Catherine Austen
Creative Writing
Fearless February
Dave Davidson, the persuasive hero of my soon-to-be-released middle-grade comedy, 28 Tricks for a Fearless Grade 6, will be taking over this blog for the next month. Dave is a self-proclaimed “fear-slayer” who helps his friends through the scariest moments of grade 6, with sage and not-so-sage advice.
Afraid of dancing at the school dance? Dave has tricks to fix that: sprain an ankle, eat expired food to get sick, or get suspended. Have a public speaking phobia? Dave has tricks for that, too: pick up a virus, forge a note from a therapist, or join a punk rock band and lose your voice. Don’t worry, this is comedy: everything works out in the end. When all the dumb and dangerous ideas fail, Dave always arrives at awesome. He just takes the long way there. Because who’s in a rush to face their fears? Seriously.
Dave is the kind of kid who has trouble waiting a whole month for his book to come out. In preparation for its release, I’m calling the next month Fearless February, and I intend to blog about fear all month long. Or maybe Dave will blog for me.
I already wrote several blurbs about phobias when my first children’s book, Walking Backward, was published in 2009. (That book also dealt with phobias. Fear is one of my favourite topics. They say to write what you know, right?). You can read that info (and even take a phobia quiz) on the Phobia Fun Stuff pages of my website. Or you can just wait because I’ll be recycling that old info – what sixth grader wouldn’t? – plus adding new topics, fun facts, fear-slaying suggestions, and silly doodles, to create a giant phobic blogorama throughout the month of February 2014. You’ll be totally ready for the release of 28 Tricks for a Fearless Grade 6 in March.
That’s 28 days of fear – but don’t be scared. Education is the key to freedom, and learning about phobias is the first step toward conquering them.
Here are the phobias I’ll be looking at this February. Dave Davidson helps his friends conquer some of them in 28 Tricks. Sort of. At least he helps them have a lot of fun while trying to conquer them.
If you have faced, fled, or conquered any of these phobias, please leave a comment during Phobic February to tell me all about it. At the end of the month, I’ll randomly draw a name from the month’s comments and send the winner a copy of 28 Tricks. So don’t be scared to leave a comment. Here’s what we’re facing:
- Fear of Dogs
- Fear of Speaking in Public
- Fear of Cats
- Fear of the Dark
- Fear of Vomiting
- Fear of Being Alone
- Fear of Blood
- Fear of Horses
- Fear of Confined Spaces
- Fear of Spiders
- Fear of Germs
- Fear of Squirrels
- Fear of Storms
- Fear of Water
- Fear of Bees
- Fear of Sharp Objects
- Fear of Snakes
- Fear of Heights
- Fear of Clocks
- Fear of Open Spaces
- Fear of Sharks
- Fear of Going to Bed
- Fear of Trees
- Fear of Dolls
- Fear of Dentists
- Fear of Bears
- Fear of Colours
- Fear of Dancing
Scary stuff. (Except that last one, which is only scary if you’re in grade 6 and there’s a dance coming up and your mom is making you go.)
Check out Fearless February any or every day of the month, starting tomorrow. Learn a little, laugh a little, leave a little comment, and your name will be entered in a random draw to win a copy of this new release in March.
See you soon!
4 Comments on “Fearless February”
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Catherine Austen writes books for kids and teens, short stories for adults, and reports for corporate clients. She lives in Gatineau, Quebec.
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Catherine Austen 
Eek, spiders and bees! So much harder to avoid than dentists!
As for my fear of public speaking (or public performance at all, really), that’s just one of those things I learned early to shove in a corner while I do what needs doing. Most people probably wouldn’t even be able to tell how Inner Me is wailing in terror. X)
Me too – I’ll be blushing and sweating on the inside but I appear cool and calm. (With public speaking, I mean. There’s no show of calm around June bugs.)
Spiders, bees, rodents and June bugs…no problem. Snakes, on the other hand, something about the way they move (gaaa shiver)…and now I hear they are aerodynamic too: http://goo.gl/xoxGiu. Greaaat. Oh and I’m not keen on alligators or Komodo Dragons either.
I kind of admire alligators from a distance, and I like snakes even close up, especially the way they move. (Not so much the way they eat.) But those Komodo Dragons are creepy as hell, yeah. I totally get you on that one.
I don’t know why I’m afraid of June bugs – I am trying to conquer that fear, one summer at a time. (But the way they hit the window screen and keep flying into it, over and over. Jeez, that’s creepy.) I guess we all have our own shivers. (Snakes and bugs? Of course we’re scared of them. It’s those people afraid of squirrels who really need therapy.)