“EVERYONE has a novel inside them” is a pretty commonly heard phrase.

It’s one of those things people seem to think they are perfectly capable of doing simply by picking up a pen or booting up the computer, and the only thing stopping them is their own lack of self-discipline.

One day, they will get going – and a masterpiece is bound to emerge.

It’s odd really. After all, no one thinks picking up a light bulb makes them an electrician, or getting their hands on a scalpel means they should be let loose in an operating theatre.

I suppose that’s something we should all be thankful for.

But it must be rather irritating for authors that so many people imagine that what they do is easy enough that anyone could do it given the time, motivation and inspiration.

It’s really not that simple, of course.

Even if you have a great tale to tell, you still have to have the skill to tell it.

And great writing doesn’t just flow from your brain to the paper and appear in a format everyone will want to read, or for that matter with grammar, spelling and construction that makes it possible for them to read without eventually giving up in horror or confusion.

Authors work as hard as anyone else to get the job done.

Most will tell you that they set aside a specific time to write, and sit at a desk each day to do the ‘9 to 5’ like millions of other workers around the world.

They get frustrated and annoyed like everyone else, and they have days when nothing seems to go as they want it to.

Each paragraph is gone over time and time again. Every word, comma and full stop is checked.

In a lot of cases, this is after they’ve done months of research on whatever topics they are featuring in their work.

And it’s a precarious way to try to make a living, with no guarantee that at the end of all that work someone will be willing to put their money behind it and publish it.

These days those who can’t get a publisher will often do it themselves.

Self-publishing is variously viewed as a harmless way of people expressing themselves, a good method by which new writers can get their work out there in the cut-throat world of publishing, or even as a pernicious devaluation of the work of professional writers.

I tend to look at it as highlighting the skill of the best authors out there.

There is a reason why the phrase “everyone has a novel inside them” is generally followed by various forms of the words “and, usually, that’s the best place for it”.