Meet Sharon Emmerichs

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

Sharon, 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.

I’m not sure I have! However, the success of Shield Maiden went a long way to boosting my confidence. As much as I realize much of getting publish depends a LOT on luck–finding the right agent, getting your manuscript in front of the right eyes at the right time, etc.–I finally felt like a real writer when I held my book in my hands for the first time.

The most important thing, however, are the readers. Of course I know that no book is going to be for everyone, and I always maintained that if only one person read and loved my book, then I would be satisfied. When it was first released, I held my breath, waiting to see how it would be received. And when I started getting tagged in reviews on social media, and people started tweeting about it and making tiktoks and instagram posts about how much they loved it, I realized my impostor syndrome was just my own brain telling me lies.

I still struggle with it sometimes. When I’m asked to speak at a library or teach a creative writing class, my first instinct is to think, “Oh, I’m not sure I can do that.” But then I realize there is a reason they are asking. I stiffen my spine and actually do it.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’ve done a lot of things in my life–I started out as an actor. I studied at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and have been involved in community theatre my whole life. I got a degree in communicative disorders and speech language pathology, and eventually went back to school for my English degree. I went for my PhD and became an English professor, specializing in Shakespeare and early modern and medieval literature. And, because I’m something of a nut, I went back to school AGAIN to get my MFA in creative writing, fiction, while I was going up for tenure at my university job!

I love teaching because it’s a lot like performing. I still get to feel I’m on stage, and I get to have a positive impact on a lot of students’ lives. I love the research and academic writing as well–I have over a dozen published articles, book chapters, and book reviews in my field. Being a professor is an incredibly stressful career, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.

I’ve been writing books and stories my whole life, even before I could write actual words. I’d scribble wiggly lines on construction paper, staple them together and call them a book. So I think I was destined to become a writer. It’s a part of my identity–of my spirit and my body, like breath and blood and bone.

I’m working on a new book now, but I’m still doing events for Shield Maiden, and I really enjoy doing signings and readings and events for libraries and bookstores.

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?

1. Perseverance. Writing and publishing is not a career choice for folks who give up easily. It’s difficult and painful, full of rejection and frustration. I often get frustrated with myself when the words don’t come easily, or when I let myself get distracted from writing. But I’m also most myself when I write, and there is no joy quite like finishing that manuscript! But it takes perseverance to get to the end of a book, and even more to slog through querying agents and submitting to publishers.

2. Self-discipline. The thing about being a fiction writer is that at first, no one is standing over you demanding you finish your book. That has to come from you. Later it will feel more like an actual job when agents and editors give you deadlines and professionals are expecting progress from you, but at first you need to have the self-discipline and willpower to get it done on your own.

3. Willingness to take risks. Every time I write something and put it out for people to read, it feels like a huge risk. Every query, every submission feels like putting my heart on the line. Writing something that would make my readers feel things feels like a risk. Putting my book in the hands of editors feels like a risk. So as writers, we have to be willing to take these risks to get our work out in the world. Some risks don’t pan out and we have to figure out how to deal with that, but it’s absolutely worth it in the end.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I’ve always thought it would be amazing to write a graphic novel–but I have zero artistic ability in drawing or illustration. I think it would be fantastic to collaborate with an artist to create a graphic novel…perhaps in the Shield Maiden world, perhaps something completely different.

People can always use the contact page on my author website, or they can contact me through my agent, Kristina Perez at [email protected]. I’m also on Twitter (@dragonwriter1) and Instagram (dragonwriter01).

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Kevin Hedin

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