Book Description
For this book, author Diane Conway approached a police officer, a waitress, a politician, a lawyer, a cab driver, and many others, and asked them each the same question: "What would you do if you had no fear?" The results, chronicled in this book, were both surprising and enlightening. Her respondents told her their secrets, their long-hidden dreams, and their fears. Their dreams included quitting mind-numbing jobs, applying to medical school, buying tickets to South America, finding true love, quitting drinking, or having an affair. The distance between dreaming and doing, according to Conway, is surprisingly short. In What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? her fresh voice and "Studs Terkel in drag persona" challenge readers to stop, open their hearts, and truly live. Included are self-tests, quizzes, growth exercises, and inspiring quotes for realizing one's fear-free potential.


From the Author
"What would you do if you had no fear?" is the question I’ve been asking for years, first in my workshops and retreats. When I saw the profound effect it had on people, I started asking people everywhere I went. I had to overcome the fear that people would think that I’m: a) delusional or b) trying to pick them up for kinky sex. The answers stunned and amazed both myself and the people I asked. Women and men opened up, told me stories and dreams they had never revealed before. I could literally see an awakening as they talked about long buried aspirations they had not let themselves entertain. I spoke to ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. Heroes who think they aren’t. I talked to FBI agents and a man who runs a butterfly farm in the Virgin Islands. Others like: • Jan, who went to Paris alone in the winter on her 40th birthday, met the man of her dreams and now lives one block from the Arc de Triomphe. • Eleanor, who escaped from the Nazi death march by rolling in a ditch to save her life. • Don, who spent half his life in San Quentin and now walks across the US relishing freedom and making friends. My prayer is that you join in this journey with me as your slightly neurotic, frequently shaky guide, and that you declare your dreams. The magic happens the moment you do!


About the Author
Diane Conway grew up in South Carolina, the co-dependent state. She was an only child, but "not the favorite," and was always at odds with the world. She got kicked out of kindergarten and things went down hill from there. What saved her was daydreaming during naptime. A little philosopher, Diane would walk along the beach and muse, "Why are we here? What’s the meaning of life? How can I get unlimited coconut cream pie?" Adults told her to stop asking questions and go play with dolls. Today, no one can stop her questions. She’s a "do-over queen" who’s made plenty of mistakes and should have been committed for things she’s been committed to. A die-hard romantic, Diane dated every dysfunction man in America before she found her prince at the age of 35. She would endlessly badger her Higher Power, "Hurry up and get me a man. I’m disgusted with dating!" Upon learning Brian was 12 years younger then she was, it all made sense. It was like the Great Spirit had been looking down all those years saying, "Honey, be patient, he’s growing up as fast as he can. He’s only in the 6th grade!" ` Brian and Diane have been married now for 22 years and live on a funky blue/green houseboat in Sausalito, California with their three dogs. First prize was awarded to their float in the 4th of July parade, where Diane was a mermaid and Brian was tied to a chair, dressed as King Neptune. Conway is a popular inspirational speaker, workshop leader and comedian who lives her dreams while quaking in her boots. She’s appeared on British and American television, in comedy clubs, and plays like Tony N’ Tina’s wedding.


Excerpted from What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? Living Your Dreams While Quakin' in Your Boots by Diane Conway, Anne Lamott. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION: Take the Dare! "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable." ---Helen Keller In some mysterious and profound ways, asking and answering the question "what would you do if you had no fear?" produces a divine flash that sets in motion assistance from out of the blue. I first began asking this question to participants in my workshops and retreats. Many found themselves naming their dreams and desires for the first time—and the results stunned them. No sooner had they spoken their heart’s desire out loud than serendipitous meetings and incidents began to spring up in their life. Some people applied to medical school, others quit soul-numbing jobs, and still others took trips they’d dreamed of for years. A fireman called with the jubilant news that he was taking flying-trapeze lessons. An interior designer fulfilled her life long dream and moved to Rome. The feedback to this simple question stuns and surprises people. A circuit court judge, aboard a ferry on San Francisco Bay began to laugh when he heard the question. After half an hour of trying to answer, he’d run the gamut from grim to joyful and decided: "You know, I’d resign my appointment and explore a tribal justice system like the Maoris in New Zealand." Those who read and ponder this question seem to gain a temporary reprieve from the limits they ordinarily place on their lives. They begin to explore the life not lived and that alternative set of choices that linger in the recesses of the mind. Why do our desires and dreams linger? They beckon us; call our name, because they are waiting for us to inhabit the life we were meant to live. They are waiting for us to listen to our highest calling. The stories in this book relate that life-changing flash when you stop wishing, get off the sofa, take a shower, and mail the manuscript, or when you’re honest with a lover while crying and laughing with giddy abandon. As you read, you’ll learn more about the courage it takes to be human and fully alive. You’ll witness everyday miracles. And with any luck, you’ll make some of your own. Following the stories, you’ll find some suggestions called "Life Challenges," ideas designed to engage your mind and move you toward greater fulfillment as you ask yourself, "What would I do if I had no fear?" I wrote this book and I grapple with this question because I have been crippled by fears and doubts all my life. It’s been said that we teach best what we need to learn. Interviewing people and hearing the stories of ordinary heroes have profoundly changed me—their experiences have spurred me on, even though there were many times when I would cry out in despair, thinking that I didn’t have what it takes to see my own dreams through. The miracle of this book is that it exists at all—after a number of rejections I’d abandoned the project to a bottom drawer. Still, I knew that it had merit and I’d send energy to it and pray about it. Then my friend Karen, the woman whom I do retreats with, asked if she could show it to a friend who worked for a publisher. I said, "Yes, but don’t tell me what they say. I can’t stand another rejection." A week later I met with the publisher, and here it is. To have my dream manifest in such a magical way has been amazing. It is sweeter because it came about in a way I could never have predicted. The saying ‘you can’t get there from here’ comes to mind. The message I wanted to convey to readers from the start was that when we have a dream it is a real, living thing with a life of its own. We don’t always have to be super achievers, or even know how it will come into being. I am a woman with lots of dreams but frequently shaky faith and truckloads of self-doubt and my dream came true. If mine can, I know yours will also. Don’t quit before your miracle. Take this journey with me, your slightly neurotic guide. Let me believe for you as others have believed for me.

FROM THE PUBLISHER