How to survive writing a book with your partner
90% of co-authoring is co-arguing and some news about what we're up to.
Hello there, Chris here
We’re at the very early stages of writing our next book – ‘project big idea’. Bec and I co-authored a book published a couple of years ago called Written: How to Keep Writing and Build a Habit that Lasts – the brightly covered paperback was out this January.
The next one will be about why we find creative projects hard and how we can build our resilience. The topic’s vague because we’re vague about what the topic is – not because I’m being coy about sharing more.
As we embark on ‘project big idea’, it reminded me of the question we got asked the most when we wrote book number one. Namely: What’s it like writing a book with your partner?1 It’s a good question and it’s one I’ve shared some thoughts about before.
There are pros and cons of writing a book with another person that you also happen to be married to and share a life with. It can all get pretty intense. Writing a book is an epic undertaking which can feel like a thankless, pointless waste of time. It makes no sense financially, it’s exhausting, and causes friction, tension and countless arguments.
Quick reminder! Our next 7-Day Writing Sprint starts on Monday 2nd of September - want to race with us?
This month we’re giving you 25% off an annual sprint club subscription with this code. This offer is only valid until this Friday, 30th of August.
However, it’s certainly not all cons. On the pro side, it’s great to have a shared creative goal. It’s rewarding to work on a project with someone who’s (mostly) on your wave length.
We keep each other accountable and support each other in different ways too. Writing a book on your own (as Bec has done but I haven’t), is a gruelling, lonely process - I couldn’t do it and I don’t think I’d want to.
One of the things that keeps us going is a mutual fascination with the topic - it feels like a giant puzzle we both have to figure out. I think that all in all, we make a pretty good team (looks at Bec for reassurance and at the time of writing, she is nodding).
Many people forget that we don’t just write books and this newsletter together we run a business too – more on what we do below. In many ways, the writing side of things is far easier than the business side of things.
At the end of the day, I’d far rather be arguing over the structure of a chapter that we both have strong opinions about rather than having a meeting about how we’re going to grow our Instagram following.2
There’s no secret to writing a book on your own or with someone else, while our approach might be 90% bickering, yours might be 90% biscuits.
See you soon and take care,
Chris
Thanks for reading
Whether you are an old friend of B&B or new us we want to say how grateful we are for subscribing - it means a lot. We’ll hopefully have some more news about ‘project big idea’ soon but in the meantime, we thought we’d take this opportunity to share a little more about what else we do besides writing newsletters, books and failing to grow our Instagram following.
In one way or another everything Bec and I do in our writing and in our coaching work at The Written Academy is about helping people to keep going with their writing and overcome the personal blocks and barriers they have.
As we often say, there’s not just one way to get the writing done - there are many. Our work is all about helping you to find the tactics and approaches that work for you and your life as it is right now.
We do this in a few different ways:
✍️ Personalised coaching for writers: We work with coaching clients on a one-on-one basis guiding them to overcome their personal writing barriers. We currently have five spots available this autumn/fall.
🔄 New Year Writing RESET: Over six weeks we’ll help you find a writing routine that fits with you and your life. The early bird waiting list for our January programme is open now - please note we’ll be running RESET just once next year.
🏃🏻♀️ 7-Day Writing Sprints: When you become a paying subscriber to this newsletter you also get access to our sprint club. Writing sprints are short, structured, fun programmes which help you supercharge a piece of writing in a week. Our next sprint starts on Monday 2 September - come race with us!
⏰ Time To Write: Too busy to write? Find a writing routine that’s uniquely yours with our 7-day online course. Learn about the four most popular methods writers use to find time and design a new approach that fits with with your life.
🧑🏽🤝🧑🏽 Working with organisations: We have lots of experience delivering keynotes, webinars, workshops and training services – online and in person – across a wide range of sectors including higher education and academia, health, research, technology and media. Contact us to find out more: hello@prolifiko.com
📚 Written: How to Keep Writing and Build a Habit that Lasts: Our book distills everything we’ve learned over the past decade coaching people to build their writing confidence and keep going. Available in hardback and paperback and from all good bookshops!
People have so-far been too polite to ask what’s really on their minds, namely: a. Why would you’d WANT to write a book with your life partner? and b. How on earth have we not got divorced in the process?
Hence the reason for our paltry, and now entirely static Instagram following.