potential consequences outweigh the benefits, and they decide not to do the book. And that is fine. In the Guided Author Workshops we run, I have people literally read the major parts of each step out loud, and then either commit or not, out loud in front of the entire group. It works really well as a way to take this out of your head and make it real. I mean it, you really should say your decision out loud. When you say it and hear it, it makes it different. STEP 8: ASK YOURSELF, “WHAT’S THE PLAN TO AVOID THESE CONSEQUENCES?” Now that you have committed to your book, to move past your fear, you need to lay out precisely what the plan is to avoid or minimize the consequences. This is because fears often partly originate from a subconscious reaction to a poor plan, or a lack of a plan (this is also where pro- crastination comes from). For example, if the fear is: “I’m afraid that I’ll write this book and I will look bad, and it will hurt my professional reputation,” it’s highly likely that fear comes from, in part, the fact that you’re not confident in your writing skills and don’t yet have a clear idea of who will help you edit your book. The plan might be as simple as having a professional editor and two colleagues review the manu- script before you decide to publish it, to make sure you look good. You may have to come back and fill in parts of this section later, and that’s okay. For example, if the fear is, “I’m afraid I won’t have time to write the book,” well, right now you don’t have a plan to make time to write the book (we get to that part of the plan later). But don’t worry—by the time you finish this book, you will have a hOW TO BEAT yOUr fEArS (AND fiNiSh yOUr BOOk) · 49