I had a lovely chat with a fellow audio fiction creator yesterday and it reminded me just how easy it is to assume that our struggles are unique and not something that "successful" people we admire experience.
I get it. I am floored by how my heroes put out book after book or show after show. They seem unstoppable. It's like they wear an impervious mantle of creation that deflects procrastination, imposter syndrome and self-doubts like water off a rainproof cloak. Nothing can touch them.
And then I have someone ask me how I am able to create the way we do at Fable and Folly. My first reaction is to laugh and then to curl up in a ball from the voices of imposter syndrome that threaten to overwhelm me.
I spend weeks avoiding doing work that needs doing and even longer if it's anything of a creative nature. It's why I scramble to prep for sessions just hours before sitting down with the Other Bothers crew. Or why I avoid writing with every fibre of my being and then bend to it only under immense pressure from an imminent deadline.
It does get a little easier. We learn that it is possible to fight through the doubts and the endless voices that say we aren't worthy. And with time, we create systems and tools that help us maintain something approaching momentum. One of these is embracing collaboration and dropping this whole myth of the lone-hero-creator.
But the act of creating something new in the world will always be challenging on so many levels.
So please don't doubt yourself or your abilities just because you have doubts or fears or even hundreds of unfinished projects. We are right there with you. All of us creators are.
- Sean
