Imposter syndrome is so real. It was to rear its head yesterday in earnest, so I took to writing by hand to remind myself that I actually have a propensity for writing.

Here’s how I am combatting imposter syndrome: whenever I doubt myself, I think of all the real-life scenarios I want to turn into stories. I am not that great at writing stories from scratch. I just want to exploit the stories I see all around me. Everybody I know should be glad I don’t carry around a notebook (although perhaps I should!).

Upon reminding myself of this, I feel guilty for exploitation. Is there any way around this, other than to create stories using pure imagination? Is story trafficking a thing? It seems to be. I mean, don’t journalists do it all the time? Surely I haven't coined that phrase, "story trafficking".

I take a sip of tea, and wonder if story trafficking isn’t all that bad. Not everyone with stories likes to tell stories, or is good at telling stories, so maybe storytellers shouldn’t feel bad about story trafficking. They are helping, maybe.