5 Reasons Why You Can’t Write Your Book

After learning about the books I have published, many women have come up to me and expressed their own desire to write and publish a book. They always add to their confession that they’ve wanted to become an author for YEARS.

When I ask them why they haven’t done it yet, they always mumble some excuse they are ashamed to admit.

I’ve been able to witness firsthand how these excuses debilitate women in chasing their dream of becoming an author because I have the privilege to work with amazing women in publishing their first book through the FREE Self Publish Program.

Through these experiences, I’ve been able to learn what makes women struggle the most in writing and publishing their books. Since you’re reading this, I’m assuming you are one of these women too.

So I’ve consolidated all of this information to the top 5 Reasons Why You Have a Hard Time Writing Your Book:

#1 You have a busy schedule with many distractions

If you are working or have kids or both, you have a busy schedule. I get it. Even if you are able to schedule a writing time, you have many distractions or are just too tired to focus your energy on your book.

With the added burden of not knowing what you are doing as a first-time author, the whole process is overwhelming.

Here’s what you can do to overcome this: Start with the scenes that are clearest in your mind.

Take away the distractions that you can control, like your phone or the TV.

Stop worrying about what you have to do after you write your draft. Just write and worry about the next steps later. Worrying about them now won’t help you finish writing.

#2 You are having a hard time picking an idea

If you’re like me, you have many book ideas. Choosing which one to go with can be challenging.

The most important thing you can do is to focus on ONE for the purpose of getting your book done and published. Once you finish that book idea, you can move on to the next.

I have a whole list of books I want to write someday, but the ideas of how to execute them just haven’t come yet. And that’s ok. I write the ones I have a clear idea for right now.

Here’s what you can do to help you pick an idea:

Organize your ideas into topics and purpose to see which ones overlap.

Pick the one that excites you the most and has the most finished plot in your mind.

Pick the idea you’d like to read first.

#3 You think your idea is not good enough

Let me start by saying, everyone thinks, at some point, that their book idea is not good enough.

Either you need to develop your idea more thoroughly, OR you are lacking the confidence you need.

If you need to develop your idea more thoroughly, I suggest you do your research. Read other books in your genre and study your target audience. This can help you fully develop your idea.

If you are lacking confidence, we need to change your perspective. There are billions of people living on this planet. There are going to be people who LOVE your book and might even be waiting for it. Just because your circle of people don’t enjoy your story, doesn’t mean the vast world outside of them won’t.

Make sure you are getting feedback about your idea from your TARGET AUDIENCE. If your target reader is saying they don’t like your idea, then you have some rewriting to do.

Otherwise, your idea is good enough. Keep working at it.

#4 You don’t have your story mapped out

It is SO much easier to write your story when you know what you are writing. Think of this like baking. It’s easy to bake a cake when you know which ingredients to include and how much of each to add to your cake. Baking can also be easy when you know the right order and combination of ingredients to make the cake bake perfectly.

Why does this matter? Making the whole process easy is nice, but ultimately, you want your cake to taste good. If it’s made right, people will be asking for seconds.

This is what we want. We want your readers to ask for seconds. We want them to love your story so much they ask for more.

But the only way to get this effect is to write the perfect story. It’s hard to write the perfect story when you don’t know what to include in your story, when to include it in your story, and how to include it in your story.

Plot development can help with getting the story done quickly while ensuring you don’t miss anything.

Your plot is like your recipe. Make sure you have all the ingredients before you start.

So what can you do?: Write your plot before you write your book

#5 You are wanting it to be perfect

I have this problem. While I write, I reread what I wrote, edit it, write some more, reread it, edit it and write some more. This slows down the entire process.

If we can just write without editing our work, we could actually get the book done!!!