Having now written two books on patient recruitment, there’s a few learnings I’ve taken from the process.

Firstly – talking about writing a book is not the same as writing a book. The only way to get the book finished is to do more of the latter and less of the former.

Secondly, persistence is a key factor. I tried multiple approaches to the actual writing process. These included writing a little every day, either at set times or when I had a spare minute, as well as spending whole days at a time getting my thoughts down. And I can say that, for me, it’s not necessarily one method that worked best, it was simply keeping at it and ensuring progress was being made ongoing.

Thirdly, it’s not about waiting for the muse to strike. Thinking through all the angles, then allowing my unconscious to do the rest, has been an effective way to proceed.