As I hope you know by now, I’ve been working on a book called Quietly Crushing It. (A preview chapter is available here.)

Do I feel like I’m quietly crushing my book? 

It depends on your definition of crush. The work is hard but rewarding. I often feel like I’m taking two steps back for every three steps forward—but that’s still progress.

Along the way, I’ve realized that how I learned to write has been holding me back.

It started when I began working with an editor and we immediately got into a fig...