The joy of writing a nonfiction book

Writing a book is a lot of work. The hard parts aren’t worth doing unless you enjoy the fun parts.

Which parts are fun? Here’s a list of my favorite parts. Of course it may be different for you.

• Coming up with an original idea.
• Realizing that you’ve learned something no one else knows — and you have a chance to tell the world about it.
• Interviewing real people who are doing amazing things.
• Writing their stories.
• Solving the puzzle of how to fit your information together into a compelling narrative.
• Writing in flow. (If you don’t experience the joy of flow when writing — if it’s always a chore — I don’t know how you can do it long enough to write a book.)
• Finding clever ways to integrate editorial, technical, or other criticism into a new, better draft.
• Seeing it all come together in one place for the first time.
• Holding the printed book in your hand after all that work.
• Reading what smart people say after consuming your work.
• Getting 5-star reviews.
• Getting advance and royalty checks.
• Giving a speech about your ideas in front of a big crowd of people.
• Watching as people actually change their behavior or attitudes based on what you wrote.
• Observing the success of others who followed your advice.

It’s not just about your fun, you know

Books written in tedium are tedious to read.

Books written with joy read joyfully.

Writers love to write — and to reap the benefits of having written. It’s not easy, but it is fun.

If you don’t feel that joy, ever, maybe being an author is not for you.

But if you do, you will probably want to do it for the rest of your life.