You’ve got the idea for the book, you think it’s a great idea and yes, you really should sit down and write it. But still, those doubts linger in your mind.

What if I put in the time and effort to write it, not to mention the money, and hardly anyone buys it?

What if I write the book and publish it and all I get is bad reviews, causing sales to stop?

What if I think my idea is good but isn’t unique enough or good enough?

Is my idea really good enough for a book or should I just write a blog?

Everyone has good ideas but what you really need to do is separate the genuinely good ones from the ones that might not be quite so good. The real question is, “if I write a book, WHAT should it be about?” and perhaps ask yourself if it will be a good use of energy and time.

At the end of the day, writing a book is a dead serious commitment and it is going to change you – hopefully for the better.

So, do you write that book or not?

Why You Should Write It

Before you start your project, ask this question – “Why do you write?” Be totally honest here because your answer is important. There isn’t a best answer so don’t waste time trying to guess one; it’s your answer and your reasons that are important. Your answer will tell you what you hope, perhaps expect, to gain from writing a book. It could be one or more of these:

Money – no need to feel ashamed, it’s a great reason for writing

Your own home-based business

Respect and recognition when you get published

A deeper understanding of what makes you tick

To share your perspective and knowledge with others

To prove that you can do it

Just in case though, just in case you needed any more reasons for writing a book, try these on for size.

Reason 1: You will learn so much about yourself

Book writing, more than any other type of writing, is a kind of exploratory process. Depending on what you are writing, you will need a little bit (or a lot) of introspection. You will come to know things about yourself that you hadn’t really realized before now.

Once you start to write, you might be reminded of other things that you had intended to do at times in your life, other things that got shoved to the back of the queue. It could end up driving your life in a direction you might have intended taking years ago but you took a wrong turn.

It isn’t possible to write, to express yourself through that writing, without starting to notice things you hadn’t thought about or noticed before – the writing process has a way of drawing suppressed thoughts from your mind and bringing them to the forefront.

You might have told yourself at one point that something really didn’t bother you; deep down it did and things like that have a habit of appearing as a roadblock or a stressor at some point in your life, even subconsciously. Writing might just be the thing that makes you realize you can make the change, the one you always wanted to make but were too scared to do.

Join me in part 2 for more reasons on why you should write that book today.