I'm way too shy, please help
Tichy: "I wrote some songs and publicized them...in forums, to strangers, not to people I knew."This just made me think, perhaps you should simply hang out on ChatRoulette for a while :-) (Haven't tried it myself).But seriously, I think just practice. I recently read one of the "The Game" books out of curiosity (about the pickup artists, I read "The Mystery Method"). Not sure if I like it, but one thing stood out: in their seminars, they make people go into night clubs and chat up at least 10 women per night (or was it even more, don't remember for sure). in other words, they simply practice a lot.I know this is not (just) about talking to women, but I think in general anxiety really can be overcome with practice. Take smaller steps, though - playing your music in front of an audience is comparatively huge. One thing I did is for a while ask a question at almost every conference/public talk I went to. I felt a difference very quickly.