Do What’s RIGHT for YOU
I read an article about a new author who had a breakdown at a writing conference and left after the first day. She’d felt the full force of imposter syndrome—everyone else seemed so much more accomplished and confident. She felt shame when she returned home; maybe she should have stuck it out.
She’d thought that being invited to attend this conference was the thing that would make her feel accomplished—despite that she already had her book out there in the world. But instead, she’d felt small. Her point in her essay was that we can’t fill those emotional voids inside us with outside accolades; only we can do that.
She’s not wrong, but I took something else away from her article: she did what was best for her. She may have felt like she was running away, but we can only ask so much of ourselves. In our writing world, there are very, very few pinnacles of success. On top of the publishing pyramid, there are only so many spots for runaway bestsellers and award winners. Absolutely, we should strive for our goals. But if the effort to get there causes too much distress, then maybe there are other ways to feel like we belong. Like writing for ourselves. Writing for our friends-and-family fan club. Writing for readers who want to pick up our stories. And the rest of it?
Running away may just be the smartest thing we can do.