Meet Konn Lavery

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Konn Lavery. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Konn below.

Hi Konn, 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.

Imposter syndrome is a challenging struggle to get over. Not everyone experiences it when they are pursuing their goals. People can experience the opposite: over confidence of your abilities, also something to look out for. In terms of the syndrome and my fiction, I have had dealt with it for a large amount of time because I felt my writing was never enough.
It didn’t help that my English grades weren’t the best in high school back in the 2000s and I failed to take the time to develop them. I was too eager to share stories, and this in return helped foster the problem where it seemed, to me, that I was pretending to be an author from my first release 2012 until 2018.
Of course, during those years, I studied writing, kept practicing the craft, and the writing improved. I made it into my hometown’s bestseller list in 2014, won a small book award in 2016, and people came to my book launches, book signings, and I spoke at conventions in front of dozens of people. Still, I had this idea I was fooling everyone and the house of cards would collapse at any point. The emotion stemmed from my belief in not fully grasping the English language (who does?) and most of my fantasy and horror stories to that date were self-published.
How to overcome it? I think it is different for everyone. Mine hit in 2018 when I wrote the novel, YEGman, which was completely different from my other work. It was a crime thriller rooted in the real world. Tackling a story well out of my comfort zone pushed me to interview real people, research, understand story structure, and pacing. Touring the new novel introduced me to new publishers and writing opportunities sprouted from there, resulting in a couple of novels and shorts. None of which would have happened if I didn’t write something so out of the normal from my previous work.
In summary, I overcame imposter syndrome through persistence and continual learning until I became what I thought I needed to be.

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 am an author and graphic designer. My best-selling writing ranges from dark fantasy to horror, winning multiple awards throughout the years. As of 2024, I’ve been self-employed as a graphic designer for 10 years, specializing in branding and web design/development.
Writing and graphic design have been hand-in-hand for most of my life. I have an interest in transmedia storytelling, which is the art of telling a story through multiple mediums. Example: Star Wars or Marvel use multiple medias to tell a greater story. As one person with a microscopic budget in comparison, I can only do so much and my interest in design comes in handy when promoting my writing and incorporating illustrative work into the pages of my novels to enhance the worlds I create.
My latest novel is Obsidian’s Command: Ash Born Book Two released on October 24th. The multi-genre thrill ride works as a standalone book while continuing the events of Crystal Moth Conspiracy: Ash Born Book One.
The one sentence pitch: A darkness calls to convict Lola Cabello from beyond the fabrics of reality, whispering words of power, she’ll ignore the consequences to herself, her loved ones, and the world, to assassinate the fallen angel who shattered her life.

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?

Persistence, willingness to learn, and naivete.
Persistence: keep at what you’re doing if you truly love it. Life is finite and if you don’t enjoy it, why bother? If you do, it will only move forward. It may take a couple of weeks, or it might be fruitful in 20 years to get to where you envision. Having a love for what you do makes the process more enjoyable than the end result.
Willingness to learn: learning keeps our minds sharp and active, ensuring that while you persist at your craft or dream, you’ll continue to grow, which enhances everything you do. Being a lifelong student maintains your curiosity, humbles you and helps you understand that you can always improve.
Naivete: be naïve. People often use the word in a negative light. A sense of wonder and boldness, which can’t be synthesized, is fostered by naïveté. The tricky thing about learning too much is it can make you jaded, thinking you have all the answers. You may start judging yourself or your work far more than you should rather than enjoying the process.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

Time. As mentioned earlier, it is finite. As I age, I am feeling time’s limited amount in my personal life and professional. We all have 24 hours in a day, and it is up to you to decide what to do with it. Instead of “finding time” shifting to a “making time” mindset helps figure out what is important in your life, what type of work you want to do, and what you do in your spare time. Dan Sullivan’s 10x is Easier than 2x was a great read that I am still processing.

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