Life in progress


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JusJoJan25 the 9th – Shy?

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “shy,” comes to us courtesy of Di. Check out her blog here!

I don’t think I’ve been shy since I was a child. I do remember being shy, but at some point I must have figured out that if I didn’t stand up for myself, I wasn’t going to get what I wanted.

Figure skating helped a fair bit too—yes, I was terrified to get out there on the ice and skate in front of people when I was doing a test, a competition, or a show, but I had no choice. I got over it.

Still don’t ask me to speak in public. My mouth won’t work properly.

So now, I’m quite vocal when I’m advocating for my kids. I hate conflict, but I’m not shy if it’s important.

But advocating for myself when it comes to selling my books?

Ugh.

I don’t know if it’s shyness as much as it is imposter syndrome or just not wanting to put anyone out, but yeah. After eight years of publishing, I still have a problem with it.

Unless I have a free book on offer.

(See how I slipped that in there?)

This rambling post is part of Just Jot it January. Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Di for the prompt!


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A Strange Experience

I don’t want to call it an out-of-body experience because I didn’t feel like I’d floated out of myself, nor was I looking at myself from a distance. What happened was, I was sitting in the small audience of fifty people at the writer’s Masterclass last weekend, and had finally gathered the courage to ask a question. I was shaking in my boots. (Not literally: I was a bit nervous and I was wearing running shoes.) About half way through my question, I noticed I could hear myself as other people might. I actually remember thinking to myself as I spoke that I could hear my voice, and I had time to wonder in amazement that I didn’t stutter or screw up what I was saying as I was saying it. It was kind of surreal. Like mentally multitasking.

Has this happened to you? If so, what were the circumstances?