Hi friends! Today’s newsletter is something that has been heavily on my mind for at least half a decade, maybe even almost exactly a decade. I started writing for Book Riot just over 5 years ago and I believe that triggered a Facebook post from me about my imposter syndrome.

“First described by psychologists Suzanne Imes, PhD, and Pauline Rose Clance, PhD, in the 1970s, impostor phenomenon occurs among high achievers who are unable to internalize and accept their success. They often attribute their accomplishments to luck rather than to ability, and fear that others will eventually unmask them as a fraud.” via “Feel Like a Fraud?” from the APA.

So, I was 37 and posted about my “imposter syndrome” on Facebook and a friend, who is also Black and queer, asked, “What is that?” So, I gave them a quick and dirty definition of imposter syndrome and they bluntly responded, “You don’t have that.”

When I tell you that this response has had me SHOOK for the past five years, I am not exaggerating. It is constantly on my mind. Initially, my inner liberal white queer lady wanted to get my knickers in a twist and say, “How dare you try to tell me about myself? *I* get to define myself how I see fit. *I* am the expert on my own experience.” And so forth and so on, outrage outrage, meow meow meow. You know the drill.