Sometimes impostor syndrome creeps up on me and punches me
in the gut. To clarify, impostor syndrome is the feeling of being a fraud, of
being unworthy to claim a certain title, or of being ahead for no reason at all.
For writing in particular, it can take different forms. Here are just a few
lies that impostor syndrome can take…
I’m only an aspiring writer because I haven’t published anything yet.
I’m not a writer because I don’t write every day.
I’m not a real author because I’ve only indie published.
I’m not a successful author because I didn’t achieve best seller status by age twenty.
I’m not a good writer because I don’t handwrite everything.
I’m not an eccentric writer because, like the kid in the third row, I didn’t bring my typewriter to take notes on the lecture. (Yes, this one happened once. Life is weird. I love it!)
Not. Not. Not. Not. Not. Unless we’re writing for sailors, sewers,
horseback riders, desperate Baudelaires, or whoever else needs knots, can we
please just agree to stop dragging ourselves down? This post is for my fellow
writers who struggle with impostor syndrome. Caution: inspiration and
satire lie ahead.
Find what works for you.
Last year in particular, I set out to write another novel.
No surprise there. But I thought, “I’m going to be a real writer this year and handwrite the whole thing. I don’t need
to rely on my computer or typing skills when I have the old pen and paper, the
tools of a real writer.” So I grabbed one of my empty notebooks, got well over
halfway through and… I still haven’t finished the thing.
Actually, as I type this post, I plan to pick up writing the
novel where I left off, but on my computer instead. While I claimed my main
motivation while handwriting the book was so that I could type it up again word
for word (which might help me catch more mistakes) a small part of me actually
wanted to have handwritten an entire book. And I’m not saying I never will.
It’s just not working for me at this time.
When it comes to writing, find what works for you.
I like to experiment. It took me several years to find out
what type of novel outline I like, and this was from taking some advice and
coming up with techniques of my own.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” —Albert Einstein
Claim the title.
Whether you’re published or not, claim your title. I’ve
published before, but I still like to call myself a writer. It’s more fun.
A couple years ago, a dear friend of mine once told me that because
she didn’t write as much as I did, she wasn’t a writer. Never mind we took a
creative writing class together, she has a blog of her own, and we have a
Google doc dedicated to editing each other’s recent work. More recently, she
wrote in a post how she’s finally claimed the title of writer.
Say it loud, and say it proud. I like to picture myself like
Hiccup right after he took down Toothless and is trying to convince the dragon
and himself that he’s a Viking. Except instead of Viking I say writer. (Unless
of course, you are a Viking, in which case you’re probably also a time
traveler. Would you mind giving me a ride back to 1942?)
I am a writer!
Write and publish in your own time.
Ever since the second grade, I knew I wanted to be an
author. When I was twelve, I first heard about the success of Christopher
Paolini, who wrote Eragon when he was
fifteen, published when he was twenty, and quickly achieved best-seller status.
So I set out to write and publish just like that.
Life, however, turned out differently. Though I finished my
first novel-length story when I was twelve and continued to write many
subsequent stories, I didn’t publish anything of novel length until I was
twenty-two. And that was a completely different work than my first piece. Who
knows if any of my published stories will achieve best-seller status?
I know I’m probably not the best example, so I’ll mention J.
R. R. Tolkien as well. He didn’t publish The
Hobbit until he was 45, and many of his protagonists are in their fifties
or older.
You don’t need to handwrite a book with a regular pen or a
quill pen to be a real writer. You can just write. You don’t have to use
NaNoWriMo as motivation to finish your novel. Just finish it. You don’t have to
publish before age twenty to be successful. Publish when you can. But if you do
any of those things, that’s great too!
Let’s chat! Do you ever struggle with impostor syndrome?
What are some of the ways you get past it?
***
Similar posts: Do what YOU Enjoy, 6 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Got Published, and Why Writers Should Study Their Craft
Literary references: Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,
Christopher Paolini’s Eragon, and J.
R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit
Film references: How
to Train Your Dragon
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