Bodice-Ripping for Fun & Profit

An Ask E. Jean Classic

Dear E. Jean: 

I'm a writer, as yet unpublished; but I'm a writer by blood, bone and nature. I'm presently working on several projects, one of which I consider to be my "starmaker," the book that will launch me to the bestseller heavens. However, I procrastinate, I loaf, I let my completed works gather dust on the shelves.

Why? My psychic said "because you're afraid to succeed." True, perhaps; but my every waking moment is consumed by imaginings of how I'll handle the book tours, what I'll wear on Colbert, etc. I know beyond all doubt that this is my destiny. So why do I dither so?

My husband has remarked more than once that he's afraid I'll leave him when I'm rich (and famous), a confession which left me feeling that he can read my mind. We've been together for five years and have an excellent relationship. The sex gets better, I'm more grounded in myself than ever before, yet I fear that my longing for a new, free, single life will eclipse my desire to remain marr…