How to Write a Great Book Without Getting Stuck With Writer’s Block, Self Doubt, or Having to Get an MFA

Hey, everyone in this series, I'm gonna show you how to crush the book writing process without wasting time with writer's block, self doubt, or having to get an MFA.

Because let's be honest if you're watching this, you've probably tried to write a book before. You might have even read books about the writing process, taking courses, or even worked with expensive editors and still had trouble finishing and publishing a book.

And if that's true for you, I just wanna say I've been there. It's very normal writing. A book is hard. I've personally failed just about every way. And it's really not your fault.

I also wanna say that if you've ever thought that the publishing industry, New York city agents and editors, or even big book retailers like Amazon don't really want to help you in your career as a writer, you're right. There are more than a million books published every year. They are overwhelmed. They're focused on their mega bestselling clients and they don't have time for new writers.

The difference between them and our team at the right practice is that we actually care about new and up-and-coming writers like you, and we want you to become successful. If you have an idea for a book, if you have a dream to finish and publish that book, to show it off to your friends and even become a professional writer, we want to help you.

And that's what we're going to get into in this three-part training.

My goal for this is to help people who have an idea for a book, but who aren't sure they can actually finish it. And I want to show you how to actually do it, how to write a great book and not get stuck so badly that you want to quit along the way.

But if that's not you, no problem. You can turn off this video now, but if that is you, let's go ahead and get started.

And my bigger goal is that I want to get you to believe that deliberate practice is actually the key to writing and publishing success. And I'm gonna show you the process that I've developed over the last 10 plus years, that will make it possible for you to achieve your goals.

Over the last 10 years, I've written more than a dozen books. One of which became a wall street journal bestseller. My writing has been read by millions of people and even more meaningfully to me, I've helped thousands of people finish their books through The Write Practice.

But just a year or two, before that I was completely stuck. I was sitting on the floor of my bad apartment, having a breakdown, close to quitting, being a writer. I had wanted to be a writer for years before that, but I had failed again and again, and this time was a little different though. I had a coach who is a New York times bestselling author.

I was co-writing the book with another author. So I had someone to bounce ideas off of, and most of all, I was actually getting paid to write a book. And when I accepted that job, It sounded like a really amazing thing. But at that point I was halfway through, I was completely blocked. I was crying on the floor, hating my life.

And while I was there in the middle of this breakdown, I had a realization. I realized this, if I don't write, then I don't get paid. And if I don't get paid, then I don't have food. And if I don't have food, well, you get the picture.

And I thought, huh, this is pretty hard, but maybe it would be better to just write rather than starve to death.

And so after a few minutes I got off the floor, I dusted myself off and I got back to writing. And by the way, it was still hard after that don't get me wrong. But friends, I finished that book just a few weeks later, that book was published. It became a bestseller. Immediately after that experience, I started The Write Practice to help other writers and it's become one of the top websites in the world for writers we've helped over 20 million people become better writers and finish their books.

So in this series, I wanna share three myths that writers believe that keep them from using deliberate practice to finish their books and accomplish their goals.

And the story I just shared brings up the first myth that I want to talk about, which I, one of the biggest, I hear this from so many writers and here's how the myth goes:

For real writers, writing is easy. Therefore, if writing is hard for you, if you procrastinate a lot, if you get stuck with writer's block, then you're not a real writer. And you don't stand a chance.

And maybe you believe in that myth, that writing should be easy, that it should be free, that it should feel like riding rainbows through the meadow of creativity. And when you struggle, it means that you're not a real writer, but you just heard my story. I was struggling to write a book and just about the most embarrassing way possible.

And you know what it turned out. I kept with it because I had to, I finished that book. It was published, it became successful. And even more from that experience, I became a professional writer.

My good friend, Jeff Goin says, you know how, you know, if you're a real writer, you write that's it. If it's easy for you to write. That's great. I'm jealous of you, but more than likely, it's going to be a challenge. The difference between real writers and other people is that real writers think the challenge is worth it.

But maybe you're thinking writing is so hard. I don't know if I can keep going. So let me give you a trick. That's helped me finish over a dozen books. Here's the trick. You need to make it harder to NOT write than it is to write.

You need a consequence.

For me, if I didn't write, I wasn't going to eat. Writing was really hard, but you know, it was harder not eating. And so I did it.

And in the same way, a few years later, I was working on a memoir. This time, it was a project I was working on for myself. I wasn't getting paid for it, but I was still struggling. I had been working on it for years and I wasn't making any progress.

So I finally did something my friend, Tim Graw told me to do this was in 2016 during the U.S. Presidential election. And I wrote a check for a thousand dollars to the canidate I most disliked. And I gave it to a friend and said, if I don't finish my book, you have to send this check.

And you know what it was the most focused I've ever been. I finished that book. It took me nine weeks. It was amazing.

At The Write Practice, we believe in this power of consequences. In fact, in our 100 Day Book program, everyone who signs up gets a hundred dollars back when they finish their book by their deadline. And if they don't finish, if they miss three weekly deadlines, they lose the $100.

And it works. We've helped thousands of people finish their books this way. It's an amazing process.

So in the notes below, we have a link to a worksheet that will help prepare you to write your book. And on it is a question about creating a consequence. It says:

“If I don't finish my book by X date, this bad thing will happen.”

And you can fill in the blanks. I want you to fill out that worksheet and share your consequence as a comment in this video.

Writing is hard. If you want to finish your book and succeed as a writer, you need to make it harder not to write than it is to write.

All right, that's it for this video in the next one, we're gonna tackle another false belief in how to overcome it and finish your book. Stay tuned for that.

Happy writing and see you soon!