There is a big thing about imposter syndrome when it comes to writers, it’s not just something that beginners suffer from. I was watching a video from YouTuber Beard of Darkness the other day where he was interviewing Raymond E Feist (the legend) and even he said he still suffers from this when he sits down to plan something new.
I suffer from this and I think it is the main reason I have stayed on the edge of writing, I spend most of my “writing” time making notes researching, and doodling in my notebooks. But not actual writing. When I look back at what I have written I just think it’s not good enough and so I shelve it, or not finish it at all. This is something I need to work on. Seeing someone like Raymond E Feist say something like this helps a bit. I have a few short stories that I have done for competitions and I have two novels completed during NaNo that would need serious revision. The latest project got to 58k before I felt it needed a rewrite.
I made a promise to myself this year that I would do more to further my writing career and I have made slow progress, but it is progress. Last weekend I went to a writing retreat with the BFS. This was a great experience and got me writing more which is great. I think I was the only one there who had not published though, really makes me want to push further. I just need to do some more work on setting some habits.
So, I am going to push more and try to get more actual writing done and then using excellent resources like the BFS discord and Richie Billings’s fantastic community of writers, try and get some feedback to try and fight that imposter syndrome.
Wish me luck!
