“That’s why I don’t much like the term “imposter syndrome” to describe what’s going on here. It makes it sound like an acute and debilitating psychological disorder, and maybe sometimes it is. But far more widespread, I think, is a sort of barely conscious background assumption that other people must have a better idea of what they’re doing than we do. This sort of assumption isn’t debilitating. But it does make life subtly worse. It leads to the belief that you need to go especially hard on yourself, in order to hold your own among your peers; and it makes you hold back from doing things that might add meaning to your life, on the grounds that you’re still waiting for a feeling of full authority to arrive.”
If you haven’t yet read Oliver Burkeman’s 4,000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, what are you waiting for?!
Everyone is (still) winging it :: The Imperfectionist
Debbie Ridpath Ohi, a successful picture book author and illustrator, first started out writing middle grade (though she has yet to sell a manuscript). This post tracks her middle grade journey from the mid-nineties to the present. Inspiring!
Perseverance :: Debbie Ridpath Ohi
I always appreciate Erin’s honesty. Hers is a newsletter definitely worth reading. “For the vast majority of authors, having published one book (or ten) does not guarantee more book deals. Every author I know is constantly trying to “make it.” We are always chasing the next career milestone, attempting to ascend a rung on the Ladder of Success.”
“Fake it till you make it” :: Erin Bowman
This is a great post on what I’d call interiority and what Susan Dennard calls the character’s opinion. Comes with helpful writing examples.
An Easy Trick for Showing Instead of Telling :: Susan Dennard
“Have you ever loved something that you’ve checked out from the library SO MUCH that you forgot to return it—for more than four decades?!”
The Beatles Get Back to a Texas Library…40 Years Late :: I Love Libraries
Julie Falatko is writing a not-to-miss newsletter that is basically about knowing the writing process is hard but so very rewarding if you keep at it. “All the books I was trying to write had some more complex thing going on than I had personally successfully executed before. I think a lot about that Ira Glass quote about the gap, about how when you’re starting, you have good taste but don’t yet have the skill to make your creative work as good as you want it to be. And one thing that I didn’t realize about that quote was that it doesn’t only apply to when you’re starting. If you keep learning and growing as an artist, you’ll hit that gap over and over again.”
Upon Once Again Encountering the Gap :: Julie Falatko
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Oh, so many helpful links! Thank you, Caroline. I’m saving some of them in my Writing Tips folder. Love Susan Dennard’s post on showing the character’s opinion (or as you call it, interiority — I think I’ve always called it that too). And I can relate to Oliver Burkeman’s quote about Imposter Syndrome. I’ve never liked that term either!
I’m glad to hear it! I collect these links as the months pass and find once I’m ready to share them that they’re kind of new and insightful to me, too. 🙂