C.M. Schrecengost asked Cinda Williams Chima:

First off let me say, I read and loved Children of Ragnarok! I've been writing novels and short stories for years but always seem to hit the same roadblocks. So, I have a meaningful question unrelated to your novels (Which are amazing). Did you ever feel like an imposter when you first started writing? If so, how did you get past that? Thanks for any advice you're willing to give!

Cinda Williams Chima I started writing in third grade and published my first novel at 56. So, from a commercial standpoint, I probably have had the longest fallow period of anyone. Do note: I was doing a lot of other things in the meantime--things that fueled me in a different way. I've been a dietitian, researcher, health care administrator, college professor, parent of sons. But I never stopped writing--personal essays, scientific papers, newspaper and magazine articles and many of those were published. The great advantage of a day job is that it gives you a place to be successful when everyone is saying no to you as a writer. The downside is exhaustion, of course. It did occur to me that I was competing with people who were not falling asleep on the keyboard.
A writer is someone who writes, and by that measure I was not an imposter and neither are you.

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