing. She lives in central WI with hubby, 2 teens, a geriatric calico cat, a fluffy black Chowminator, and 2 gray half-Arab mares. She still considers herself a tomboy, although she hasn’t hoofed it down Devil’s Rock in years. Nowadays, writing, reading and scrapbooking occupy her time—when she’s not prying her kids out of a tree or off the roof… Her latest book, Riever’s Heart, came out in paperback on Sept. 8, 2012. God of Fyre Mountain will be out in ebook on Jan. 22, 2013.

 

Website: http://www.reneewildes.net

Blogs: http://reneewildes1.wordpress.com 

            http://www.sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReneeWildes

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReneeWildes1

I hope you will join my class

The Sixth Senses: Ramp Up Description & Anchor

Your Reader In The story

Hosted by

Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal

Romance Writers

This 2 WEEK class starts November 5th

For more information click HERE