Dennis Palumbo, in the 2007 Writer Manual, says, "There is a myth out there that if you take the right seminar, read the right books, get the right coach, have the right friends or contacts, then you’ll be successful. That the person you are right now just isn’t enough.
It’s a classical belief system. You feel you have to be something more to succeed—smarter, better educated, funnier—with more interesting lives, unique experiences. More something.
"As a therapist who works with writers I see this everyday. Writers who believe all the other writers are more talented, more confident, less burdened by doubt.”
In the opening sequence of Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories, the glum Woody sits in a dark dingy train car with a handful of depressed and sour-faced killjoys. He sees another train car—shining, brightly lit. Inside beautiful men and women laugh, drink and enjoy the life of privilege. A girl laughs at him and blows a kiss his way. Woody despairs. Why isn’t he in the sparkling car with sparkling people.
Have you ever looked around and wondered how you got stuck where you did? Or wondered why you didn't have it as easy as the other guy?
