Are You Battling The Author Excuse Monster?

August 01, 2024•1 min read

One of the biggest hindrances to creating a book – or any good writing, for that matter – is our willingness to find excuses not to write.

Dating back to our childhood, most of us can – and will – find any excuse at all to avoid completing a writing assignment.

When I help business owners and leaders tell their story in a book that generates leads and referrals and positions them as an expert in their field, I see this problem crop up often.

Writing seems harder than it is. When I work with authors, I use a five-step process, my POWER Process, which I have honed with hundreds of college students and scores of business owners.

This process works because we plan more than we write. We think so when we put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, it’s with complete knowledge of what we are writing.

Knowing what you are writing by planning is the first key to avoiding the Excuse Monster.

Bob Graham

Bob Graham is the founder of SpearPoint Ink, where he helps financial advisors, consultants, speakers, coaches and executives turn their expertise into business books and other Authority Assets. He works as a ghostwriter and book coach and has helped more than 25 authors finish their books. He started as a journalist and spent more than 40 years writing, reporting and working in marketing, public relations and business coaching. His work has appeared in newspapers and magazines, on websites and in brochures, speeches, business plans and marketing campaigns. From 2006 to 2012, he was executive editor of Insurance & Financial Advisor (IFAwebnews.com). He wrote The Renegade Way and co-authored The 55 Soft Skills That Guide Employee and Organizational Success. He was a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University from 2014 to 2018, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in business communications, and adjunct faculty at Towson University from 2012 to 2014. Earlier, he was an adjunct professor at Strayer University and Goucher College. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication from Towson University and a Master of Arts in communications, journalism and public affairs, from American University.

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