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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Fear - For Better? Or Worse?

Sometimes being scared means walking just a little slower.  That's what I did today.  Of course, I didn't have much choice having to carry 40 pounds of dog with snow banks to navigate.

Yes, the burning question - why?

Well it had something to do with the Pitbull that was hot on our heels.  A walk on a quiet snow covered sidewalk was no longer so quiet.   It was like a stealth attack.  All alone on our peaceful walk and then the growling out of nowhere, and the not overly friendly Pitbull on the loose charging us with teeth flashing.


So here was the dilemma, my Irish Terrier is an extremely sociable guy but don't get in his face.  He loves a good fight as well as the next guy.  So with a snarling dog confronting us and my dog only seconds from giving the dog version of "Bring it on" there was only one thing to do.



I picked up my dog, looking ultra tough with his red boots and "You Fetch" t-shirt complete with an overgrown Benjii like look, and faced off the snarler with a snarl I only hoped was louder and and deeper than his.   And then we just started backing up which isn't easy to do on snow clogged streets with forty pounds in your arms.

No I haven't digressed.  Not really.  It's about fear.  Fear of the unexpected, the what if.  Today's incident with the Pitbull didn't give much time to think about what if.  It was just do or someone's going to get hurt. 

My current story is a different matter.   The story was at a standstill.  Was it fear?  And if so fear of what?  Nothing I did seemed right until I realized that one of my character's had to change.  And it was fear but it was the character's not mine.  Yes, they really are real people, at least to me!

Anyway, her fear had the story at a standstill.  It's a fine character that just slides through to the finale on someone else's coattails and one of my characters was doing just that.  Now she hadn't done that originally but a change or two had caused the problem.  It was time for her to face off the growlers and make it through to the end on her own two feet and carry one or two other characters if necessary.  So now things are sailing along.  We're all bite free and the story, well it has a hunk or two removed for the better.  And a heroine who can only say "bring it on."

Any fear in your life today?   And was it for the better?

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
Ring of Desire
From the Dust

4 comments:

campfirestars said...

Great picture of your dog! I can see he's itching to fight! Superb correlations on "afraid"--looking forward to hearing more about this book you're working on. My fears? Secretly buried--like your dog's favourite bone or toy.

Ryshia Kennie said...

Great line Campfirestars - secretly buried...! I'll see if there's room!

Marcia Colette said...

What a pretty doggie. :-D

The biggest fear I've had lately has to do with my YA. It's getting a ton of requests, more than any story I've ever written and more than I ever thought possible. The only problem is nobody is biting all the way through. I'm scared that this book will end up with a small pub. Not that it's a bad thing, but I was so hoping this would be my breakthrough-to-NY project. *sigh*

Ryshia Kennie said...

Marcia - that's great news - Just think - the market seems tighter than it's ever been and you're getting interest . No expert but that's what if feels like to me. Hang in there who knows what might come of one of those requests - obviously it's getting attention now it just needs the right fish - so to speak.

I'm sending good, good vibes your way!!! Besides - you have to get to NY just so I can say I knew you when...