Writing Excuses Transcripts

Writing Excuses 11.28: Imposter Syndrome, with Alyssa Wong

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2016/07/10/11-28-impostor-syndrome-with-alyssa-wong/

Key points: Imposter syndrome means you think people know or are going to figure out that you are just faking it. Watch out for self-selecting out of opportunities because you think you don't deserve them! Beware of seeing your audience, and getting stage fright. In the game of life, you never know when you have leveled up. Self-affirmation can help. Don't judge yourself by your last project, or by the last project that the reader has read -- you are as good as what you are writing now. What do you love about it? Get a kick in the butt! Accepting the accolade is part of the writer's work. Part of imposter syndrome is that we don't know how to handle being in the spotlight. We aren't socialized for it, we don't have a script for dealing with it. It's like karaoke when you aren't prepared. When someone levels up, but their friends don't, it can be rough on both sides. Harassment is not good fannish behavior. Backing people against a wall, asking to lick their face, even telling someone to say something funny just aren't acceptable.

( Makeup! Costumes! Bright Lights! )

[Brandon] We need to wrap up this podcast. It's been wonderful having you, Alyssa. Congratulations on your award.
[Alyssa] Thank you.
[Brandon] Looking forward to seeing what you do next.
[Alyssa] Thank you so much.
[Mary] But no pressure.
[Brandon] No pressure.
[Laughter]
[Alyssa] Thank you for having me.
[Dan] No pressure, but... Make sure it's awesome.
[Brandon] No pressure, but we would like a writing prompt.
[Alyssa] Okay. So I think part of dealing with imposter syndrome is feeling like you have to constantly be growing and growing linearly upwards. But I think it's important to be able to switch directions and proceed any direction along any axis you want. So my writing prompt for this week is try something that you've always wanted to try, genre -wise, but you've never done. If you always wanted to write a romance story, or if you've always wanted to write a happy ending but you didn't think you could, give that a shot.
[Brandon] All right. Thank you again. This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.