tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32085591.post1245456284964610539..comments2023-11-07T21:12:19.852-06:00Comments on Wyrdsmiths: The Fraud Phenomenontate hallawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06631759014508937940noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32085591.post-66733378436586743142012-09-05T07:30:54.947-05:002012-09-05T07:30:54.947-05:00Well, thanks, Juli. I do appreciate knowing peopl...Well, thanks, Juli. I do appreciate knowing people like my work, but, what's weird about the fraud phenomenon is that even hearing that doesn't always help... it's kind of one of those weird emotional rollercoasters that, as you say, most writers experience from time to time, not unlike the I'm a genuis/I suck phenomenon of sending out stories and getting rejections.<br /><br />I'm over my fraud stuff, btw, since part of my feeling like a fraud stuff had to do with being AT WorldCON.tate hallawayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06631759014508937940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32085591.post-77637132648315819122012-09-04T14:24:46.772-05:002012-09-04T14:24:46.772-05:00I have, but not a lot. I'll have to check it o...I have, but not a lot. I'll have to check it out. Thanks.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07043134153708780097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32085591.post-16696926394984789992012-09-04T11:54:28.842-05:002012-09-04T11:54:28.842-05:00Thanks for sharing this. I passed this link on to...Thanks for sharing this. I passed this link on to some of my other writer buddies. You are not alone. Everyone feels this way from time to time. Everyone. <br /><br /><br />If it means anything, I enjoy your writing. You write with humor and do it in a way that's both entertaining and realistic. That's not easy when your playing with witches, and vampires, and the boogie-man... Oh my! :) Writing books that entertain is nothing to sneeze at. If everyone could do it, they would. Not every book HAS to be an epic saga and not every writer knows how to wield humor effectively. I've recommended your books to some of my friends. I don't think you're a fraud. :) <br /><br />Take care!<br />JuliAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16641211092977186773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32085591.post-178606841584243892012-09-04T09:32:41.818-05:002012-09-04T09:32:41.818-05:00Yes, to both of you. Irfon-Kim, I'm absolutel...Yes, to both of you. Irfon-Kim, I'm absolutely any professional artist (as defined broadly) feels imposter/fraud syndrome from time to time. And, yeah, Jon, there really ain't nothing for it, but picking yourself up and going at it again and again. <br /><br />(Incidentally, Jon, do you read Manga? A weirdly inspirational one for writers is BAKUMAN, which is essentially about how hard it is to be a writer with all the Japanese enthusiasm of "DO YOUR BEST!!")tate hallawayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06631759014508937940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32085591.post-25955408941258792752012-09-04T09:00:40.756-05:002012-09-04T09:00:40.756-05:00I didn't go to a Con, but I've been feelin...I didn't go to a Con, but I've been feeling the same way lately, like the universe is rubbing my nose in it. I think we all have our ups and downs, but you keep at it, right? After all, what's the other option? A permanent day job? Screw that.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09581880415411016683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32085591.post-6902047368397593692012-09-04T07:05:33.186-05:002012-09-04T07:05:33.186-05:00I think that's common to people in all fields,...I think that's common to people in all fields, although certainly some are more susceptible than others. (I think I attended the WisCon panel to which you refer, actually, because I get impostor syndrome hugely, and I'm in IT.) In any case, I also write music and I remember reading a great interview about impostor syndrome in Keyboard Magazine. It wasn't explicitly about that, but wound up being. It was an interview with one of the guys from The Prodigy, who, if you're not familiar with them, are a HUGELY successful band. Aside from their albums and singles having done very well, almost everyone knows at least some of their songs as being "that song from that movie". He described how after their previous album, they'd all been feeling a bit of it, so they distracted themselves by building a new studio out in the country, a project which kept getting extended and distracting them more and more. But eventually it did finish and he went out there for a month to knock out some tracks for the next album, feeling the impostor syndrome creeping up on him the whole time. Even after all the success they'd had, he kept asking himself, what if it was all a fluke, what if he can't pull it off again, what if that was all he had in him, etc.? He wound up spending six months and getting nothing, spiraling further into depression and convincing himself more and more that it was over. Finally, he returned to the bedroom studio in his home, where they'd made all their previous albums, and somehow being in those familiar surroundings, it all came together for him and they knocked the next one out. But he described really well how terrifying that uncertainty was, and how it happens to him every single time, and probably always will, no matter what they accomplish or what recognition they garner. Whenever I'm facing it myself, I try to remind myself of that article, and somehow it serves as some kind of touchstone.Irfon-Kim Ahmadhttp://www.ramp-music.net/noreply@blogger.com