I have never feared. Not when it mattered, at any rate.

Almost ten years ago, I read Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and Dune by Frank Herbert. While the former did not wholly impress me as it has so many millions of others, the latter buried itself deep and has never fully let me go. Frank Herbert was, in fact, his very own Paul; while he wrote Dune he was in a waking dream and he invited readers into a world of religious anxiety, interplanetary politics, ecological worry, and an adventure story that had never been achieved before. Dune was a literary masterpiece whose pages mimicked our own world. The book contains wisdom and warnings on every page, but one of the best known passages of the book holds a great lesson for all:

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

I do not need to explain it. Frank Herbert has already done it so well.

Have I ever feared? Sure. I would be the most open liar if I said otherwise. I have had great fear come over me in a rush of adrenaline. I think most people have. The car accident barely avoided. The diagnosis that is uncertain. The news one never wants to get. Fear swirls around us every day in many different forms, and although people deal with it in their own ways it can always be dealt with and fear's dominance ended.

But when it comes to the craft of writing, I have observed most writers succumb to fear as if it is a sado-masochistic mistress one cannot deny. It is indomitable and absolute. It envelops like a death shroud, paralyzing the writer as though already in their coffin.

I have to say, out of all the fears that can overcome a human being, fear of the writing craft should not be one of them. I see it every day. These writers—especially new writers—have fear varying from how to share material with others to incorporating another person's criticisms and looking at them objectively. We are all readers and know what the craft's final version looks like, but do most new writers accept other people's criticisms? Do new writers even let other people look at their work? It is one of the most difficult—and fearful—things to do to put one's work out into the public domain for others to read. Why? If a writer is criticized, they fear. If a writer fears, do they do their best work? Do they learn? Do they grow into a better writer by succumbing to the fear? No.

People ask me now all the time how I was able to write an entire novel. I tell most of them I did not fear the craft and took it by its burly horns and taught it some tricks. I researched. I read books. I spent hours and hours and hours working on it. In the process, I learned more than I did at the University. In the process, I became a writer, one who does not fear criticism from others but embraces it for the lessons it can teach. Fear did not control me. Fear should not control you.

If Frank Herbert were here to give advice about the craft, I bet he'd tell us all to not let fear mind-kill our craft and dreams.