Here’s Why You Haven’t Written Your Own Book Yet

There’s a lot of people out there who, at some point of their lives, wanted to write a book. You may be one of them! Remember your childhood, when you thought life was all flowers and rainbows, when you said to yourself: “I’m gonna write a book the whole world will know about!”

Here’s the thing: life doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to be a child to achieve your childhood dreams. If you’ve spent your life thinking that there is more to offer to this world, a story to tell, an experience to share – now would be a great time to make that dream a reality!

As someone who, in fact, is writing her own book (funnily enough, this is not some decision I made after the quarantine started – it has been planned and structured weeks before that), I know very well about the things that may have stopped me from doing it before.

Those same things may be true to you – luckily, every single one of those issues has an easy fix, and I’ll share that with you today!

You had no time

I’m not saying you’re on some relaxing vacation right now – you may have school, work or kids to take care of. You’re traveling less and spending less energy on movement these days, though. That leaves more time for book writing at least during some portion of the day you see fit! I usually write between 9pm and midnight, after my son is asleep, and I write solid 5-7 pages. It may not look like much, but I definitely see the progress. You can do it, too!

You had no inspiration

Newsflash: waiting to get inspired is a fancy way of procrastination. Do you think people like me, who publish a blog post and other content apart from that on daily basis, feel inspired all the time? Of course not! Inspiration is something you look for, something you start, like a spark that eventually turns into a fire. If you wanted to build a fire, would you try to create the spark with rocks and a wooden stick, or would you wait for lightning to strike the tree?

You thought you needed to create a bestseller

Chances are, you may not that on your first attempt. That’s no reason to give up on your book – just start writing and don’t think about how successful it will be or won’t be. It won’t help you get more inspired or creative. Just write word by word, chapter by chapter, the best way you can. The results will come!

You were afraid of what others would think about you

You can’t write a book with a “I can’t put that in there, my aunt Jane will see it and get mad about it” attitude. You’re either in it, or you’re not. Tell your story the way it is and stick to your own mindset. It’s time to put the integrity pants on and create something you’re proud of. Yes, someone may not like what you have to say. Guess what? If you don’t make enemies in your lifetime, it only means you never did anything that truly mattered. Embrace the haters. They’re free promotion!

You thought it was complicated

You saw countless movies where an author goes from one publishing agency to another, gets rejected, depressed, has no money, throws the transcript in the trash, burns the trash can… That’s the Hollywood way of representing weakness. You’re not weak! If you get rejected, you apply someplace else. After all, if you feel like it’s a complicated hassle – self-publish! It’s so easy these days!

You thought others had said it all, and there’s nothing valuable to add

If that was the case, there would be no more new books. The agencies would shut down, no one would call themselves a writer. It just wouldn’t exist anymore.

No one can tell your story the way you can present it to the world. You’re the only one who can do that!

You lacked discipline

Maybe you started your book at some point, but you gave up on it, endlessly repeating yourself every day: “I’ll write tomorrow.” Go back to that goal and turn tomorrow into right now. Discipline yourself. Create a schedule. You’ve trained yourself to do far less important things throughout the day. Add another routine and don’t think about it anymore, just do it.

You thought it was for “special people”

Who is special, really?

The answer is not “nobody”. The answer is: EVERYONE.

Everyone is special enough to tell a story. It’s more about the technicalities like discipline, passion and courage.

Do not underestimate yourself and sell yourself short. You have things to say that people need to hear.

You thought it doesn’t “pay off”

I mean, let’s be honest. If you are truly passionate about writing, you’ll get your ideas out there regardless of whether it pays off financially or not.

However.

Writing for money is okay, too. You just need to pick a correct genre.

If you want people to buy your book, give them a reason to. Write helpful content that can help them fix their problems, rather than turning to fantasy and trying to sell the idea into escaping into some magical world. It doesn’t work that way anymore. Unless you’re writing the next Harry Potter kind of masterpiece – then absolutely go for it.

What other things do you think are stopping people from writing a book? What’s blocking you, and was this blog post helpful? Let me know in the comments!