And How to Fight It
Thanks to my FairyBookseller, Perfect Books in Ottawa, my dream came true! I saw, with my very own eyes, my very own book on a real bookshelf in a real bookstore.
Excited? Absolutely.
Feeling like an absolute, utter imposter? Most definitely.
Who am I to be on this same shelf with these big-name authors? They sell books; they have fans. What the hell am I doing here??
I’m not surprised. I had heard the Imposter Syndrome is tenacious. It will grab hold and never let you go. At every stage, you may think, okay, the next step is when I’ll feel like I belong in this writing world. And then the next step comes along and you still feel like you shouldn’t be there.
And it doesn’t help to state the obvious: “Getting a book published is a huge accomplishment!” “You worked hard to get here so you deserve to be here!” “Of course you’re not selling thousands of copies—yet. You’re just starting out!”
But alas, logic doesn’t always convince emotion.
So how to slay the Imposter Syndrome beast—at any stage?
Validation. Tell yourself it’s okay that you feel that way—there’s never anything wrong with how you feel. It’s how you act on it that matters. So I may not feel (yet) like I belong on that shelf, but I am there! So that’s the way I’ll act. And from action comes experience. From experience comes confidence. From confidence comes faith in yourself.
And that is magic fairy dust.