Risk and Recovery, Part 4

Last week, we talked about how to figure out what would be satisfying to you, in terms of results from a risk you’re considering. What would make you feel it was worth it? And how to determine this ahead of time to ease your anxiety.

This final post in the series is about preparing for risk. Once you know your risk preferences and tendencies, set up support for vulnerable areas, and decide what would really make you happy, you can take active steps to prepare for the risk.

This is my favorite—and most used—of the four tools. It’s helped me say yes to opportunities I was terrified to take on, as a writer, even though I had a strong nudge that I’d gain so much. My fear was often louder but this last tool gave me a way to address the fears ahead of time, settle myself down, and get an easy ride through to the other side. And I was terrifically happy whenever I did.

Just to recap, here are the four tools for risk recovery that have been in my back pocket as a writer and we’ve reviewed these past four weeks. You don’t need to use them all—and you may already be using your own version of one or more of them. But if they are new to you, or you are often disappointed in your ability to say yes to writing opportunities, then try one or all of these out.

1. rating the risk—external or internal—and building agility between the two (December 5 post)

2. knowing where the risk will hit your life hardest if things go south (December 12 post)

3. figuring out what would satisfy you (at minimum) and adjusting for it (December 19 post)

4. preparing for the risk in an appropriate way (today’s post)

Long ago, I sang harmony in a small band. I’m not a professional singer; I love to sing and I have a good ear. But before each performance I was often a wreck, usually secretly.

I have zero fear of public speaking. I can teach in front of a 800-person crowd. My speaking voice is dependable. But my singing voice is not. When I get nervous, which I often do when singing in front of people, my breath is seriously affected. If I don’t have good breath to support the sound, I can easily go off key.

I was terrified of letting down my fellow musicians. This was an external risk that I was definitely not comfortable with.

The part of me that felt most vulnerable was my physical body—my breathing. But also I was ashamed of being a bad singer and ruining the show for everyone else. So I needed to support both these areas, big time.

I decided to talk with one of the other band members and she understood! In fact, she also had had similar breathing issues because of nervousness. She shared a small book that helped her ability to prepare and lower anxiety—and the attendant risk. The Performer Prepares by Robert Caldwell shares simple, common-sense tips for feeling more secure about stepping into risk. Caldwell suggests steps: visiting the venue ahead of time (driving the route, standing on the stage, feeling the space).

The next gig, I used his ideas. I visited the stage, walked on it, looked out into the row of seats, imagined people there. I practiced in front of a mic at home. I found a voice teacher to help me work on my breathing.

The next performance went so smoothly. I really believe it was the support I gave myself ahead of time. Recovery was smooth too.

Taking preparation into my writing life

As a working writer, I’m often facing risks that make me as nervous as I was singing onstage. After the success I felt from preparing for my singing gig, I began using the same steps to prepare for risks in my writing life.

1. When I was asked to teach a workshop at a conference in Boston, I used the months ahead of time to scope out the route, figure out where to park, how much walking was needed, ask where I could stash my stuff onsite. I ended up having a much easier time and the workshop was very successful.

2. When I got an offer of representation from a new agent, I asked her for the names and contact info of three clients I could talk with about what it was like to work with her. I ended up signing with her.

3. When I wanted to submit stories to different lit mags, I contacted a former instructor who had published many short stories and hired her for a couple of months to help me research and choose. She read my stories and suggested a great list of pubs for me to send to. I ended up getting eight stories accepted.

4. When my last two books were published, I wanted to get on podcasts. But the risk of research and the effort of promoting myself in this new arena was too much. So I hired a podcast marketing team to get me booked. I ended up being a guest on 38 podcasts in the next eighteen months, enjoyed the process a lot, and felt my small outlay for the team was so worth it.

What will satisfy you?

Last week, we talked about satisfaction and how success with risk can be easier if you ask yourself what minimum would make you feel good about taking a leap. I’ll repeat my four minimums for my ventures above.

• For the workshop, my minimum was to feel good in my skin, feel unstressed about arrival and the basic steps of being at the conference.

• For the agent, my minimum was feeling comfortable with how she worked with clients, if she was someone whose ethics were aligned with my own.

• For the stories, my minimum was to not go into it blind. I didn’t weigh the acceptance as important as the learning.

• For the podcasts, it was learning again—I wanted to feel comfortable with this completely unknown venue.

We can’t avoid risk in our creative lives if we’re going to grow. It’s up to us to learn how to approach risk with self-awareness, support, realistic desires for the outcome, and preparation for the most vulnerable parts of ourselves.

When we have all this in place, we can keep risking—and enjoy the writing life so much more.

Your Weekly Writing Exercise

Each time I approach a risk, something that feels like a stretch out of my comfort zone, I use these four steps above.

This week, choose one to test out for yourself.

1. rating the risk—external or internal—and building agility between the two

2. knowing where the risk will hit your life hardest if things go south

3. figuring out what would satisfy you (at minimum) and adjusting for it

4. preparing for the risk in an appropriate way

Maybe you already know and use a version of one of these. Try another step that you haven’t experienced yet and share what you learn.

Photo by Linh Quach on Unsplash