Fear and preventing our kids from being terrorized by it.

Yesterday my son's principal sent home a letter explaining the drills they have been teaching the kids. This is preschool, mind you. They are showing the kids what to do when there is a lockout. The principal wanted us to talk to the kids and make sure they understood what was going on, etc... since they would be practicing the drills over the next couple weeks.

So I asked my son, who is 5, about the lockdown drills. He said, "We lock the door and go in the corner and be quiet so people can't see us from the window on the door. They'll think we went outside."

He said it with such nonchalance. It completely broke my heart to see him talking about something like this with such ease. But I guess I should be happy. He is learning to do these things without fear. He probably doesn't understand the reasoning for why they need to do it. They just need to do it. He doesn't seem anxious or scared. I guess that should give me some comfort. If there ever comes a time when he will need to do this, he will know what to do and will do it. I can't say he won't be scared, but he'll be prepared.

I'm sad that our children need to know these types of things. But it also reminds me of the stories my dad used to tell us. When he was a kid they'd had air raid drills. He'd had to get under his desk. So even  though 50+ years have passed, and even though the world has changed drastically, we're still having to prepare our children for the worst.

I try not to live my life in fear. I want my children to grow up without worry. I want them to live as normal a life they can. Be happy. Reach for their dreams. But I also try to teach them to be cautious. Be prepared.

Face your fears!

I so wanted to do this post as a vlog...but I have no make up on, and no real desire to go do it right about now. I am all snug in my electric blanket! :)

So anyway, yeah...a VLOG! I've wanted to do one for some time, but there was always that fear of the video camera thing. I've never been good talking to a camera. I've only had to do it a few times in my life, and it was always a monotoned mess. I'm sure it looked completely hilarious...but so not the goal.

But then a month ago I signed up to do Pitch Live....which was a pitching event hosted by Brenda Drake. (If you don't know who she is, go to her page NOW! She is so so awesome!!) So she organized this event where you had to record your elevator pitch in 2 minutes or less...post it on youtube and your blog, and the judges picked their favs to move on the the agent round. Yeah...pretty damn nerve-wracking. Only 49 people signed up, and only 38 actually posted videos.

And I was one of them!

So many times after I signed up I thought of chickening out. But I told myself- "This might be your big chance! Don't let it slip away because of fear!"

I did it. I made my corny little video and posted it for the world to see. And it was pretty damn liberating. I faced a fear and did a pretty darn good job. I even made it to the agent round! That was the end for me, no requests, but I took away something almost as good. I conquered a fear. And now I feel like I can do it again...do it better....do other things that are similar.

My advice today is to face your fears...no matter what they are...and just do it. Life is far too short to live in fear.

Read something yesterday that disturbed me....

I was checking out the Romance Writers of America website. Now that I have realized what I write is indeed romance...I need to learn and research as much as I can. I took a trip to the library yesterday and brought home four romance novels. I need to see what's out there and see where my writing fits, if it does fit at all.

So anyway, I was on the RWA site and clicked on a link that took me to a page for local chapters. I found there is one in western NY. So I clicked on it and each writer introduces themselves and says a little about what they do, where they are in the quest for publication, etc... One women's bio shocked me and gave me a reality check. No, reality crushed me like a monster truck barreling over a Geo Metro. The women said she found RWA in 1989 and immediately joined....she still is not published. This is 2009......she's been on this quest for 20 years!!!!!!

I can't help but fear that will be me. I'll be 40, 50, 60 years old and wonder what the hell happened. I hate the thought of being 80 and having regrets...I try my best to live my life that way. But what if I never find the career success I want??