It’s another Monday and another unique opportunity to be in your space. I trust 2026 has been good to you, and you are working towards writing that book this year. I encourage you to keep at it and allow nothing discourage you. Tell yourself as often as you need to that “it is possible,” and put those words into action.

The responses to last week’s newsletter were overwhelming. They were far more than I can begin to recount, but I must single out Professor Felicia Oyekanmi, Mr Murtala Sule, and Mr Ibrahim Ismaila Ahmed. These are accomplished, retired veterans who not only find the time to read, but also to share my work and offer words of encouragement. Until you walk that often-lonely path where effort goes unseen, and encouragement is scarce, you may never fully grasp what such gestures truly mean. I cannot thank them and you enough for the kindness, which I always wonder whether I even deserve.

While pondering the comments I received last week and how to take the conversation further, I arrived at today’s topic. There’s no doubt that intelligence, experience and expertise are important criteria for becoming a successful author, but are they enough to finish the book?

Why do plainly smart people, senior professionals, founders of big companies, consultants, academics and journalists walk around with unfinished manuscripts or book ideas that live in their heads almost perpetually? Now, these people are accomplished; they are not short of ideas, they are not lazy, they have every qualification to write, yet they don’t finish their books. So, why?

In my experience, this stagnation comes from three inobtrusive traps that disguise as conscientiousness but inevitably stall progress. I’ll attempt to break them down one after the other. Let’s go!

1. Overthinking Instead of Drafting

The training or default state of smart people is to think through, analyse, interrogate and refine ideas before committing to them. That skill serves well in boardrooms, and lecture halls etc., but it can be a liability when writing a book.

Chances with such people are that they put more into thinking about the book than writing it. They edit sentences that they have not written mentally, argue with imaginary critics about pages that do not exist, and seek clarity when there’s no momentum. The truth is that clarity only comes from writing, not before it.

You see, books are built on pages, not in your mind. Drafting, which we can truly be messy, even frustrating are where ideas reveal their real shape. You cannot replace drafting with thinking. If you continue to do that, your book will only remain theoretical, something totally perfect in your head, but factually intangible and absent. So, you should start putting that idea on paper and stop overthinking!

2. Waiting for the “Perfect” Structure

Many capable writers also delay starting work because they really want the right framework from the outset. So, day in and day out, they find something that stalls them. It’s either about not having the ideal chapter ordering, the perfect open or being unsure about how the idea should progress. They convince themselves that it’s only after having the perfect structure that their work will flow, but such perfection may never happen! We must realise that structure is a by-product of writing. Some of the strongest book structures you’ll find were discovered after many imperfect drafts. You therefore postpone the process of attaining that formidable structure you desire if you refuse to start the process that will take you there.

Most strong book structures are discovered after several imperfect drafts, not before. When you wait for the perfect structure, you postpone the very process that would reveal it. You probably do not realise it, but that perfect bug is nothing but disguised fear about getting it wrong. You must know, however, that you have no chance of ever getting it right if you never start, make mistakes and correct them. From conversations with a wide range of writers, that first structure you come up with hardly survives the entire writing process. Your book evolves, and that is called craft, not failure or lack of capacity.

3. Mistaking Preparation for Progress

This is what I consider the most seductive trap ever. I know this because I’ve lived through it. Preparation often feels like you are productive, you are being responsible and making progress. It gives you the illusion of some forward motion even when you are not writing.

Due to this fact, many writers, including myself, would commit to reading more books or taking more courses in preparation to write that book. You will refine your outlines endlessly and move from one research site to the other, gathering information you may never use. Of course, none of these things are bad; however, preparation can sometimes take you away from making real progress. Progress is only measured in words written, not intentions. You can spend a whole year “getting ready” to write a book and be no closer to finishing one. Meanwhile, someone with less expertise but a willingness to cross the finish line will cross the finish line!

What Are We Saying?

Most unfinished books do not get abandoned because of the writer’s lack of ability, but because the writer chose to respect the book so much that they are afraid of doing it imperfectly. Books are not finished because of the writer’s brilliance alone; books get finished by showing up continually, writing through uncertainty and allowing the book to be rough before it attains refinement.  

Accept the fact that the first draft is not where you prove your shining intelligence, it’s only where you show that you are serious about the work and grant yourself the permission to begin. So, instead of worrying yourself about whether what you have written is good enough or whether you have the perfect angle, ask yourself whether you have written today or if you can complete the next section in the time at hand.

If you consider yourself smart, capable and experienced, and you remain stuck with a manuscript, it’s not because you don’t know enough. On the contrary, it is because finishing a book requires the willingness to move forward without certainty. I agree this is a different skill altogether, but it is one you can learn.

And if you need any help, I’m here to listen to you, and work with you on tackling whatever challenges you think you are facing.

If you’re ready to commit, let’s start.

Reply to this newsletter or book a coaching session today.

 You can buy my book, Every Journalist Should Write a Book,here

Niran Adedokun,

Writer | Communications Strategist | Book Strategist | Author of “Every Journalist Should Write a Book