Writing Journey: Why It Took 2 Years to Publish My Third Book

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On November 21, 2025, I officially finished the final edits and touch-ups for my book, Shadows of Atlantic City. That means I was working on it for more than two years. And although I can write fast, professional and personal issues slowed the progress.

Today, I want to share some of the major elements that derailed my efforts to get this book published. I hope that it may help someone realize their own potential, and that being slow doesn’t mean you’re a failure. Sometimes, life just gets in the way.

Not everyone can publish two or three books per year, Mr. King.

Table of Contents

Writing and Publishing Shadows of Atlantic City

Writing and publishing a book is not a race. It doesn’t matter how many volumes you publish compared to anyone else. What really matters is that you’re putting your best foot forward and doing what you can to tell your story.

With that being said, I have a lot of ideas rolling around in my head that I would love to see in print. So, I am in constant competition with myself to work on time management and progression. That’s part of why I am building this list of issues; it’s not just to help you, but also to help me.

Getting Sidetracked By Others and Myself

I often talk about how my life is quite chaotic. If it’s not one thing, it’s another in this house. In one instance, I had to spend the better part of two months cleaning and rearranging an entire basement after a pretty bad incident regarding Grandpa.

But chaos isn’t the only thing that darkens my doorway every morning. Sometimes, I also get into my own way by doing tasks that are of low priority or doing something that I could easily delegate to someone else.

Spending Way Too Much Time On Social Media

Social media is a hell of a time suck. It’s easy to find yourself doomscrolling, especially in today’s charged political climate. And although I enjoy messaging my author friends and interacting with their content, it was taking up way too much of my time.

It’s actually a common issue with people nowadays. When you think about it, you’re spending all that time interacting with folks who have no impact on your life and whom you’ll never meet in person. Essentially, you’re giving them power to take away from your daily activities.

Not Taking Myself Seriously Enough

I often don’t think I take myself seriously enough as a writer. Sure, I’ve made a great career out of freelancing, but there are things I often do instead of taking care of myself as a creator. I think a lot of that has to do with how much money I make.

I tend to gravitate toward the things that actually cover the mortgage payment. The blogs, books, and YouTube videos help me bring in an extra $100 per month, if that. So, I don’t put as much effort behind those things because they don’t pay the bills.

But if I want things to take off like I want, then I need to take them more seriously.

Having Too Much On My Plate

There’s no doubt that I have a lot of projects to manage throughout any given week. And sometimes, it feels like I am burning out trying to do as much as I can with what little time I have.

It can feel overwhelming, which is probably why I tend to get in my own way and do other things. Instead of working on my book, I need to work on a blog post. Instead of editing the manuscript, perhaps I need to write an essay for school.

Spending time making a better and more realistic schedule has helped over the last few weeks. But there’s no escaping the fact that I have so much that I want to do during any given month.

Developing Too Many Bad Habits

Over the last couple of years, I’ve developed too many bad habits that have taken away from working on my book. Doomscrolling on social media was just a small tip of an extremely large iceberg.

For one thing, I was writing for maybe 30 minutes and then took a 30-minute break to scroll through threads. Well, that chews up a lot of time throughout the day when it’s repeated.

When I saw that I wasted eight hours one week thanks to doomscrolling, I took major steps to prevent it from happening again.

Not Prioritizing My Books

In the beginning, I didn’t prioritize working on Shadows. That meant it was often put on the back burner when I had to deal with something else. A lot of the time, I had to address a client’s needs. And since they pay the mortgage, the book gets postponed.

That’s what happens a lot around here. As I said, I have to manage the things that pay first; otherwise, I would be homeless. And let’s not forget that I don’t live alone. I’m caring for several people and animals in this house. Friends and family take precedence over everything else.

Nonetheless, there were times when I could have prioritized the book over something frivolous, like going down YouTube rabbit holes.

I’m Still Proud of My Accomplishment

Don’t get me wrong; I’m immensely proud of finally getting the book published. Despite all of the things going on in my life, I was still able to do quite a bit to self-publish Shadows of Atlantic City.

I wasn’t merely wasting all of my time, as a lot of what took time away from working on the book also included everything from hospital visits to projects that kept the bills paid.

I am merely pointing out some of the things that slowed down the progress of finishing the book.

