I am Warren Bluhm

The book is done. Ready. Out there for a "soft opening." And I decided to put my "real name" on it: I am my alter ego, Warren Bluhm, and it's time to merge my personas.

Many of the thoughts in this book began here, as blog entries I wrote using the name B.W. Richardson. B.W., of course, is my initials reversed, and my father’s name is Richard, so the pseudonym came easily.

I started blogging as B.W. in part because I was afraid to use my real name, for reasons that no longer seem relevant. You see my problem, of course: Who wants to read a book called Refuse to Be Afraid by a guy who fears the consequences of using his “real” name? B.W. does feel “real” to me in a sense, but for this book to mean anything, he had to go — or at least he had to come out into the daylight.

So why should you read a book about not being afraid from someone who let fear delay this project not for weeks or months but years?

Because we both know I’m not alone. Because I know some people never pursue their dreams. Because the manipulators will always try to use our universal fears to control us. Because clever marketers and wily politicians will always be willing to tap those fears for their own purposes.

Because I found my way out of that mess — and so can you.