Fear of Writing

Have you ever . . .

• longed to write a story but felt you had nothing to write about?
• heard a voice inside your head telling you your writing sucks?
• felt your creative writing was a chore ("I'd rather clean the oven or mow the lawn") instead of fun?
• had your writing painfully critiqued by a well-meaning person and felt the passion go out of your creativity?
• studied lots of books on writing and getting published-but the more you do, the more the fun goes out of it?
• felt haunted by this question: "There are millions of stories and books in the world-who cares if *I* write anything?"

BUT THE PROMISE IS NOT WHAT YOU'D NORMALLY EXPECT

Fear of Writing does not promise to show you how to write a novel, find an agent or get published. The Fear of Writing method is designed to take you back to something more primal: joy in your creativity.

We all secretly wish we hadn't forgotten how to play. We watch kids playing and wonder how we ever got so far from something that real. Fear of Writing DOES PROMISE to show you how to recapture that kind of joy and fun.

This method is active, not passive-and that makes all the difference to you.

Wait. To be more specific, part of it IS passive, because you get to relax and read entertaining and emotionally liberating stuff.

But this won't be a helpful book unless you actually write something yourself. Fear of Writing provides 112 ways for you to quickly, easily and painlessly start writing-and you can also use these 112 ways more than once for different results.

The sky's the limit! Now you can use that enticing new notebook you've been too busy (or too nervous) to crack open.

112 easy ways to start writing-112 ways that can translate into at least a year's worth of material for your creativity. A group in New Mexico used this method on a weekly basis for almost three years and still never exhausted the possibilities.

"We wrote the one about discovering you're still in your pajamas at the office. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Great fun!"

-Donna Brown, Albuquerque, New Mexico

MORE CREATIVE VALUE (AND HELP FOR YOUR FEAR!) IN THE 3RD EDITION

The third edition features lively new tips and help chapters, including The Gremlin That Ate Your Fear of Writing, What to Do If or When Fear Strikes, 10 Tips for Using the Storyteller Writing Prompts, The 4 Stages of Writing, Rocky Balboa's Speech to Writers and more.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING

"The Storyteller writing prompts motivated a creative area in my brain that was lying dormant. One minute I was staring at the title of the exercise-the next thing I know I was shaking the pain out of my hand from writing five pages."

-Marlena Damme, San Antonio, Texas

"The story Worm Medicine, with images I will never forget, made the point real-personal-alive and breathing. Afterwards, I went through and in a few hours fixed the corner I'd painted myself into with my novel. Woohoo!"

-BJ Apostol, Santee, California

"I want you to know that this book was written for me. It's like you can read my mind."

-Margie Wellman, Clarion, Iowa

"I'm still so amazed at how the Fear of Writing method WORKS for me. I can write creatively and leave my stuffy old left brain out of it!"

-Sandy Schairer, Tijeras, New Mexico

"I've studied hundreds of books on writing. This book has proven to be the best investment ever."

-D'Arcy Mayo, Sydney, Australia

Scroll down for more raves from Milli's readers
About the Author: DURING THE SUMMER of 1999 I was telling a friend how blocked I felt in my desire to write. Something I was agonizing over caused her to interrupt. She said: "You're so close to your fear of writing, you'd make a good teacher for others who feel the same."
Being a shy person, a confirmed hermit, her shocking suggestion that I become a teacher put up all my red flags. But a few days later, her uncanny use of the term "fear of writing" popped up out of my subconscious. Suddenly, an entire book--including a new method for overcoming the fear--was burning rubber on its way out of me. I finished the book while I was on a roll and self-published it before I could lose my nerve. The funny thing is, in 2001 I started the Fear of Writing Clinic, the Fear of Writing Online Course and the weekly writing circles as a way to share my unblocking method with others. I became that teacher I could never imagine myself as.
I hope my story will inspire you to follow your own writing dreams, no matter how unreachable they might seem right now. As the Chinese proverb says: A journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step.

MILLI THORNTON is owner of the Fear of Writing Online Course (fearofwritingonlinecourse.com), where her mission is to put the fun back into writing. Milli coaches writers at Writer's Muse Coaching Service (writersmusecoaching.com), and runs the popular 10K Day for Writers monthly event. She blogs at Milliver's Travels and Screenwriting in the Boonies.
Born in the old silver mining town, Wallace, Idaho, she grew up in Great Falls, Montana and then lived in the Land Down Under for 25 years. After sojourns in Texas, Mississippi and Ohio, Milli has returned to live in Taos, New Mexico--and glad to be back! She plans to someday again live and write in the Blue Mountains of Australia.

Got fear of writing? Got a question? Visit Milli at fearofwriting.com or millithornton.com