David Packouz is a former arms trader. In this video for Business Insider, he talks about the international arms trade. His story was the subject of the 2016 movie “War Dogs” and Guy Lawson’s book “Arms and the Dudes.”

Here’s a great research video for writers who want to write about murder, police investigations, and all that sort of thing.

The video is care of LADbible:

In this episode of Minutes With, we sat down with the remarkable Laura Richards to speak about her career as a criminal behavioural analyst, profiling serial killers and stalkers for New Scotland Yard and the FBI. Laura reveals the inner workings of psychopathy and the signs she looks for when assessing the guilty behaviours of murderers. She tells us how the shocking murder of 22-year-old Clare Bernal impacted her life and led her to change the law around stalking.

Criminal Behavioural Analyst On Psychopaths, Murderers & Stalkers | Minutes With; LADbible Stories

As a writer, have you ever felt like an imposter? I know I have. Imposter syndrome can be no laughing matter. There are days when I ask myself, “Matt, who exactly are you kidding with this?” Those are the days when I feel like a fraud. The days when the fake writer police must surely be hunting for me.

On the whole, I tend to feel that I can write a pretty good story. Then there are the days when I am certain it is just the Dunning-Kruger effect and the truth is I have no idea what I am doing.

That lier imposter syndrome lurks (perhaps for all of us) around every corner. Yet there are times when it hits me harder than others. One of those times is when I have written and the editing process must start. That’s when the impossibility of the task glares down at me like an impossibly tall cliff. You can’t do this, it says, you don’t even know where to start.

This is the point where I would love to tell you that I have an answer. I don’t. I try to muddle along feeling like a fraud and hoping for the best. Sometimes this leads to over-editing and I ruin the story by thinking too much. Or, when the feeling is strongest, it stops me from editing at all.

I don’t have an answer to imposter syndrome. The reason for this post is just to let you know that you are not alone in feeling like that. It gets us all some days. I struggle with it. I know others who do too. All I know how to do is just not give up. It’s not much but it’s all I have.

How does imposter syndrome hit you?

Our last writers’ night this year (2024) will be Thursday the 5th of December. We will begin meeting again in the new year (the exact day to be decided).

Charity members and attendees of the writers’ night who wish to attend the Thanet Creative Christmas meal should contact Matt or Janet as soon as possible as it requires a deposit.

Thank you to all who make our writers’ night the special thing that it is. If we don’t see you again this year, I hope we can catch up again in January 2025.

When I updated the look for the Thanet Creative blog, I accidentally left the Words Counted tool out of the update. Words Counted lets you stick in some writing and it counts how many times you have used each word.

It is now back in full working order. Like before, Words Counted does not save the text you give it. The word length chart is still there. All the features are fully working in our new theme.

Give Words Counted a try.