Jenna Petersen, author of LESSONS FROM A COURTESAN (coming June ’08) and SOMETHING RECKLESS (writing as Jess Michaels, coming April ’08), shares her “Brave List” with TGTBTU’s readers…Â
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12 Things I Hope I’m Brave Enough To Do in 2008
 12. Dress the Cat More Often. This year I bought our cat outfits. She doesn’t like them, but she sure looks cute. I have scars to prove the first thing. But pictures for the second. So next year I’m going to brave more pain and find more clothing for her. Because it makes me happy.
 11. Live in the Now! Authors have a strange life. We are forever writing books that aren’t coming out for a year and promoting and talking about books that we wrote a year or more ago. This leads me to always be looking back or looking forward in more and more of my ‘normal’ life, too. So this year I vow to be brave enough to live in this day. Whatever this day is.
 10. Get a Hobby. Every time I do an interview, I’m asked about my hobbies. And every time I answer that question I think, “I really need to get some hobbies.” So this year, I’m going to do it. Any suggestions? I can’t do knitting (it hurts my hands), but I’m open to all other suggestions.
 9. Be Exotic. After a year of travel in 2007, I decided that I’m going to be braver in where I go. This one I already have a little work done on. My husband and I are going to be going to China in March 2008! Which will mean I’ve got 3/7 continents down! One of my life goals is now to visit all of them. But while I’m in China, I also want to be exotic. So I hope I’m brave enough to eat what’s put in front of me, walk away from the group and ask questions.
 8. Fail at Cooking. I can cook, don’t get me wrong. I actually can put together a very nice dinner and great cookies and other treats. But I never try anything exotic and I doubt myself while reading recipes. So this year I vow to try new things when I cook. We’ll see if my husband survives it.
 7. Make Time for Me. This one is one we ALL can do. Especially us women. Why shouldn’t we be brave enough to do a little something for ourselves? Whether its take an extra hour of sleep or play hooky from work or take a bubble bath when we could be doing laundry. This year I’m going to do more things that are just about my pleasure. And I’m going to be brave enough not to feel guilty about it.
 6. Become Bendy. In 2007, I started taking pilates. In 2008, I vow to master the side plank. I will do the star pose and hold it. I will be brave enough to fall over in front of twenty people while I’m trying.
 5. Make Time for Everyone Else. You have to remember that writing is a solitary bit of business. There are actually times where I go days without any conversation (especially if my husband is traveling). So it’s become more and more of a brave thing for me to go out and meet new people and maybe do a little something for the world at large. So this year, I pledge to be brave enough to do all those things.
 4. Paint the Bedroom. Just like with cooking, I’m okay at decorating, but I’m so not Martha Stewart. This means for over five years, I have hemmed and hawed and put off doing anything with my bedroom, which is still blank white walls and a really old comforter and sort of…. meh furniture. So this year, I vow to be brave enough to take a risk and claim my space.
 3. Learn to Say No. And Yes. I vow to be brave enough to say I can’t fit something in. To not lock myself in my office and write for 12 hours every day. To say yes to my friends and my loved ones when I want to. And to say no when I can’t.
 2. Mismatch. This year I vow to wear pink cat socks with a green outfit. To wear funky shoes and new jewelry. To play with what I wear and let if reflect my mismatched little soul.
 1. Let Go. This is the hardest one. I want to be brave enough next year to let go of all the negative things. To stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. To stop stressing about the future. To just be.
So what do you want to be brave about next year? Any fears you plan to overcome?
