The most pragmatic advice came from Nandhini, “Finding the pen.” Pippa offered, “Deciding what the book is going to be about.” Morley felt “organizing it” was the toughest challenge.

Adam lamented, “Finding the time.” Charlese agreed, “Time to write.” Catherine lamented, “Not enough hours in a day.” Mohammed also felt “time” was an issue, and Chandana added “time with a kid!” Milind said, “Time matters.” Liz put in some perspective, however, with the comment, “Someone once said if you write for 30 minutes every day — three pages —  in three to four months you have a book. Keep writing about things you know.”

Krishnamurthy provided, “Self control.” Rosetta added, “Commitment.” Spencer offered, “Writer’s block.”

Elaina felt the “opening chapters” were most challenging. Mickey suggested “writing the middle” as a potential writing minefield. Marshall noted, “Making sure it all fits together.” Karen added, “Getting it to flow …” Jack submitted, “finishing …”Anthony chimed in with, “Writing the ending.”

Suzie gave the advice, “Memories waking you up during the night if you are writing your autobiography. The whole process is a challenge!” Kylie-Anne had a similar thought. “The hardest part of writing my story was knowing I am going to lose what little family I have left. The truth will set you free.” That was echoed by Jay who noted, “I have almost completed my new book. Same sentiments as yours [Kylie-Anne]. Orphaned at age of four  … Emotional memories.” Daniel submitted, “Putting thoughts into words that readers can understand.”

Braam lamented, “The almost never ending revisions.” Kornelia, Marina and Stephanie gave the simplest answer, “Editing!” ToniAnn expanded, “Editing! Oh God, it about killed me!” Chavashree also agrees, “Right now for me it’s editing.” Aarti noted, “Editing by yourself is a reallyhard job.” Marty Jay tendered, “Staying the course and writing a whole book, then going back through and making sure its all right, then editing and editing and did I mention editing.”

Tahani suggested,” I’ve found that writing the books were easy compared to marketing them.” I whole-hearted agree with the comment, as does David who commented, “Promoting it” and Jack, “Getting someone to read it.” Meghna added, “Getting readers to read our book.” Eldon was more emphatic, “Marketing, by far!” with Suboor adding, “Marketing is very difficult for new writers.” Roxanne and Richard agreed “marketing” topped their list. Joan added, “Marketing! Definitely!” Adewale offered, “Marketing for sure.” Liz suggested, “Market through Amazon at 99 cent to start sales then sell the price you would like [especially for] less than famous authors.” Nicola also feels “marketing” is most challenging. Mary contributed, “Writing is a breeze. Promotion is difficult.” and Jim added, “Selling. Most difficult by far.”