How to Deal With Imposter Syndrome
Fiction Writing Made Easy
Savannah Gilbo
4.9 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2021
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In today's episode, I'm sharing three strategies that will help you overcome imposter syndrome. Here's a preview of what's included:
[01:50] A quick story about what my two dogs, Forrest and Luna, taught me about overcoming imposter syndrome (and how you can, too).
[04:35] An example of how a client I worked with suffered from imposter syndrome for twelve years before every querying agents with her story. Spoiler alert: she's now a published author whose book is with one of the big five publishers.
[05:35] Imposter syndrome is defined as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist in spite of evident success. Imposters suffer from chronic self-doubt and a sense of intellectual fraudulence that override any feelings of success or external proof of their competence. Almost all writers experience these feelings of inadequacy at some point in the writing, editing, and publishing process.
[06:35] Imposter syndrome shows up differently for everyone. For one person, it might look like paralysis or the inability to move forward. For another, it might look like writer's block or even throwing in the towel and quitting altogether.
[07:15] Strategy #1 is to stop overthinking so that you can reconnect with your heart and show up as your true self. That way, you'll be better able to share your unique message with readers and connect with them on a deep level.
[9:50] Strategy #2 is to take some kind of action, no matter how big or small. This will help you move out of your head and into your heart. Not only that, but it'll also help you get your story done and out into the world.
[11:00] Strategy #3 is to stop chasing shiny objects. If you keep jumping from story idea to story idea, or from one outlining method to another, you're never going to get to the finish line. Instead, keep your head down, stay in your lane, and keep moving forward.
[16:15] Key points and episode recap.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, Savannah here. Before we get into today's episode, I wanted to share our next book |
| 0:04.8 | club pick with you because I'm super excited to dig into this book and see how and why it works. |
| 0:09.9 | Our next meeting is coming up on November 16th at 4 p.m. Pacific, 7 p.m. Eastern, and we're going |
| 0:15.7 | to be digging into the fourth wing by Rebecca Yaros. Abigail and I are so excited to deconstruct |
| 0:21.2 | this book and these meetings are always so much fun. They're interactive, so in addition to our |
| 0:26.2 | presentation on why we think this story works and why we think it resonates with readers, |
| 0:30.8 | there are also polls and lots of opportunities to chat with other writers and ask us questions |
| 0:36.2 | and, you know, just participate in a group discussion about a really awesome book. As always, |
| 0:41.2 | our aim is to analyze a novel and translate our learnings into actionable tips, tools, and strategies |
| 0:46.8 | that you can take and implement in your own writing right away. So if you want to join us or if you |
| 0:51.7 | want to learn more about how the book club works, go to savannagilba.com forward slash book dash club. |
| 0:57.7 | One more time that savannagilba.com forward slash book dash club hope to see you there. |
| 1:03.1 | I want you to have confidence in the fact that every decision you make is actually bringing you |
| 1:08.0 | closer to accomplishing your goals because even when you make a decision that isn't the best or that |
| 1:13.2 | doesn't 100% serve your story or your theme or your idea or whatever, you learn something from it. |
| 1:19.2 | So you learn something new about yourself or your writing habit or the story you're working on |
| 1:23.9 | and then you can move forward. And it's this slight mindset shift that literally could change |
| 1:28.8 | your writing life. Welcome to the fiction writing made easy podcast. My name is savannagilba and |
| 1:34.8 | I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't |
| 1:39.6 | have to be overwhelming. So each week I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, |
| 1:45.0 | and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. So whether you're |
| 1:49.6 | brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is |
... |
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