A Writer’s Guide to Dealing with Imposter Syndrome

Who do I think I am? How can I call myself a writer? I must be crazy to think that anyone will want to read this!‍

Sound familiar?

Imposter syndrome is one of the biggest hurdles we face. It takes courage to call yourself a writer, to declare your intentions to the world, and turn something as nebulous as an idea into an engaging story that comes alive on the page.

The good news? Even published authors with thriving writing careers and financial success struggle with chronic self-doubt. But there are philosophies, mantras, or techniques you can teach yourself to boost your self-worth. Bestselling author Hannah Kaner references one of the best here, when you feel too frozen to begin:

That old adage: you miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take.
—Hannah Kaner

But when you do start, how do you stop the uncertainty creeping in? In the age of social media, it’s easy to fall into the comparison trap and believe that other writers are living their best, doubt-free, easy writing, six-figure-deal publishing, glamorous book-launching life, while we sit at home staring at the blinking cursor on our screen, thinking I. Can’t. Do. This. ‍

Rest assured—you can. You are doing it. And you will continue doing so.

The question is: how can we do it while caring for our well-being and enjoying much more confidence and joy? As the much-missed Sophie Kinsella once suggested in a guest blog for us, maybe it’s as simple as giving yourself more time.

Don’t think “I need to write this idea.” Instead think “I need to mull on this idea.”
—Sophie Kinsella

How do we quiet our inner meanie, cut the self-critique, and prevent our imposter syndrome from making us feel like a failure?

Tips for overcoming imposter syndrome

• Begin writing early in the day, before you have a chance to talk yourself out of it
• Gift yourself with kindness, such as bringing down your word count if you need to
• Build rewards into your writing routine—a piece of chocolate per chapter, perhaps?
• Make your tasks smaller to banish the “overwhelm” specter
• Contact other writers (or friends or family!) to share your struggles openly
• Don’t be mean to yourself; it serves no purpose, so just stop it!
  

In the rest of this article, author Polly Ho-Yen shares her experiences with tackling self-doubt and offers tips for writers to overcome imposter syndrome. One thing to note straight away is that having a supportive community is a great place to start. When you talk to other people about your concerns and fears, it quickly takes the power away from them, and you’ll see you’re not alone. Most writers feel the same way you do! We’re all human, and our humanity is what makes our writing unique.

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The history of imposter (or impostor) syndrome

The term “imposter syndrome” was coined by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in their landmark 1978 study of 150 highly successful professional women in various fields.

Despite accolades, rank, and salary, these women felt like phonies. They didn’t believe in their own accomplishments; they felt they were scamming everyone about their skills.
—Susan Pinker, on the study of imposter syndrome by Clance and Imes 

Are you nodding along? I certainly was—and it felt good to know it wasn’t just me.

If you also feel like a fraud at times, you’re not alone. Lots of high-achieving individuals do. It seems almost inherent in human nature: according to a review article published in the International Journal of Behavioral Science, an estimated 70 per cent of people experience these feelings at some point in their lives. It affects people from all walks of life, not just writers.

It’s not just you: other writers feel like a fraud

I’ve just hit send on my ninth book. Yet despite this, I can’t shake the feeling that I don’t know what I am doing a lot of the time. If I stop to think about it, I begin to feel shaky with my own vulnerability.

And what better place to admit this, but here in this blog post where I’m claiming to have the answers on self-doubt—or at least something useful to say?

Despite my worries, I actually feel I write my books with confidence (blog posts can be another matter!). This is because I know how to help myself when I’m feeling full of doubt, when I’m worn down and unsure, insecure and worried about whether I’ll hit my writing goals. I keep coming back to the same lesson: it’s a lesson in kindness. Don’t let yourself get boxed in.

All a “real” writer must do is write

When I started writing my debut novel for children, I was teaching full-time. The job was more than enough to be getting on with and yet I found myself turning a story over and over in my mind that I felt I had to write.

The first hurdle for so many of us is giving ourselves “permission to write.”

There are a million and one other things that you should be doing in your daily life, and in the time that you’ve even entertained the idea of writing, that list has grown to a million and two. To me, it feels like an absolute kindness to tell yourself you’re allowed to write just because you want to.

My writing routine helped me overcome imposter syndrome

I began to get up to write before I had to leave for school, because I knew that I would talk myself out of doing it if I waited until the evening.

My second kindness to my writing, and to myself, was giving this time over to this expression. Unwittingly, I had found my Golden Hour. At The Novelry, this is the daily time that all writers are encouraged to find: just an hour a day.

