We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Daniel Wright a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Daniel, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
It can be difficult at times, especially the further along you go and the greater the opportunities that get presented to you. But you just have to remind yourself that you got this far by doing the work. And when you take away all the pomp and circumstance of any situation or status, all that’s left is the work. So you just got to get to it.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I have been a professional writer for fifteen years. I started with contributing to punk zines in the mid to late 2000s. In 2013, I started working for Eleven magazine. In 2014, I released my first chapbook of poetry through my own label, Back of the Class Press. In 2019, my first full length professional collection of poetry, entitled Rodeo of the Soul, was released. Since then I have released three more collections. I have written a foreword for Sacred Decay: The Art of Lauren Marx which was released by Dark Horse. I have a few more books lined up for release over the next few years, including my first novella and collection of stories. This year, Back of the Class released three books. One an anthology, the other two were full length collections of poetry. And we have a few more projects lined up going in to 2024.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
More than anything, have the will to be able to do it. I did not graduate with the best grades. And I was told that because of that fact, I shouldn’t dream about all the weird and cool things I wanted to do. But I did them anyway because I figured, I can at least say I did this once. I have been in bands, I have traveled all over the world. And everyone around said I shouldn’t do that or I shouldn’t do that yet. That life is supposed to follow a pattern and a way. I say make your own path. Make sure that whenever it is that it comes time to cash in your chips that you have no regrets. As long as whatever it is you want to do doesn’t harm or hurt anyone, do what you want to do. Try to be practical in the execution of it, but do it!
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
Oof, that’s a tough one. Probably “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Rilke. It has some of the best truths said in the simplest way, which is why I think Rilke was the amazing poet that he was.
When I try to think of the really good advice I’ve been given over the years, I’m drawing a blank. And I know as soon as this interview is over, I’ll think of twenty different things I’ve heard over the years, haha. In my experience though, the best advice I’ve received as always been the most simple. As complicated as life can be and as complicated as we can make it at times, a lot of things can actually be simple when we take a step back and look at them objectively. When it comes to life, trust your gut and try to be the best person you can. All we have is the present and the information of that present. Make the best of that.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: dwrightwriter
