Talking with my two friends really clarified things for me... It's not fear I'm fighting, it's my perfectionism. It was one of those Bingo!/Duh! lightbulb moments. I'm a terrible perfectionist and I've been fighting the urge for years... all you have to do is look at any of my art and you'll see how much a perfectionist I am. And, yes, my perfectionism is a form of fear, but different enough that it takes a different tactic to fight it. So, with their help I've settled on the tactics: 1) make a list of specific things I need to fix in the first three chapters, then fix only those things (I made the list over lunch), 2) write the synopsis, 3) send the blasted proposal off, 4) worry about fixing the rest of it later when I have the energy/inclination to do so, and 5) work on the new stuff! That I can handle, that I can do. I feel much better about my world.