Son of Fear of Writing
the sequel
Hm, where do I start?
Since contributors may be wondering why the sequel hasn't been published yet, I'd like to explain.
Or jump straight to : "Page Contents"
Son of Fear of Writing started in 2001 when I began collecting material for the sequel from workshop attendees and writing circle regulars. In an off-the-cuff moment, Tori Yarbrough, a workshop participant in Fort Collins, Colorado, coined the title for the book.
In February, 2002, my husband bought me a ticket to Australia and I was lucky enough to do a writing retreat at Varuna Writers' Centre, where I put together a working manuscript. But I'd been having health problems, always accompanied by burn out, and by the summer of that year I was out of commission.
It took me until Spring 2005 to finally pinpoint the deep-seated problem: a condition called sensory defensiveness. Finally, I could seek some treatment that really worked.
During those intervening years, I looked for ways I could continue without constantly burning myself out. I toyed with the idea of self-publishing the sequel as an e-book. In fact, two e-books, as I was amassing so much material.
So that explains the funny e-book covers
above. You can find out where the dogs on all three Fear of Writing book covers came from in the section, The Story Behind the Book Covers. Photos included.
Meanwhile, now that I'm thriving again, I've decided to wait to finish the sequel until after I've made some of my other Fear of Writing dreams come true.
-Milli Thornton
Page Contents
Meet Some of the Sequel Contributors
The Story Behind the FoW Book Covers
Meet the Dog Family
Submission Guidelines
The sequel, Son of Fear of Writing, is still in progress and it's not too late to submit. Please look through all of the categories below. The two at the end are relevant to everyone who submits.
All short stories submitted for the sequel MUST BE BASED on one of the Fertile Material writing prompts from Milli's book, Fear of Writing.
FERTILE MATERIAL STORIES Milli asks writers to submit their Fertile Material stories raw, in order to show the power of the imagination when we write without fear of editing. Also, your Fertile Material submission does not have to be a complete story. Vignettes or unfinished stories are acceptable. This removes the pressure of having to come up with an ending, which can sometimes be enough to squelch the desire to get something written (an important feature of the Fertile Material that will be demonstrated many times in the book).
SEVEN LAWS AND SUBLIMINALS Participants of the Fear of Writing Clinic from 2001 to April 2005 took home a manila folder containing writing exercises on colored paper. You're welcome to submit anything you wrote on these colored sheets during the workshop. From May 2005 onwards, workshop participants did these exercises in the student workbook.
FEAR OF CRITICISM Participants of the Fear of Writing Clinic do this writing exercise and Milli has collected several for the sequel. She encourages further submissions of the Fear of Criticism piece.
BIO With each story Milli is including a biographical sketch of the contributing writer. You don't have to write a formal bio (in fact, she asks you not to). Simply pour out some "stuff" about yourself—such as a very brief background on your life, how and when you started writing, and what you're working on now writing-wise. Just put it all down higgledy-piggledy and she'll pull it together in ways that best suit the book. If you want, you can also submit your photo to be used on the Website.
HOW TO SUBMIT Please submit by email, as a Word document in an email ATTACHMENT:
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Meet Some of the Sequel Contributors
Sharon Forrest
Sharon, who lives in New Jersey, has contributed two pieces: a non-fiction account entitled “Elective Prejudice” and a short story based on the Fertile Material prompt known as “Only Humanoid.”
D'Arcy Mayo
D'Arcy, an Australian writer, has submitted a story for the sequel based on the Fertile Material prompt entitled “Butcher of the Language.”
Jenn Martin
Jenn, who lives on the Hawai'ian island of O'ahu, contributed a piece about her fear of writing called “This Page.”
Daniel Ingroff
Daniel submitted a number of his stories and poems written at the Taos Fertile Material Writing Circle, including “A Thumbnail, Far-Fetched Sketch” and “Sax Fourth Avenue.”
Santa Fe Fertile Material Writing Circle
Writers named from this photo have contributed stories and poems written at the weekly writing circles. From left: Penelope Stowell, Robbie Lipworth, Colleen Welch, Jayni Therkildsen, Milli Thornton, Terry Wilson, Jim Meyer, Fred Mitchem.
Lainie Dulaney
Lainie, regular member of the Bulverde/Canyon Lake Fertile Material Writing Circle (aka The Chicklettes) submitted a story called “Beauty Secrets” based on a Fertile Material prompt invented by several members of The Chicklettes—which they've dubbed “à la Natural.”
Rosalie Ham
Australian Rosalie Ham, author of The Dressmaker, contributed a non-fiction piece entitled “Voice.”
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The Story Behind the Fear of Writing Book Covers
The arsonist dog on the cover of Fear of Writing: for writers & closet writers is the sneaky brainchild of Taos artist, Steve Andrus. I say sneaky because Steve and I agreed that the cover should be unisex, which is why we chose an animal.
Steve, as you can see here, is a dog person. He claimed he was at his most comfortable
painting a dog. I'm a cat person myself, but I figured if he didn't like cats he might paint something unflattering—so I gave him the green light on the dog idea. Steve at first wanted to paint a dog blasting a hole in its monitor with a shotgun. But, being a pacifist, I said NO GUNS!
So he toned
it down to arson and gave the dog a bow tie. When confronted about the bow tie, Steve admitted proudly:"Yes, this is a male dog." He believes that men are the underdogs (pun intended) and when he saw the opportunity to avenge his fellow mutt in public, he grabbed it with both paws.
The original image was a watercolor. Book design by the author.
See larger images of the front and back cover
Enter Jennifer Turner. Many of you have known Jenny as my chat host, course presenter and e-zine editor. Jenny has been a professional colleague with high standards. She's also my friend (though we live thousands of miles apart) and we've shared much laughter and cyber-chocolate.
For Christmas 2001, Jenny surprised me with a hand-crafted Fear of Writing dog collection—a father with his son and daughter. The father wears
a Santa suit, the son wears a beanie and matching scarf, and the daughter is dressed in a gold-star-embossed white tutu, feathery wings, and halo (complete with tiny sprig of mistletoe).
The title Son of Fear of Writing was coined during the May 2001 Fear of Writing Clinic in Fort Collins, Colorado, by workshop participant Tori Yarbrough. Many people have since asked: "But what about the daughter?"
Ah! What could be more perfect than to put the father with both kids on the cover of the companion sequel and name it Fear of Writing: The Family Album. Sorry to all you Politically Correct folk, but "Daughter of Fear of Writing" just doesn't have the right ring to it.
What you don't see on either of the covers is the father dog's (ahem) intimate little secret. Under that chaste red Santa coat, right above the tail, it reads:
"Oh! My purity! Dog Peeper!"
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