The Hardest Part of Writing a Book

The Hardest Part of Writing a Book

Editing, JS, Medium, writing

I see this question many places — on Quora, in articles about writing, when I’m asked directly.

“What is the hardest part about writing a book?”

I understand why people want to know, but the truth is that just like everything else in life, what is most difficult for me may be easy for you and vice versa.

Here’s what I can tell you from my own experience. I have ghostwritten a few books and recently published my own.

For me, the hardest part of writing a book is knowing when I’m finished.

I started with my trusty outline, I wrote everything, I reread several times, it FELT complete.

The moment I sent it to the editor, I had ideas for things I could have expanded on or written differently.

I managed to keep it together until I got it back from the editor, at which time I ended up adding an entire case study and about half a chapter.

I sent that part BACK to the editor.

And I made myself stop writing.

The moment it hit the virtual shelves for sale, I recounted my mistakes.

I could have added more, made it better, given better examples, used a more formal vocabulary.


For me, it was never anxiety over whether or not I was qualified to write a book, or if people would think it was silly, or if it was poorly written (some of the top fears expressed to me when people talk about writing).

I have confidence in my writing and I was building off of content I’d previously written and gotten solid feedback on as a blogger.

My anxiety came from feeling like it wasn’t complete.

A feeling of “Nooo! I forgot to tell them this amazing advice on how to get the higher-end clients!”

And I don’t mean to say that I think that information could only come from me.

But my goal was to write a really helpful, practical book to help people find clients, market themselves, and build a freelancing business with no initial investment, and I just truly wanted to provide as much a framework as humanly possible.

Even now, I sometimes think about what more information I could have added to it.

But I have mostly moved on. I’m thinking about my next book, focusing on my clients, and continuing to build, grow, and refine my own business.

And all of these experiences will help me on the next book!


What was the hardest part of writing a book, a paper, a blog, anything, for you?

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How to Stop Procrastinating

How to Stop Procrastinating

JS, LinkedIn, Medium, writing

Working from home doesn’t make me more likely to procrastinate, it’s just easier to get away with it because no one is watching.

In the corporate world, procrastination is there, it’s just slightly less detectable. Facebook and Twitter in between clients, Instagram while you go to the bathroom, texting all day. Reading the news is the easiest way to procrastinate at work because it seems that it is the most “acceptable” non-work thing to do.

It’s unlikely that anyone will sit at a desk in front of a computer and work nonstop for 8 solid hours with no distraction or rest.

Instead of policing an employee’s every move, it should be understood that some distraction can be a good thing. Leaving a task and coming back with fresh eyes is great and can catch errors you may have missed before. Refreshing yourself and coming back to work with renewed vigor is great!

Working from home, I have found that I can just as easily get into Facebook for half an hour as I can stop and sweep the house or take pictures of my cat.

4 Tips to Stop Procrastinating

  1. Schedule tasks. If you know you need to do specific things on Tuesday or have them done by Wednesday, put them on your calendar. Schedule an hour to block off specifically for “edit Client A’s Chapter 2–3.” And then keep to your calendar.
  2. Close out of social media. When focusing on a specific task, close out of all social media websites and put your phone face down. It is a simple way to remove distractions.
  3. Get in the right mindset. Instead of thinking, “Shoot, I have to do this task.” Consider trying a different perspective. Try, “I am going to knock this out and be done with this whole task in only 45 minutes!” It’s been shown that changing your mindset affects your attitude and even likelihood of success.
  4. Just start! Stop trying to think of why you don’t want to do something and just start. It will go faster than you think, and you’ll wonder why you spent so much time complaining about it or procrastinating when you could have been done that much sooner.

What do you do to get started on work? Do you find yourself procrastinating a lot? How do you accomplish your goals?