She replied, “What a coincidence, because when I retire, I’m going to be a brain surgeon.”

And that, my friends, pretty much sums up most people's concept of how hard it is to write a book, basically that it's a piece of cake. The truth is that completing a novel is dang hard. Here are 3 reasons why . . .

It's a time commitment.

In order to say yes to writing a book, you have to say no to other social commitments because a novel takes time. Gobs of it. My last book took me 8 months from start to finish, 6 of which I said no to pretty much everything except for church.

It takes perseverance.

You can't write one day and not the next. You need to write every day, whether you feel like it or not.

It's a learning curve.

Remember all those grammar rules you learned in 7th grade? Yeah, forget them. Writing a novel isn't about diagramming sentences. It's about deep POV and high concepts, things your high school writing instructor probably never touched on.

Writing is hard work, but here's something that's easy. Sign up to win a signed pre-release copy of THE COURAGEOUS BRIDES COLLECTION.