I think that might be where the courage is for me right now. It has nothing to do with writing consistently or pushing through or hitting goals or deadlines. It's just about accepting as best as I can reality for what it is rather than fighting it. And maybe sometimes just staying upright in the middle of uncertainty is the bravest thing anyone can do. Welcome to the Write It Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacey Fraser, a formally repressed creative soul, turned fiction writer, story editor, and author accelerator certified fiction book coach. At Write It Scared, we tell the truth about why writing a novel is so hard by acknowledging that most writers grapple with two stories. The one they want to put on the page to the best of their ability, and the often subconscious internal story that prevents them from doing it. This show is designed to help you identify and rewrite the internal narrative holding you back while you discover and write the story you want to tell and learn all the tools to help you do that successfully. Join me each week for a new episode where we'll talk about writing to deepen our understanding of the craft and of ourselves as writers. Writing a novel is an inside job that we do not do alone. Welcome to Red It Scared. I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in. Hey writer, welcome back to the Red It Scared Podcast. I'm your host, Stacey, and welcome to the final episode of season three. Today's gonna be a little bit different. This episode is part season wrap-up, part thank you, part writing update from me, and a look at what's coming next for the podcast. But mostly it's just an honest conversation, writer to writer from me to you. But first, let me say thank you. Thank you for tuning in, for sharing the podcast, leaving reviews, sending me messages, and for allowing me to be a small part of your writing journey. And a huge thank you to all of the guests who came on the show this season. We had 41 episodes in total for season three. Yes, that's right. 41. Because we didn't take a break for the winter holidays. And by the way, I'm never gonna do that again. Now, 27 of those episodes were conversations with writers and publishing industry experts who showed up so generously and shared their process, struggles, successes, and the lessons they've learned along the way so that the rest of us could benefit from their experience. And we covered a whole hell of a lot of ground, from literary agents giving us an inside look at querying to romance authors talking about writing intimacy on the page, to conversations about horror, mystery, romantic comedy, revision, resilience, mindset, self-publishing, and just in general learning to trust the creative process. But what all those conversations had in common was honesty. Again and again, writers showed up willing to talk about the messy reality of creating stories, pursuing publication, navigating self-doubt, and continuing forward when the path wasn't always clear. It was a wonderful season, and I'm incredibly grateful to every guest who said yes. And that honesty feels like a fitting place to share my own writing update for the quarter, even though the quarter's, well, it's almost over. Because the update's not very pretty. The first week of May, I finished revising my YA Suspense novel. It needs some line level work and a polished pass before I can think about querying it. And now here we are, at the end of June, almost July, and I haven't touched it. And I haven't touched the romance manuscript waiting for revision either, nor have I worked on any of the other story ideas that I had in mind. I haven't even been able to journal. Some of you may know this if you read my newsletter, but my dad, who is my favorite human in the whole world, has received a terminal diagnosis and is going through some complicated, palliative medical treatments, and it has completely rocked my world. And I know that some of you listening are probably dealing with your own difficult season of life, be it an illness, or maybe you're a caregiver, or you're struggling with grief or burnout or loss or financial stress or any of the number of hard things that life throws at us. For me, this season has raised questions that I do not have answers to. Questions like, how do you write when you feel numb? How do you make decisions about permanent things from inside a temporary emotional storm? And as much as I wish I could wrap this episode up into a neat lesson or framework, there's no fucking way. I can't. I have no pep talks to give on how to get through anticipatory Greek. I don't have a strategy for how to write through it. I don't have five easy steps to reconnect with my creativity right now. In fact, for the first time in a long time, I don't know what's next for me as a writer. Not because my ideas are gone or because I've decided to quit, because I certainly haven't, but I just don't know how to access that part of myself that normally wants to chase those ideas. And it makes me wrestle with questions about my work. I don't know if I'll have the suspense novel ready to query this fall. I don't know what my next project will be. I don't know if I still want to write YA. I don't know whether what I'm experiencing is temporary or part of a larger shift. But all of it is completely uncomfortable, frustrating, and just scary. But I'd rather be honest about where I am than pretend that everything is fine and sign off for the summer on a high note that is in no way authentic. Life is just hard sometimes. And pretending that my writing isn't affected by what's happening in my personal life doesn't do me or anyone else any favors. Like I said, I don't have any answers. All I know is that I'm in a season where I can't access creativity the way I used to. And life is just making me take things moment by moment, day by