In this week’s column I thought I’d take a look at imposter syndrome. This is something that I know most writers suffer from at one time or another during their career. We’ve all experienced it, feeling like a fraud, the self-doubt, the “who am I” so I’ve been researching this week to come up with some great links on what imposter syndrome is for writers and what you can do to overcome it.
- https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/impostor-syndrome-can-writers-overcome/ – Impostor Syndrome: What Is It And How Can Writers Overcome It?: In this article you get an overview of what imposture syndrome is and the feelings associated with it. The article also explains how it can affect writers, before delving into how to overcome it. There are five steps listed along with some quotes from authors such as Neil Gaiman and Maya Angelou.
- https://nybookeditors.com/2018/09/how-to-overcome-imposter-syndrome-as-a-writer/ – How To Overcome Imposter Syndrome as a Writer: NY Book Editors has a great article that again explains what imposter syndrome is and how it affects writers before jumping headlong into how you can overcome these fears. There are some great tips including remembering that you don’t need outside validation to be who you are.
- https://www.thecreativepenn.com/self-doubt-imposter-syndrome/ – How Writers can Deal with Self-Doubt and Imposter Syndrome: Joanna Penn shares her advice in this article and a video on how to deal with self-doubt as a writer.
- https://writingcooperative.com/a-writers-guide-to-outsmarting-imposter-syndrome-6fe688431781 – A Writer’s Guide to Outsmarting Imposture Syndrome: The title of this article caught my attention and the content kept me reading. So much of it rang true for me especially the procrastination element. It’s well worth reading and the 3 ways to keep impostor syndrome in check are excellent.
- https://smartblogger.com/imposter-syndrome/ – Advice to Writers Who Feel Like a Fraud: This article provides even more tips and advice that will resonate with a lot of writers. The tips are great and including surrounding yourself with other writers, preparing for failure and success, taking note of your successes to boost your self-esteem, and remembering that the only person who expects you to be perfect is yourself.
- https://gemmaamorauthor.com/2019/02/06/imposter-syndrome-and-authors-how-being-so-hard-on-yourself-is-hurting-your-writing/ – Imposter Syndrome and authors: How Being so hard on yourself is hurting your writing: This is a must read and includes a section where the author asked Twitter writers to describe how imposture syndrome felt in a single sentence. The replies are eye opening and there’s a link to the full thread for those who want to read all the responses. There’s a section in this article about why imposter syndrome stalks writers and one on killing the monster in your brain.
- https://blog.nathanbransford.com/2017/09/writers-and-imposter-syndrome – How Writers Can Beat Imposter Syndrome: I’ve been a fan of Nathan Bransford’s blog for a number of years now and his advice in this blog post is spot on. From knowing that it’s okay to feel like an imposter to finding people to support you. Have a read and see what you think.
I hope you enjoyed the links and I look forward to bringing you some more Really Useful Links next week. If there is a topic that you would like to see covered, get in touch and I will see what I can do.
(c) Amanda J Evans
www.amandajevans.com, Facebook and Twitter: @amandajevans
