There is a writing tip on my website about the necessity of writing every day. My exact words were “Write daily – even when you don’t feel like it.”

Unfortunately, I broke my own rule. I didn’t write daily. I didn’t feel like it. Most days were spent writing or rewriting my second novel, but not all. The rest were spent proofreading the book and preparing it for publication – an all-consuming, exhausting, and sometimes frustrating process. Taking time away to write something new, something different, probably would have done wonders for my state of mind. Too bad I didn’t listen to my own advice.

I was driven to complete the book at all costs. At times, I was getting nowhere, unable to fix problems with the book and unable to tear myself away. Most days my sanity was hanging by a thread. I told myself I could work on other projects once the book was finished. That it would only take a couple more days. Those couple of days turned into a couple of weeks. Weeks turned into months.

Writing about what I was going through would have helped, I’m sure. Getting my mind off the work that still needed to be done on the book would have given me a much needed break. I’m my own worst enemy.

The good news is, my book (Murder by Fire) will be released next month. We’ll see if I learned anything from writing my second novel when I get bogged down in writing the third.

Any bets? What are your challenges? Write a comment and let’s discuss.