Meet Kate Feiffer

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kate Feiffer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kate, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

Imposter Syndrome has been like a large, unwieldy extraneous limb that attached itself to me in my late teens. For decades I couldn’t figure out a way to get rid of it and I let it call the shots, but then I came up with a plan. Rather than trying to excise it, I decided to dress it up and accessorize it.
Part of my imposter syndrome limb grew out of the fact that my father was a celebrated cartoonist and a beloved children’s book author and illustrator, and while I loved to write and draw, I didn’t have the confidence to enter that arena even though I secretly wanted to. I didn’t even have the confidence to tell anyone that I wanted to write and illustrate.
In truth, I was motivated by watching others who seemed to be thriving when their imposter syndrome could have easily held them back. I made note of the fact that George W. Bush thought he should be President. Yet I was too intimidated to send a story for children to an editor. It was time to take action. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get rid of my imposter syndrome, so I decided to make it work for me.
My drawings are loose and whimsical and doodle-like, and there are many things I simply am not able to draw. My writing tends to lack adjectives and descriptive details, but I’m funny. Instead of punishing myself for what I am not good at, I leaned into my strengths. I dressed up my imposter syndrome limb in whimsy and wit and walked out into the world. And to my delight, people started thanking me for bringing them joy and making them laugh.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am a writer and illustrator, and a literary event planner. In 2024, my first novel for adults, titled Morning Pages, was published. Since I think of myself as a children’s book author, I started referring to Morning Pages as a “novel for adults.” While there is indeed some sex in it, it is not THAT kind of novel for adults. The book is about a playwright dealing with sandwich generation issues. Her son is 18 and barely talks to her. Her mother is in the early stages of dementia. And while juggling parenting and her parents, she’s trying to revive her stalled career as a playwright.

I thought it was important to write a play if I was writing about a playwright, so I guess you could say that I am now a children’s book author, novelist, and playwright. I am also an illustrator and a compulsive doodler.
Sometimes these pursuits merge together. Right now I am working on a new picture book for children titled How To Draw A Dog. I am also trying to get the play I wrote for the novel produced. It’s a comedy about a forty-year-old woman whose divorced parents both move in with her. (Here’s a gentle nudge to any theater producers reading this to reach out to me.)

Much of my time is spent both creating work and promoting creators. The promotional piece is through a program called Islanders Write that I run. We put on writers festivals and offers online writing workshops and bring together an incredible community of writers working across genres to discuss the art, craft, and business of writing.

The bottom line is, I am interested in storytelling, storytellers, and the stories we have and want to tell.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three qualities I have that I believe helped me most are :

1) A genuine interest in learning about people. My daughter says I ask too many questions, but I think curiosity about other people and their lives has served me well as a writer, and honestly, hearing people’s stories keeps life interesting.

2) Being a connector of people to people, and people to projects. I inherited this skill from my brilliant mother.

3) I doodle. Doodling helps me think and it helps me relax. Do not listen to the naysayers, doodling has been shown to be good for your brain.

As for advice – the best advice I have is to keep an open mind and find the humor in the chaos. Also, ask questions and keep a pen in your hand.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

The extraordinary and talented women in my long-time writers group have been my support system, my inspiration, my editors, my motivators, my confidence-givers, my laugh track, my brain-stormers, and my port-in-the-stormers. What is unique about this group is each of us works in different genres. We are a poet, a cookbook author, a memoirist, a historical fiction novelist, an essayist, and me the children’s book author turned novelist, We have been meeting for almost two decades and we are deeply invested and interested in each other’s creative work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.katefeiffer.com
• Instagram: @kfeiffer
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kate.feiffer
• Linkedin: Kate Feiffer