Today I’m admitting to something I rarely talk about beyond the circle of family and close friends. And I’m stepping way out of my comfort zone by discussing it in a guest post on Jenn Hubbard’s blogs.
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As gatherings go, the Surrey International Writers’ Conference is a big one for me. It’s my favourite weekend of the year but it’s also my biggest challenge.
Approximately 600 people fill the ballroom for keynote addresses and calorie-laden meals, crowd into conference rooms for their choice of seventy-two workshops given by fifty-eight writing professions, and cram into elevators to get between the two.
It’s exhilarating, rejuvenating, motivating… and terrifying! Why? Because I’m claustrophobic. Oh, not wildly so, but moderately, and the challenge is to keep myself under control so I can absorb all the benefits of the annual October weekend.
Many writers claim to be introverts, so I’m not alone in my reluctance to mix, mingle and schmooze with strangers. A lot of us would prefer to hunker down and write in solitude….
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If you’re a fellow introvert, or deal with any degree of claustrophobia, anxiety or panic attacks, click on over to one of Jenn’s two blogs to read the rest of my story and some of the tactics I employ to cope:
Writer Jenn at Live Journal, or
Jennifer R. Hubbard at Blogspot
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MUSINGS 
When friend-husband and I flew to Washington DC this summer, I received the best compliment ever. I do NOT like planes nor enclosed spaces. So as the flight attendant was making her last pass down the aisle before take-off, I answered her query of “Comfortable?” with “Would now be the time to tell you I’m severely claustrophobic?” She looked startled for a moment and then laughed. “Oh, you are not!”
She had no idea how long I had been steeling myself for the trip nor how hard I have to talk to myself to tolerate flight conditions. Success! It can be done.
Sometimes it can be done. There are times when I’m caught off guard, but it helps to know the triggers, doesn’t it? And each success strengthens us for the next challenge.