Imposter Syndrome

Nov 29, 2023 | Fear and Self Doubt

Imposter syndrome is a behavioural health phenomenon described as self-doubt of intellect, skills, or accomplishments among high-achieving individuals.

Now, I wouldn’t say that applies to me exactly but last week when the other students in the private Facebook group for the Picture Book Course started posting their illustrations, I did feel something almost bordering panic for a minute. They are GOOD. Really good. And the course is just getting started.

It was very intimidating.

What am I doing? I’m not an illustrator. Or a writer. Who says I can write and illustrate any kind of book? Flasbhback to my Grandma Bateman telling ten year old me that I indeed had no right to believe I could ever publish a book … but that’s part of another story.

On Writing

Every morning during the week, I wake up, stagger down the hall to the kitchen to put on some coffee before settling in the cozy reading chair in my home office (or on the couch in my sunroom during the warmer months) to read something work related to get me revved up and ready for the day.

On Writing by Stephen King was my first selection from the course booklist. I’m a few chapters in, up to the point where Stephen has hammered a nail over his desk in which to attach his rapidly growing stack of rejection letters.

Progress, not Perfection

I guess the bottom line here is that I need to focus on enjoying the process of creating. Instead of worrying that my weekly submissions aren’t good enough yet, I will have fun with it and enjoy the exhilaration of learning something new.

Worst case scenario, even if my first picture book never gets published, I will improve my illustration skills and hopefully end up with some work that will be a solid foundation for future products.

And, best of all, I’ll have lots of pictures of my best friend, Bella 😊

Recent Posts

Julie Bateman

Hi there! I've been a self employed graphic designer, working from a home office in Barrie, Ontario Canada since 2003.

In the summer of 2022, I decided to start an ink & watercolour travel journal to document an upcoming road trip from Ontario to Prince Edward Island with Rob, my husband, and Bella our Old English Sheepdog.

From there, I fell in love with drawing, painting and documenting my world in sketchbooks. That learning process inspired me to follow the dream of writing and illustrating a picture book for children.

That's where this blog begins.

If you're interested in collaborating or hiring me for freelance projects, please email me at julie@batemandesigngroup.com

 

Recent Posts

Moving On.

Moving On.

I started sending queries to publishers and agents at the end of January. We're now nearing the end of June and there hasn't been any interest in developing my first book idea yet, so I've been working on the second while continuing to improve my story telling and...

Bella Learned to Paint!

Bella Learned to Paint!

Last weekend, the brave folks at the Huronia Museum in Midland, Ontario hosted their first dog friendly workshop. Combining the Indigenous storytelling experience with a collaborative painting class, this workshop was a fundraiser for the museum and Ontario SPCA...

Professional Development Days

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Last year, along with writing and illustrating my first picture book, I added schedule quarterly professional development days to my list of intentions. As a self employed graphic designer, my days often get filled with client projects, so it felt important to make...

Creating the Final Artwork

Creating the Final Artwork

So, here we are—working on the final artwork during this cold, snowy week in January. I've 'finished' the first spread and have started working on the second. I love this part of the process! Although many illustrators seem to prefer working digitally using software...

Making a Dummy Book

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This week was a lot of fun! We learned a lot about the importance of making dummy copies of our books to test out the format, page turns, pacing, etc. To make mine, I scanned in the thumbnails that I made last week, enlarged them a little, added text in InDesign, then...

Thumbnails

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The Picture Book Course was back this week, after three weeks off for Christmas. Although I enjoyed the downtime over the holidays, it felt great to be back at it! As I mentioned before, I had a story idea in mind when I started this course, but I took the...

Our True Colours

Our True Colours

Okay, I know I said I wasn't going to work on the book again until after I'm finished the Picture Book Course—but I changed my mind. I was sad yesterday, so I started choosing a colour palette to cheer myself up. On Saturday morning, I woke up to our find our...

Picture Book Course

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Eek! Here we go!  In September, I celebrated 20 years of being a self employed graphic designer. Perhaps because of that milestone, one of the goals I set for myself this year was new: to write and illustrate a picture book inspired by my old English sheepdog...

Character Development

Character Development

I finished the first draft of my manuscript this afternoon! Wow, does it feel great to be able to say that! My production schedule has been very full with graphic design projects lately. In between juggling three larger, long term projects with the day-to-day website...

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Please join our email list if you’re interested in watching my journey to becoming a published picture book author and illustrator progress. If you’re a Kid Lit Agent or Publisher, or if you’re interested in a collaboration, I’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to email me at julie@batemandesigngroup.com if you have a direct inquiry.

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