INSECURITIES, WHATEVS: GUEST BLOG

BY MISTY DIETZ

A big thank you to Open Book Society for letting me take the floor today as I peel back the covers on insecurities and how they suck! 🙂

In my debut COME HELL OR HIGH DESIRE, my heroine Sloane Swift is self-conscious about her height. At 5’10”, there aren’t a lot of men she has to look up to. And as far as wearing high heels–out of the question if she has any consideration for the men’s egos… Until she meets the hero of the story, that is. (You were totally expecting that, weren’t you?)

You can bet that I lived vicariously through Sloane’s height because I am what you would call, um…vertically challenged.

This sometimes bothers me: having to stand in the front row for pictures, asking people to get things down off of shelves for me, looking up at people to whom you’re talking, and let’s not even start with the whole “looking for pants” dilemma.

What working on this story reminded me, though, is that most of us have an Achilles heel. A vulnerability that, if triggered, makes us feel insecure. In the story, Sloane recalls a painfully embarrassing episode from high school, and while she understands that she’s no longer that socially awkward, clumsy teenager, she still has trouble disassociating with the deep seated feelings of inadequacy those episodes ingrained in her.

Those feelings are what hold her back–what hold all us us back–in the here and now. So what Sloane had to do was first recognize that. Recognize that those episodes hurt and contributed to the insecurities she still faces today. Once those feelings were brought to light and examined, then she could see how they were holding her back in her everyday life. In other words…how they kept her from true intimacy in a relationship. Zack pushed through those walls she’d built when no one else had ever been able to do so.

But she had to be ready to accept his full court press for the healing to be complete. It was a journey that bonded them fast and forever.

As for me and my stature, I’m still working on that. My man likes that I’m petite, though, so that helps. And I guess when you’re really tall jeans can be a bitch to find, too, so I guess I should just bloom where I’m planted, right? 😉

What about you? What’s one thing about yourself that you’d love to appreciate more? Any tips on overcoming that nasty voice of inadequacy?

At the end of my blog tour we’ll be drawing the name of two commenters from all of the blogs to gift not one, but two fantastic prize winners. See below for details, and thanks for being here! xo, misty 😉

Grand Prize: I’d Rather Be Reading T-Shirt, A Super Cute Cadet Hat (like the ones in the book), a ballpoint pen, & a $25 Amazon Gift Card

2nd Prize: T-shirt, pen, & Cadet Hat

Sign up at the rafflecopter link below to enter!