We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elizabeth. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elizabeth below.
Elizabeth, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
No one ever actually overcomes it. You just learn to write through it. Once Harlan Ellison told a story about sitting on a deck with Steve McQueen, and McQueen confessed to him that he regularly gets this dream where someone comes to his door and says he wasn’t supposed to have any of this: not the money or the movies or the family or the house. It was all supposed to go to someone else and they’ve come to take it all away. I figure if artists like Steve McQueen and Harlan Ellison still got imposter syndrome despite their noteworthy successes, the rest of us can give ourselves a little grace. Did you write the best story you could write at this point in time? Did you make it true and honest to what you know and how you feel? Then let the rest go, and prepare to do it again with the next story – and do it better.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a writer. I’ve been writing since I could pick up a crayon, and eventually became a journalist before I became an author. I’ve worked nearly 30 years in journalism, much of it working for daily newspapers. My first novel was published in 2004, and I’ve been publishing regularly since then, mostly with small presses. I love horror and science fiction, but I’ve also played around in fantasy, romance and literary fiction. In 2018, I quit full-time news to go back to school and earn two masters degrees, because why get one masters when you can get two for twice the price? Now I teach composition, creative writing and journalism at area colleges, continue writing news and features freelance, and my latest book is Blackfire Rising, a dark urban fantasy published in April by Falstaff Books. I’m under contract for three more books to Falstaff, and the next one is going to be my first space opera.
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?
As a fiction writer and as a journalist, active curiosity is an essential trait. Tenacity helps a lot, but first you have to have something to be curious about. The world is a fascinating place filled with interesting people, and whether you’re writing true stories or making them up, an inquisitive nature takes you a long way toward having something to write about. The third ties into my best advice: take the risk. The best successes I’ve had in my life have come because I had the chance to try something new, something I’d never even considered doing, and I took the leap. Sure, sometimes you fall flat on your face, but it was usually the things I’d planned out carefully that foundered and the total oddball experiments that soared.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My parents encouraged my reading and writing even when I was sure I wasn’t going to be a writer. From the time I was very young, they read to me and I read to them, and they encouraged me to read whatever interested me without holding me back. When I decided I was going to study theater in college, they didn’t pressure me to find something more practical; they supported my dreams. When I decided to switch to journalism, they cheered me on, and when I decided to leave newspapering and go back to school, they cheered again. The best thing a parent can do for their child is to advise, to guide, and then to stand back and support their child’s dreams, no matter how crazy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.elizabethdonald.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057766725194
- Other: Bluesky: @edonald
Image Credits
Author photo (black and white) by Russ Matthews
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