This Famous Writer Struggled with Self-Doubt — and Still Published 500 Books
Impostor Syndrome comes for us all; the pros just know how to deal with it
“My feeling is that as far as creativity is concerned, isolation is required. Creation is embarrassing. For every new good idea you have, there are a hundred, ten thousand foolish ones.”
- Isaac Asimov
From 1939 until his death in 1992, Isaac Asimov published more than 500 books and 300 short stories. He was one of the most prolific and accomplished writers the world has ever known.
He’s most well known as one of the pioneers of science fiction, but Asimov’s work crossed into many literary genres. On top of that, he’s said to have written more than 90,000 (!) letters and postcards in his lifetime.
Bottom line: Isaac Asimov was a writing machine.
So it says something about the challenge of doing creative work that Asimov described the whole process as, well, embarrassing.
It’s a feeling all creators are familiar with. Whether we are writing an article or developing a pitch book or working on a new jewelry design, impostor syndrome is always nipping at our heels.