I snatch up any additional opportunity I can, of course—long car journeys, nap times, the odd hour when the house is quiet—but I know that a regular hour is a necessity for me—a kindness to myself. Without it, I would simply feel so much less.

My days are quite different now. My daughter wakes so early sometimes that a Golden Hour before she gets up simply wouldn’t work, so I’ve instigated an alternate morning timetable with my husband and use my morning lie-in to write. If I don’t have the ability to write in the morning, I’ll find an hour in the evening to write, as I’m doing now.

Banish imposter feelings with a good writing space

Since I started writing professionally, I’ve sought out spaces to write in any place I could find them. First, it was the table in the sitting room of our tiny, damp flat before my husband woke up. Then, it was balancing precariously on a pulled-out drawer in the bedroom (when my husband was awake).

After that came very many public libraries, staff rooms, trains, coaches, a narrowboat, the chair in my mother-in-law’s attic room, the dining room table at my parents’ house... Each of these places I feel strangely connected to.

Whether it’s a studio or a shed, a corner of the kitchen table or a park bench, when you realize that seeking out the place (or places) that will become your writing home is, in my eyes, an essential kindness.

Feel “free” when you start writing

I’m about to start my tenth novel, and I begin my books in the same way every time.

I like to collect ideas on a blank piece of paper, and I scrawl them down on the page as they fall. I let myself think big and small, weird and ordinary—but whatever comes, I welcome it.

If I feel stuck, I doodle and let the doodles wander. I’m unstoppably kind with myself at this point because I know I need to get every idea out before I can find the one that grabs me.

It’s never failed me, this process. I try not to think in terms of an idea being “good,” but simply whether it interests and engages me enough to want to write it. This helps me keep the self-doubt at bay.

Set achievable writing goals

Another incredibly important act of kindness in my process is that I set myself very achievable goals.

• What if I just brought the daily word count right down?
• What if I made the decision to feel damn right pleased with myself if I wrote 500 words a day?

I don’t waste time on self-deprecation or accusations of intellectual fraudulence. I know I can build it, day by day, if I continue to show up, keep writing, and give myself positive feedback in the same way I’d give it to someone else.

For more on this, check out our recent podcast episode on how to overcome self-sabotage in writing, in which writing coach Alice Kuipers suggests minimizing the obstacle.

When I’m dealing with overwhelm, and I think this is really helpful, what I try to do is reduce the number of things I could be doing to a small step.
—Alice Kuipers

Preserve your own self-esteem at all times

By starting to write, you’ve given yourself something that, if you’re not careful to be kind to yourself, you can easily tear to shreds. This is when showing truth and kindness to yourself becomes both a shield and a weapon.

One of the ten commandments for writers at The Novelry, and perhaps the most fundamental, is “don’t be mean to yourself; it serves no purpose, so just stop it.” The opposite can be said for kindness.

By approaching your work with kindness, I absolutely do not mean an acceptance that your work is the best thing that’s ever been created. For me, it’s all about clarity and a belief in moving forward. This approach is liberating when the whole thing is starting to feel impossible. It’s about reminding yourself that you deserve this.

Don’t let self-doubt rush your story

I’m always very keen to get to the exciting things in my story as soon as possible. I want to get to the action quickly because, as is a fairly common fear in writers, I worry I will lose my reader.

Now I know I need to employ the same lesson of kindness toward my characters that I’m purposefully and stubbornly giving to myself: allowing them to have the time and space to grow before I move the story on.

Any writer is a real writer

Finally, you might find yourself reaching a kind of finishing line. Perhaps your book is on submission, and you’re waiting to hear back from agents or publishers, and after that tiny beginning, that playful self-belief and the hours upon hours of work, you await judgment.

This is the time when kindness to yourself is more important than ever. When you reach this point, all you can do is tell yourself that you have done everything you could and now it’s down to luck.

I like to remember this quote, from Your Inner Critic is a Big Jerk and Other Truths about Being Creative by Danielle Krysa—one of my favorite books to go to if I ever need a pick-me-up: 

An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.
—Charles Horton Cooley

Having already had the reward of crafting the work, everything else that may or may not follow can fall away. I’ve become a better writer by giving myself this gift of writing and believing in myself, and nobody can wrestle this from me.

At The Novelry, we know that writing is actually the best way for writers to tackle imposter feelings. We have the classes, the coaching, and the community you need to help you on your journey—just take a look at our success stories. Start today, and overcome that feeling of doubt with The Novelry by your side.