Imposter syndrome is the feeling that at any second someone will realize you don’t belong here, that you haven’t earned the right to speak on a subject, or that you are a fake. I’m here to tell you that all creative people suffer from imposter syndrome somehow. It’s natural.
Okay, so I said every creative person suffers from it, so how do you deal with it. I think that is the million-dollar question. We each need to handle imposter syndrome in our own way. One of my colleagues had a sign posted everywhere that read, “You’re a writer, Bitch! Now get to work!” She’d looked at it whenever she got the feeling that she was not worthy of her job.
This kind of message doesn’t work for me. There are times that I feel as if any second someone is going to tap me on the shoulder and tell me that I don’t know what I’m doing, and my efforts are not cutting it. I’ve had that happen too. I pause when these feelings come and remember why I write. I didn’t become a writer to make a million dollars quickly, and if you did, you’re in the wrong business. I took up writing to tell the stories I have inside me, to entertain. I realize that I’m not the best writer in the world, but I do what I can, and if the reader likes it, they will keep reading. If they don’t, they will let me know about it, and that’s fine. But I am a writer, and I continue the craft for as long as my harts in it.
The feelings of self-doubt or imposter syndrome are still there, but I know that I have a yearning talent to be set upon the world. I need to focus on releasing it and focus less on negative thoughts. Don’t let self-doubt or imposter syndrome hold you back release your talent onto the world.