For me, the biggest challenge of being a writer is actually writing.

I realize this may strike some as inane as saying the hardest part of being a reader is reading, or a driver is driving, or a teacher is teaching, or a welder is welding. The core of the challenge I face each day doesn’t change much by altering the profession — you have to take action.

Words and thoughts are small steps toward action, especially as a writer, so unless you do act, you will find yourself suffering under a load of cognitive dissonance — when who you tell people you are, wish to be, or believe you are, isn’t who you actually are in practice. New sales agents are often instructed to “Fake it till you make it!” and there is some wisdom in the adage of believing in yourself when you try something new.

However, it’s not a fun place to get stuck.

When I want to get somewhere, I hop in my car and drive there. The machine handles the mechanics of my travel through space and time, and as long as I don’t drive into anyone or anything in the process, I’ll eventually get where I want to go. However, the practice of writing is unique by comparison.

I can not similarly hop onto my keyboard with an idea of where I want to go and make it type out my thoughts. Those ideas must first be created, organized and released from my mind through my fingers onto the keyboard, in much the same fashion just sitting in an idling car and *wanting* to go somewhere gets you nowhere until you actually put the car in gear and step on the gas pedal.

Maybe driving isn’t all that different from writing after all.

— The Impostor