Impostor, Fake Or Fraud? · The Writer's Forge

Impostor, Fake Or Fraud?

I was talking to a writer with whom I have a weekly chat about how we’re doing and what we're working on. It inevitably shifts to the vulnerability and tension of, “Should I be doing this job? Am I just going to be laughed at?”

Writer Maya Angelou stated, "Even after publishing 11 books and winning numerous awards, Angelou famously said, 'Each time I think, "Uh oh, they're going to find out now. I've run a game on everybody, and they're going to find me out."

Writer John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath): While writing that novel that would win him the Pulitzer Prize, Steinbeck wrote in his journal: "I am not a writer. I've been fooling myself and other people".

Screenwriter, Playwright Arron Sorkin: “Any day now, everyone’s going to see through me.”

The one thing these people didn’t do was stop; they kept pushing no matter their life experiences. That to me is comforting. I can go to places where I just feel the pressure of time, and also know there are no shortcuts; I have to do the work.

Poet and screenwriter Charles Bukowski viewed the feeling of being a fraud as a sign of authenticity and intelligence.

I’m curious about people's strategies, however outlandish you may think they are, for coping and keeping in the game. (Arron Sorkin swears by six showers a day.)

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