Here’s what I tell my student when they express this anxiety: Write in community along the way and your community will be there to support you further down the path too. Share your work with friends. Go to readings and cheer on peers and mentors. Activate yourself as a literary citizen.
"activate yourself as a literary citizen" has to be the best advice I've seen in a long while. Thank you!
This is excellent advice and I applaud you...in no way whatsoever would I have been published without support along the way, and I'll always try to pay that forward when I can.
I've had many fellow writers, both already successful and also those just starting out, support me early in my career for which I will be forever grateful. I've also seen peers cut out everyone less successful than them like they're dead weight, once they gain a certain level of success.
Even if that doesn't happen, it's good to have peers who know what your struggles are.
I think the point is not to befriend people who are already famous. The point is that if you develop a group of friends who are at the same level as you, over time some members of the group will become well known. They can then do what they can to help other members of the group.
100% beyond trying to grab the attn of more seasoned folks it's essential to connect with ppl who are at the same stage you are in their own journeys--horizontal networks are equally important! I feel like we're so conditioned to "look up" we tend to forget that