Saturday, February 28, 2015

Parasail Your Author Fears Away


As a writer, do some things look thrilling but scary to you?  Perhaps you are contemplating putting your idea for a book out there to publishers and literary agents, but the fear of rejection is overwhelming the potential reward of being published.  Maybe you are considering plunging into self-publishing, but your concern that it could flop supersedes the potential payoff of a book that gets embraced by readers.  Think of engaging in a book marketing or book publicity campaign, but the fright of spending time and money overcomes the possible benefits such an activity could deliver?

In life there are many times where we get understandably scared of something that looks like fun but then find a way to forge ahead so we can realize the enjoyment of  having done it.  And yet, many times we do get derailed and hold back.  We end up not taking that extra step to transition from point A to B.

Why do we fall short of the finish line of our quest?
·       We let the negative potential takeover the positive.
·       We only worry of “not accomplishing” instead of obsessing over how it’ll feel “to accomplish” it.
·       Whispers from those who failed to go where you want to go creep in and become the only sound you hear.
·       You start to diminish what you’re trying to do and downplay it to the point you render it meaningless.
·       You forget that you’ve overcome greater obstacles in the past.

My son knows about overcoming fear in the pursuit of a goal.

While on vacation in Key West this winter, my 10-year-old son looked around and with an adventurous spirit too big to fail – or see danger – he wanted to do everything that he saw a sign for – scooters, skydiving, motorboat, jet ski.  And as soon as he’d cross something off his list, like snorkeling, he was ready for the next thing, not fully grasping that he just did something for the first time in his life.  Next up: parasailing.

I was 31 when I first parasailed along the coast of a Ft. Lauderdale beach.  I hadn’t done it since, though it was a lot of fun.  Now my son was asking to go and I was happy to join him for his debut in the air.  All excited to go, he started to get nervous once on the boat.

He looked at the parachute and remarked: “It looks like it’s made out of a garbage bag.”  I concurred.

When the two teenage girls went first, he got antsy and said “This is crazy.”

As he put on the harness he asked if I was scared and I said “Yes, but it looks like fun.  We’ll be fine.”

We all need a dad to tell us whatever we are pursuing is worth doing, that we can do it despite the potential downside.  We all need to pursue our parasail.

When it was our turn we listened to the boat captains' instructions, which were pretty simple: “Hold on!”

We are seated on a harness that clamps on to something that holds us to the garbage bag-like parachute.  The boat picks up some speed and a bungee-looking cord attached to a machine on the boat starts to let some slack go and suddenly we are lifting up into the air, the way I imagine one has an out-of-body experience.

We kept rising until maybe 25-30 feet and then there was a pause.  They wanted us to wave to the camera that was held and pointed by one of the workers.  They of course easily sold us a $40 DVD of photos and video to capture the moment.  My son and I were too frightened to let go to wave.

We quickly, but seemingly gently, scaled higher, eventually climbing at least a few hundred feet into the air.  It seemed peaceful and quiet.  It was nice we had each other, not only to comfort one another, but to share in such an exhilarating moment.

As things below us seemed smaller, the immensity of the ocean and sky grew.  We had a true birds-eye view o the world.  I took a second to pause with full awareness that I was somewhere extraordinary.  It was worth the risk and the feel of fear.

DON’T MISS: ALL NEW RESOURCE OF THE YEAR

2015 Book PR & Marketing Toolkit: All New



Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.