day, right now. And that just has to be enough. Now, my hope is that by this fall, I'll have a little more clarity and a little more creative energy, but honestly, I don't know what's going to happen. What I do know is that I'll keep doing what this season of life requires of me. And I think that might be where the courage is for me right now. It has nothing to do with writing consistently or pushing through or hitting goals or deadlines. It's just about accepting as best as I can reality for what it is rather than fighting it. And maybe sometimes just staying upright in the middle of uncertainty is the bravest thing anyone can do. Now, as for what's coming on the podcast, I am planning season four, but I'm not going to be doing any new episodes over the summer. We're going to pause. But I have decided that over the next couple months, I'm going to reach into the vault and share some of the most popular solo episodes from seasons one and two, which are on craft mindset and just navigating the challenges that come with writing a novel. So this is our big update. Now, I do want to leave us on a positive note because I don't want to be a total downer. So I want to remind you about the Courage Files and give you a sneak peek. The Courage Files is a new segment that I plan to introduce on season four of the podcast. And it is all about sharing listener moments of writing courage. Because when we hear what other writers have faced and how they kept going, something inside of us shifts and we feel less alone, we feel more capable, more willing to try. And most of us, including myself, are not so great at celebrating our efforts. And that needs to stop. We need to give ourselves credit, not for just the big stuff, but for all the tiny steps that move us forward. Because without those tiny steps, we really don't have anything. So when you reflect on your own writing life and times where you did something that required some courage, you might think it's too small of a moment to matter. But it actually might be the exact moment that you need to celebrate, and maybe the exact moment that someone else needs to hear in order to keep going. So far, I've received about a dozen submissions, a dozen writers who are acknowledging their courage, they're celebrating their progress that might otherwise go unnoticed. And it makes me so ridiculously happy because it demonstrates that courage isn't dramatic. It doesn't have to be, right? Sometimes it's really quiet. Sometimes it's just showing up to finish a chapter. Sometimes it's returning to a manuscript after you've been away for a long time. Sometimes it's sharing your work. Sometimes it's just admitting you're scared and writing it anyway. Sometimes it's admitting that you can't write right now. And all those writers who submitted are now entered to win a free editorial assessment and book coaching session with me in the fall. And I'm gonna announce the winner of the summer submissions at the start of season four. And then we'll have another winner. Uh well, I'll announce it at the end of season four. And here is your sneak peek. So this is a courage file submission that came in from a writer named Rachel. And um I hope you love it as much as I did. Rachel writes, I realized that fear did not have to hold me back. I could write anyway. I could acknowledge my fear, my imposter syndrome, my lack of skill and craft, and put it all to the side and write. Two years ago, I decided to make my lifelong writing dream a reality. I had no idea where to begin. I had stories in my head, but no idea how to write a novel. It felt so daunting. Somehow I got pulled into a few podcasts, which then pulled me into a few online writing summits. I remember Write It Scared being part of one of the earlier summits I went to. Even the name gave me courage. Write even if you're scared. Other helpful tips were on fighting procrastination and turning your critique brain off. Now it's been almost two years of writing, and I'm working on my second draft of my novel. So cool. Congratulations, Rachel. This is exactly what I mean when I talk about courage. It's not a book deal, it's not publishing, it's not perfection. It's just someone who decided that fear doesn't get to make the decisions anymore. And I'm so thrilled that the podcast has been a part of that journey. So if you're thinking about submitting, you still have all summer to do it before the drawing. And you can go to the link in the show notes, or you can go to writeitscared.co forward slash courage hyphen files. And I really hope you do. So before I say goodbye, just one more time, I want to say thank you for listening and sharing the podcast. Thank you for allowing me to show up in your earbuds week after week. Earlier I asked, how do you write when you feel numb? I still don't know. Maybe the answer is that you don't until you finally do. Maybe the bravest thing isn't forcing words on the page. Maybe it's just putting the pen down for a while and trusting that you'll find your way back to it when it's time. I know that's what I'm trying to do. I hope you're well. I hope that this summer you dream and you write your stories. But if you can't, for whatever reason, I also hope you know that you're not alone. It's okay to pause. It's okay to rest. It's okay to put the pin down. And I believe that we will both find our way back there when it's time. Thanks for being here. I'll see you in season four. Thank you for listening to the Write It Scared podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please make sure to hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. And please leave a review. Reviews help other writers like you find the voices and messages they need to hear to continue to write their stories. Let's lift each other up. Remember, you can be scared and still be unstoppable. I'll see you next week.