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Keep in mind that only 3% of people who want to write a book will finish one. And 1% will go on to publish. So, putting in all of this work, even if I don’t sell a single copy, is one hell of an accomplishment.

Now, if I could master marketing to the point of selling a few copies per day, that would be awesome. I’ll get there, but it’ll take time and effort.

Not Everyone Publishes at the Same Rate

The most important thing to remember is that not everyone will write and publish a book at the same time. Some authors are much slower than others, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Based on what I can write and what I can accomplish during any given day, two years is slow for me. That doesn’t mean that it’s slow for you.

We are all different with unique perspectives, experiences, and lifestyles. That means we will all progress at varying degrees. It doesn’t mean I’m better than you simply because I published a book in two years and you’re probably still working on finishing the first draft.

There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to self-publishing. It mostly centers on what works best for you and what your personal goals are with your books. Plus, you also need to take into consideration things like available time, typing skills, brain processing methods, and other variables.

Don’t think you are any less of an author if it takes you longer to publish a book. As long as you’re putting in 100% of yourself, that’s all that matters.

Remember, you’re only in competition with yourself.

What is The Plan to Publish Sooner?

OK, I went over my failings of why it took so long to write, edit, and publish Shadows of Atlantic City. While those things did sap some time, I was still able to get it published.

So, what can I do to publish my next book sooner than two years?

Improve Time Management Skills
Since I track everything in a spreadsheet, I know how much time I waste. I need to take my weekly goals more seriously and get more out of my day.
Prioritize Book Time Blocks Every Day
Working on my books in any capacity needs to be more of a priority. That means not putting them on the back burner as often, which will improve if I get a handle on time management.
Set Publishing Deadlines for Motivation
I use deadlines all the time when writing first drafts. Perhaps I should try to set publishing deadlines to help with motivation and planning. I roughly know how long all of the stages take, and I can make adjustments if needed.
Hourly Goals for the Week
Instead of focusing on word count, I’ve shifted my goals to include the number of hours I spend per week working on my book. This will include things like editing, working on the cover art, and even marketing.

When all is said and done, the most important aspect to consider is time management. How much time do you waste every day doing things that have no real impact on your life? I’m talking about things like scrolling through Threads or watching videos on TikTok.

I’m not saying that you should curb these activities altogether. It’s nice to take a break once in a while. What I’m saying is that you need to be mindful of how much time you’re actually wasting.

Why Not Use AI to Help “Write” the Books?

I don’t use AI as a creative element in any regard. The moment you let artificial intelligence “write” any part of your book, you’re no longer the author. You’re merely an editor for the bot’s version of details. The story isn’t derived from your imagination, but the imagination of everyone else used to train the AI platform.

Not to mention the ethical dilemma of creating a story derived from the stolen works of others.

Sure, it might save some time, but then it wouldn’t be my story. It would be the story generated from the ideas and publications of other people. And my imagination is far more valuable to me than publishing four books per day on Amazon.

There are some aspects of AI as a tool that I can appreciate. For example, I’ll use Autocrit to edit the manuscript. But in that instance, the AI isn’t rewriting anything for me. It simply highlights what it “thinks” is problematic. Then, I have to make those adjustments should I choose.

The bottom line is that AI will never write a single sentence in any of my books or blog posts. I want to improve my abilities as a writer, not replace them.

Need help writing your book? Knowing how to structure your manuscript can go a long way to providing a better exeperience for your readers. Take a look at the Reedsy Masterclass for How to Write a Novel. It was perhaps the most influential three months I’ve spent for crafting my books.

So Many Ideas, So Little Time

I’ve said many times before that I would rather publish a “good” book than one that is rushed. I don’t mind taking my time to make sure it’s the best story I can tell.

However, melting several hours a week doomscrolling is not conducive to being productive. Even though a lot of the chaos in my life is beyond my control, there are a lot of moments that could have been spent working on the book.

Will I be able to publish more often? Only time will tell. But I can say this: I’m going to give it my best shot to write as much as I can in what little time I have available.

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Michael Brockbank

Michael has been a freelance writer since January of 2012 and has contributed to a long list of blogs throughout his career. He is also a published author and continues to help other writers find their own paths. Maintaining both the WriterSanctuary blog and YouTube channel, he covers topics that relate to writing in all forms.