I graduated college about 5 years ago, and despite my creative writing professor's insistence, I did not immediately pursue an MFA. My reasons were two-fold: 1) fear, and 2) insecurities about what I knew. I had just learned about writing, and I didn't feel comfortable with jumping into teaching other people about it. I wanted to get some life-experience first. I'm doing that now.

My question: is the "fear" hesitancy valid? Is it really as scary as it seems, to stand in front of people and teach? Will an MFA teach me about the physical act of pedagogy, or will it all be methodology? I think I know creative writing very well. I've been published fairly widely; I have a fiction chapbook recently published and longer works being considered by publishers; I've been a reader for contests, an editor for a few lit mags, and am currently an editor at a popular literary news site. And, I am comfortable having conversations about all the above topics. So, why the fear?

Anyone else have/had this issue?