I really want to provide the most useful information possible through this blog, so I’d like to hear from you.
What are your biggest challenges in writing a great book?
What are your struggles and roadblocks? What keeps you from getting it done? What’s the area where you need the most help?
As usual, Mary Jo, TIME. 😉 (Does it surprise you to hear that from me? lol!) I’ve had ideas since I was a child (other than what we are doing now with the history materials), and so many of them seem like things I will not be able to get to until I’m near retirement, just because I do not have enough hours in the day! I do find, however, that in delegating the chores and details of my life that I really don’t need to do myself (even at the point of paying others to do them–my time is more valuable in the long run), it frees up more time in my schedule so that I can actually entertain the thought of pursuing one of these dreams…
Also, wondering if it will be worth all the time and energy I know would be needed to reach the finish line. Will it be a success or will if flop? Will I reach the right market or will I create something that could really be something and fail in marketing it well?
My greatest challenge in writing a book is confidence. I love to write, and I am currently working on a book. However, I wonder if it will mean something to anyone else or if I will be the only one who likes it. Since I am a first-time author, I fear sharing my ideas with anyone for fear of discouragement or rejection. A confidant or support group who will also critique honestly and lovingly is crucial, I believe, for a first-time author.
Good question, Mary Jo. I just sent in a finished chapter to my editor, my contribution to a collection of 10 women’s stories of overcoming challenges, due to be published in a month or so.
It will be my first offline published work, so it’s quite exciting!
But I can’t tell you how looooonnnng I put off putting the finishing touches on that chapter! First there were the Christmas holidays, then New Year’s, then my father became ill and passed away, then I was sick for a couple of weeks…and most of that time, there was that subconscious nagging that I had this important unfinished work to address.
Finally, telling the editor I’d have it finished and back to her within 24 hours, I sat down to conquer what felt like an insurmountable obstacle. All of a sudden, I realized what my adversary had been all along…FEAR!
That’s probably not that surprising to anyone but me…”After all, this book about being an overcomer! LOL! How could my problem be fear!?!” (Obvious newbie to this publishing bit, I know!)
But as the finishing touches to the chapter flowed out, I realized I had been afraid to really put myself out there, on paper, and perhaps have stamped on my imaginary author’s passport: “failed,” or worse yet, “uninteresting, trivial”.
I had no problem telling “my story” to anyone in person, or even from a stage, but there was simply something about having it on paper that forced me to deal with the fact that this story would be read and I would be judged (positively or negatively). I was particularly afraid that my story would come across as that of someone who’d spent waaaaay too much time “navel-gazing,” so to speak…thinking too much of herself and the challenges of her life.
Well, I finally determined I would not let this opportunity slip through my fingers, like many before. “THIS ONE” I would offer my best, all of me, emotionally naked and vulnerable and I’d simply have to survive negative comments that might come with the positive. No matter what the reaction, I figured I had to conquer my own fears or they would forever conquer me.
Whatever the reaction when this does come out in a month or so, I’m already fine with it. The fear left me, in this instance, as soon as I pressed send! LOL!
So Mary Jo, this first publication is not a complete book of my own composition, since I’m a co-author. But I think the issue of dealing with all those what-ifs we spent so much time imaging would be great to address. Perhaps you have some solutions that would prevent that tendency to procrastinate when uncertainty of the outcome prevails.
Any hints, Mary Jo?
I’ll have to agree with Amy… TIME!
But, the truth is: I do have time, if I knew how to break up the work into 5-minute, 15-minute, and 30-minute chunks. Sometimes, I’ll have a half-hour while waiting for something to happen. Rather than surfing through email, it would be great to knock out six 5-minute slices of a chapter, or two 15-minute slices, or one big 30-minute slice.
So, my question is: How do I realistically break up the work so that I can work on the right-sized slice when the time becomes available?