When it came to writing letters, I was the bomb! I mean, when I wrote letters to friends and family, I just wrote. I’d get out everything I wanted, and that would be it. When writing essays for school, all I’d have to do was answer the who, what, when, where, why, and how. I knocked those essays out of the park. When I started writing for myself, I started second-guessing myself. I didn’t think I was good enough until I broke out of my shell and started sharing with people who didn’t know me. I thought the people who knew me were just being nice and trying to spare my feelings. When I got serious and convinced myself that I was good enough when my work was done, I started second-guessing myself and convinced myself that people wouldn’t read what I wrote or would want to purchase what I wrote. But they did. I thought those people who reached out to me were being nice and were sparing my feelings. Then something happened. I looked in the mirror and told myself I am good enough and my work is good whether I believe it or not. I was not going to let the imposter syndrome win. But at times, the imposter syndrome does win. I am lucky to have a mentor who believes in me and knows how to kick the imposter syndrome feeling out of me.
As writers we often let the imposter syndrome win but if we’ve come this far to where we share our most intimate thoughts and crazy stories with others, why do we even entertain the imposter syndrome?
Arnittress Dowdy 