I was amazed at the response of how many highly sensitive people who told me that they want to write a book, but couldn’t finish it or they wanted to just write, but didn’t have the confidence or time to put their words to paper. Another major reason people don’t write is because they are afraid of criticism.  I would like to offer you more encouragement to write, even if it’s only for your own enjoyment.

What’s holding you back? Maybe you feel that you haven’t written enough words, perhaps you’ve written too many words, or you can’t write any words at all. Maybe you aren’t sure how to create a book that will appeal to many people. Regardless of the nature of your obstacles, FOCUS and ACTION are the two main buzz words to remember.

The first and most important step is to FOCUS in on your audience and your content. What do you want to write about? How broad or narrow do you want to go with your subject matter? Who are you writing for? How can you address the problems or interests of your target audience? How can you engage them? It’s very important to accurately answer these questions. Learn as much as you can about your subject matter and your target audience. Don’t make too many assumptions. Do the research. Make an outline of the topics that you want to cover.

Other considerations include, how long does your book need to be? It needs to be long enough to discuss the topic thoroughly and short enough that people will actually read your book. One thing to keep in mind is that people today have shorter attention spans. Many feel they don’t have enough time to read. In my opinion, it’s better to “err” on the side of making a book too short rather than too long.

The next ACTION step is to just start writing. I can’t emphasize this point enough: if you’re blocked, the solution is to begin writing, no matter what comes out of your head! Don’t worry about making things “perfect,” since you’ll be making changes later. As any writer will tell you, the “real” writing is done in the rewriting. Why not write for the pure enjoyment of it? It doesn’t have to be published. If you do want to publish your book, I strongly suggest that you self-publish it and have it be printed on demand. A traditional publishing house is not going to promote your book. Why not publish it yourself? There are many companies that do this. In 2007 when I wrote my book, I didn’t have the same options that there is today.

A reason people don’t finish their book is because of the challenge of self-promoting it. I know how difficult this is! I’m not a natural self-promoter. I’ve chosen to do this by writing informative blog posts and participating in online forums. I’ve learned a great deal from this. I also get great satisfaction from helping others. The internet has made it easier for us “self-promoting challenged” to get our work out to the world!! Join my mailing list, and get my free e-book, 17 Powerful Tips To Help You Thrive As A Highly Sensitive Person. If you find my content useful, I would appreciate it if you would share it with others!

We give ourselves excuses to not write. Life does get in  the way! There have been many starts and pauses in my writing, because of life events, but I didn’t think about not writing again. In 2014, I was in the process of making many major life changes. I didn’t write anything online for 4 years! I wrote about these major life challenges in 24 blog posts https://www.thehighlysensitiveperson.com/category/cliffs-big-move/

When I wrote my book in 2007, Making Sense of Your High Sensitivity , I faced many obstacles, but I forced myself to keep going, even when I felt stuck. I thoroughly researched my topic and my target audience. I came up with a clear vision of what I wanted my book to be about, the style I would write in, and the way I would deliver the content. I’m in the process of doing a revision of this book. I have so much more to share!

After researching as much as I could on the topic of high sensitivity, I realized that the challenges I faced as a highly sensitive person were common ones, and by sharing my lessons learned, I would be helping other highly sensitive people. I created an outline, carefully mapping out each section. I also wanted to deliver my content in a way that would be easy for highly sensitive people to digest. I wrote in a simple, personal style and worked with my graphic designer to create the book in an easy-to-read format, using a mix of narrative, bullet lists, summaries, and Q&A sections.

The more I realized how much I could help other highly sensitive people from my experience, the more motivated I became to follow through with my project, regardless of the many challenges that I faced. I did receive some criticism on the original book and other writing that I’ve done. It definitely hurts, but I learned from it and have become a better writer because of it.  To date, I’ve written 300 blog posts on different topics of interest for highly sensitive people. I’m in the process of finishing a special report called The Highly Sensitive Person’s Guide To Confidence…With Special Consideration To Introverts, Empaths, and People with Social Anxiety & Shyness. I wrote this from a personal point of view, because I have ALL of these qualities. Stay tuned!!

How can you share your experience to inspire others? What story would you like to tell to give enjoyment to others? As you can see, the process of taking an idea, researching it, and then mapping out a plan takes both discipline and perseverance. Once you have clear vision of what you want to accomplish, your highest and most difficult task will be to stay focused and keep on writing, even when you feel blocked.

What holds you back from writing? How do you cope with writer’s block? What does it take to make a successful book? Have you written a book? If so, how did you tackle the project? I’m interested in any thoughts or comments you have.

If you find my content useful, I would appreciate it if you would share it with others! Feel free to use the share buttons below, or to add your comments to this post. I do respond to comments!

Join my mailing list, and get my free e-book, 17 Powerful Tips To Help You Thrive As A Highly Sensitive Person.