A Shock To The System

Introduction

Today I went through some of the comments on my recent Vocal posts and was shocked at the absolute positivity and support that I was getting from them. These are some of my thoughts on my imposter syndrome and unwarranted feelings of inadequacy in the field of creation. I know these days most of that is in Vocal writing, but there are other sidelines as well.

Feeling Like Terry Pratchett

I always liked Terry Pratchett as a person, but I once saw an interview where he complained about not receiving any awards and said he was more important than Tolkien. The latter is something he shouldn’t really have said because in my opinion when you compare yourself to another important icon you are really setting yourself up for a fall and when I see things like that I always look to what is being compared.

The other thing is Pratchett has probably reached a lot more readers than Tolkien because of the number of his books and his massive worldwide sales, although I may be wrong on that, I think the Peter Jackson films may have stimulated sales of that author’s books.

The thing is while not being recognised for awards and the like hurts a lot, the fact that you have an appreciative fan base who in Pratchett’s case adore and have made him very wealthy, and in my case adore me and have paid for a few coffees is where your treasure really lies.

What Do I Get?

The responses I get in direct messages amaze me constantly as well as some comments on my actual Vocal stories rather than the Facebook shares. Every time someone tells me who they enjoyed my work or how it affected them makes me want to write more and share more. Often my work is personal, like this piece, but I do cover other areas and every little piece of praise o a heart inspires me to do even more.

While my imposter syndrome tells me I am not good enough, and a lot of things happen to actually enforce that in my mind, I try to look at them in the overall picture. Not everyone can see my work, not everyone will like my work, some people actually dislike me and my work but they are a tiny minority and when someone pushes me away I always drift towards those that will accept me, I think this is natural for everyone.

I do joke that if any of my Vocal friends and audience were Vocal Moderators I would be getting Top Stories every day, and I don’t think people would be too happy if that happened.

I also continually say that I would rather have my audience send me good wishes and positive thoughts than a top Story so maybe that has been heard and applied. I do get the odd top story but never for fiction or poetry, just the odd playlist, but that is better than zero recognition and many worthy writers have never had a Top Story and I truly feel for them.

A Shocking Conclusion

I will go ahead expecting no official recognition. I am no one's favourite poet, fiction writer or music person, though I know I have a lot of people who want to be unseen admirers of my work but they will never admit it publicly, but there are a lot who do praise me in public and I think that sort of thing does draw in new fans.

So this is Mikeydred Signing off