@david · October 19, 2026 · 1 min read
Writing a book is hard.
Am I so special that anyone will care about, let alone read, my memoir? Have I enough of a story to tell? My agent obviously thinks so or else she wouldn’t have signed me up.
But still, 85 000 words and I’m struggling, doubting, muttering.
Mostly, I sigh a lot, run a hand through thinning hair and look out of the window. A lot.
It’s a good view.
Mostly, I want to scrunch it all up and chuck it in the bloody waste paper basket (had I’d written the blasted thing on paper).
Writing a book is hard.
3 responses
I don’t know anyone who hasn’t hit one or more walls in the middle of a book. Sometimes your backbrain needs a bit of a break. It wants to sit on the wall for a while and look over the terrain while it catches its breath. It seems to be a necessary part of the process.
Also, I personally find the early and late parts of a book more fun (and easier to write, because I’m having fun) than the miserable middle. Among the mantras I have used to keep myself going are: “If it was good enough to start writing six months ago, it’s good enough to finish” and “What this book needs now is more words, not perfect ones.”
David Marsden wrote back to Patricia C. Wrede · 14d
The miserable middle is my new favourite writing phrase. And thanks for the mantras – the 2nd in particular.
It is jolly hard. You just have to keep putting one word in front of another. You can always go back and change them later. Just keep plodding on with them. I have every sympathy. One word, then another. Keep putting them there and the journey carries on. Good luck.
David Marsden wrote back to Sarah Ibbetson · 8d
Thanks, Sarah.
Any writing is hard and full of self-doubt but the view from the finish peak is worth it. Keep putting one word after another.
David Marsden wrote back to Mandy B · 8d
Thanks. I think because I suspect that every other writer finds the process easy, my self-doubt spirals. But the response from people in this new space has been warming and reassuring.
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