Real Writers

[image error]

Imposter Syndrome – insidious isn’t it?

I posted on Twitter that I wasn’t feeling like a ‘real writer’ so was pondering a post on imposter syndrome and got some nice advice from the lovely people of Twitter.

More than one person sent me this:

[image error]

The lovely Frances Hardinge who I once had the pleasure of interviewing replied with this:

[image error]

And a number of people reassured me that I was in fact a writer

[image error]



[image error]



[image error]

Which was lovely.

But why do we suffer from Imposter’s Syndrome? There’s a LOT of info out there and some nice stories from many famous people who have suffered themselves from imposter syndrome. I like Neil Gaiman’s story for example.

But the feeling persists. But it’s comforting to know that it’s usual. My ‘Pete W Sutton’ Bookshelf has around 30 books on it – 2 novels, 1 short story collection, several books I’ve edited and comp copies of anthologies I have stories in. I need to remind myself of that occasionally. There does seem to be a link between writing and what some people call Brain Weasels and I’d love to know if it’s correlation or causation. But absent an answer I’ll just have to learn to fight them off!

drop me a comment if you’ve suffered from Imposter Syndrome and how you’ve defeated it (or need a cheerleader to help you fight it)