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Welcome back, March, and thanks for this thoughtful reflection on the writing process!

In this sentence:

“Imposter syndrome. I’ve never experienced this before. And, it sucks.”

I assume you meant “I’ve experienced”? I don’t usually nitpick about typos but just alerting you to this one since it affects the meaning.

What does it say about me if I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever experienced imposter syndrome, at least when it comes to writing? Maybe it’s because I’ve been writing since my mom taught me how to read at four, so it’s always come naturally to me. And I’m the one who puts off cleaning the house *to* write, so I have the opposite problem and our house looks like the aftermath of an atomic explosion 😆

Not sure if you noticed, but I shared the link to your survey in the announcements section after this piece:

• “Letter to the California Legislature” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/letter-to-the-california-legislature)

I look forward to learning the survey results and seeing you put them to use for the good of the world!

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Dear March, I love your writing! I love the bold font (which visually breaks up the column of text) and the “but I digress” tangents!

My favorite writer re the creative process is Eric Maisel. I am currently reading his recent book, The Power of Daily Practice.

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I have no pretensions to being a writer, so I've never experienced this condition. I know someone who is a genuine imposter, though! My father. He's been writing execrable, deadly boring "novels" for over two decades, and over twenty years ago he conscripted me into editing them. I've finally gone on permanent strike.

My father's writing is pure, insufferable garbage. I've wasted years of my life on his arrogant, narcissistic, delusional idea that he has anything worthwhile to say or write. His writing is so indescribably awful it's downright criminal to ask anyone to even read it, much less to edit it.

As Ann Patchett wrote in one of the essays in her recently published book, These Precious Days, demanding that your adult child serve as your editor is a form of child abuse.

After being forced to wade through a sewer of insufferably bad writing for decades, I truly appreciate thoughtful, intelligent, clear, elegant writing!

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