Genre, gender, and perfectionism - the perfect storm

I've been leafing through Elizabeth Gilbert's brilliant book Big Magic again this week. I keep going back to the section on Persistence, letting It lift me up whenever I get another rejection.

Rejections are a complex thing for me.  They could be just because my writing isn't good enough, but I don't think so.  I'm basing that assessment on the good feedback I'm getting in those rejections about my situations being intriguing and my characters appealing.  I'll continue to hone and edit those stories of course - a work is never perfect - but I'm also struck by a cascade of ideas that have neatly combined in my mind.

The logic goes like this : I'm not a scientist, so what the hell am I doing trying to write 'hard' SF with science at its heart?  (That's the Imposter Syndrome speaking).  And it occurs to me that the good old Imposter Syndrome is driving the perfectionism part of the perfect storm.  If I just do enough research, make absolutely sure that I haven't said anything stupid, then I'll rest easy when I submit the story.

To quote Elizabeth Gilbert: "Perfectionism is a particularly evil line for women, who, I believe, hold themselves to an even higher standard of performance tnan do men...  All too often women are the ones holding  themselves back from participating...   Meanwhile, putting forth work that is far from perfect rarely stops men from participating."

So, add that Imposter Syndrome and Perfectionism to the media comments I see so often about the under-representation of women in the SF genre, and you get a toxic mix of a perfect storm of despair.

"Women rarely get reviewed in the genre" we think.  "Best of lists often ignore some of the genre's biggest selling and most influential women writers..." (Both of which are definitely true)... "So what's the point in submitting?"

But if we don't fight this perfect storm it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Elizabeth Gilbert says: "Fierce trust demands that you put forth the work anyhow..."

That's great advice that I intend to follow in 2017.  I'm setting myself a target of 100 submissions next year, and 52 new stories written.  I'll keep crafting my stories, putting them out on submission, regardless of the outcome.  I will celebrate and trust my creative process.