Shy

A number of years ago I wrote an essay titled, Shy which was published in Prairie Fire. I've thought that at some point I'd like to expand it into a book, but at present that seems a long way and several books off. However - I was delighted to notice (thanks to the magic of the Facebook status line) that this is a subject other people are also interested in. Naomi Lewis tracked down my essay from PF (I apparently neglected to transfer it from my last computer as it died a slow death a year ago) and asked if she could use it for an anthology she's planning. Sounds fascinating!

Here is the call for submissions from her website:


I am compiling essays, stories and poems for a literary anthology about shyness.

I’m amazed by how surprising, even unpredictable, it is who does or does not consider themselves shy. And each person who claims shyness defines it differently. Even psychologists can’t agree on what shyness is; some call it a personality trait, synonymous with introversion, or introversion’s dark side, and some see it as the warning sign of a mental illness. Millions of children and adults are medicated for social anxiety disorder – a disorder that’s only existed since the 1990s. Is shyness a flaw to overcome? Is it a gift? Does it stem from fear, from a preference for solicitude, or, as Freud claimed, from narcissism? Do we embrace it or try to beat it down, and how does it affect the decisions we make, the directions our lives take?