Every Book is Harder Than the Last

Anything Else is a Big Lie

This edition of Agents & Books is dedicated to Glynnis MacNicol, for whom May 1st is a million years away.

Hello friends,

I am going to tell you something you do not want to hear today. My apologies in advance. I promise at the end it will be worth it.

You might be among one of the happy people who have finished writing a book (or twelve), whether you have published/sold/have an agent for said book or not. You might be embarking on your next one. This is great! Another book! Cue “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret. You sit down and think good thing I have already written a book because now I know how to do it and that will make this one a breeze!!!

I’m sorry to tell you that every subsequent book you write, whether you published the previous one or not, is harder than the last. I KNOW! IT’S NOT FAIR! It should be that they get easier because once you have done it before, you should be able to do it again! When you learn how to do a cartwheel, you generally know how to do another cartwheel!