1.1 ThE PrOPEr ExPECTATiONS fOr WriTiNg yOUr BOOk “The art of good decision-making is looking forward to and celebrating the tradeoffs, not pretending they don’t exist.” —Seth godin Before you start writing your book, let’s talk about what can you expect during your journey. At Scribe, we’ve helped over 1,200 authors write their books (as of summer 2019), and probably the #1 thing that separates those who finish their books from those who do not is having the proper expectations going in. Why? Because writing a book is hard, and if you’re not prepared for that fact, you’re far more likely to stall, and even quit. But if you know the difficulty of what’s coming, you can mentally prepare to get past those obstacles when they come (and they will). These are the major expectations you should have as you write your book: ThE PrOPEr ExPECTATiONS fOr WriTiNg yOUr BOOk · 21