The real challenge

Someone asked me recently what was the hardest part of writing a book. Phew! Good one! Let me think about that a bit.

It could be the hours spent pounding away on the keyboard, squirreled away in my office, just me and my imagination. It gets lonely, even for an introvert.

It could be the endless naysayers that inhabit my head saying “nobody is ever gonna read this” or “why are you even bothering? There are so many better writers than you out there!” Shutting that down takes a strong sense of self. And being a bit blockheaded! Which I can be, I admit.

It could be the endless (ENDLESS!) revisions that chip away at my belief in the story. Does anyone who ever had a book in print want to grab it off the presses and make it “just a bit better?” Yeah. Maybe not. It’s more of a “There, that’s done. Now what?”

The biggest challenge though, is when it’s written and “out there.” Then you are hoping against hope that your story will capture the imaginations of hundreds, nay, thousands of people, who avidly read your book and demand “More, more!” Because that is why we write, people. Its how we share our imagination, … its who we writers are. Dreamers, every one.