National Face Your Fears Day
Feel your pulse pounding? Sweat beginning to bead up on your brow? Vision blurring around the edges and a sense of vertigo overcoming you?
People experience these feelings when confronted with everything from job interviews to parachuting to getting in elevators. Or even an evening with in-laws or on first dates.
We humans are prey to strong emotions, whether of joy or anger or fear. And our bodies are wired to kick into fight-or-flight mode when we perceive threats—real and imaginary, actual and potential. According to science all the chemical reactions necessary to produce the aforementioned pulse-pounding and sweat happen in the amygdala, a small, almond-shaped part of the brain that resides in the temporal lobe; there are two of them, one on each side.
The amygdala is responsible for all kinds of key functions besides the fear response. It is also involved in emotional and implicit memory, such as the ability to ride a bike even after many years of not doing it. Also, it allows us to interpret social interactions, reading other peoples’ emotions and intentions. So, lots of useful stuff. And fear itself can be useful, making us leery of people, places, and things that are actually dangerous.
It’s only when our fears get out of control that we resent the amygdala, and say, “Hey! Cut it out!” When fear seems to control parts of our lives that we would rather be more comfortable with, we must take action.
There are ways to counteract some seemingly instinctive and uncontrollable feelings of fear. And this day is dedicated to those who face their fears, oust them from the driver’s seat so to speak, and make them take their proper place in our lives. In ways big and small, these people take heart and embrace courage.
To celebrate National Face Your Fears Day, we offer you The Devil’s Churn, a standalone novel by award-winning author Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
Fifty years after a stormy sea swallowed Spencer Chadwick at the treacherous Devil’s Churn, his old sweetheart, Addy, finds herself face-to-face with a past she hoped to forget. She fled Dory Cove after that fateful day and stayed away until now—until her mother’s death draws her back. And now, in her mother’s yard, she finds young Spence’s lookalike.
Soon, the people of Dory Cove discover the impossible—Spence has returned. But what happened all those years ago, and what brought Spence back, will threaten to uncover long buried secrets. Secrets the people of Dory Cove fear will unleash a horrifying power from the sea—a power that might swallow the entire town before anyone can stop it.
In The Devil’s Churn, bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch creates a terrifying world where the dark depths of the Pacific Ocean unleash a secret evil lurking among the crashing waves.
“...a remarkable amount of plot as well as beguiling characters.”—Publishers Weekly
For writers we have a workshop: Secondary Plot Lines Classic Workshop.
Secondary plot lines are critical in many novels. And not needed in others. Knowing when to add them and how and when to leave them out can be learned.
To learn how to construct secondary plot lines as you write a novel, you must first learn how the interaction of plot lines inside a novel work. That's the first area we will cover in this workshop. Main plots and secondary plots. And how they work together to form a whole.
We offer it to you for 50% off.
· Workshop: Secondary Plot Lines Classic Workshop
· https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com/p/classic-secondary-plot-lines
· 50% Code is: HOLIDAY50OCT
To redeem your workshop discount, go to the link above, hit “purchase,” and enter the code on the next page to apply the discount.
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