Illustration by Forsyth Harmon
Dear Anais,
I am in the middle of my first year in a graduate writing program. The program was my top choice, and I was also offered a nice fellowship as part of the admission package. Needless to say, I was on top of the world when accepted.
However, a semester later, I’m having a crisis. I came into the program feeling pretty good about my work, but my confidence has plummeted. The other writers in the program all have top-tier publications, get asked to read all the time, and two of them already have well-received books. They are obviously more talented than I am and I feel like I don’t quite know what I’m doing here: they seem to know all the right people and seem to have read EVERYTHING. I just feel like I can’t compete. The one thing I have going for me is that I’m socially astute, so everyone is nice to me. In fact, my peers are quite fun and friendly despite being apparent wunderkinds. Continue reading
