There is no such thing as effortless writing. There is no such thing as effortless marketing.

Feel like you just got click baited? I don't blame you one bit, but them's the breaks ponyboy.

I'm posting this because I keep seeing a trend on social media and authortube. If writing and marketing were easy, a lot more people would do it. Writing is grind, it's work.

Marketing is a skill and you will have to hone it and make mistakes along the way.

The good news? That means you CAN get better. You can learn how to advertise. You can build good writing habits to get you through even in those darker times.

If this isn't enough of silver lining and you'd rather be reading than writing, that's perfectly fine. Frankly, in the time you'll write one book, you can probably read twenty or more.

But I love writing. I love editing and revising. I love crafting challenges for my characters and learning new things so I can give them the tools to escape. And to have someone pretend there is an effortless method is rather irritating and insulting. Especially when those tips are vague and used to then advertise an upcoming course of some sort.

I've had people ask for writing advice, feeling lost and helpless, not sure what they are doing wrong. Usually the answer is "You're not writing, you're thinking about writing."

But when new writers are inundated with videos and essays saying it should be effortless, how else are they supposed to feel? It must feel like there is something wrong with them.

There is not. Writing is work. Marketing is effort. The question is, do you love it enough for that effort or would you rather put your time elsewhere? If the second, that's okay, I'm certainly not going to learn how to fix my own car or fly a rocket anytime soon. Everyone had different skills and areas that appeal to them and that's what give us writers stories to tell in the first place.