Now that my book is out, can I dispel one of the biggest myths (in my view) about book writing? It's that you have to be "really passionate" about your topic or not even think about taking it on. (A thread, sorry)

I'm passionate about my topic! It explicitly relates to my life, and it was something I'd been thinking about for a long time.

But there were definitely days where I was like, "screw this topic," (in, uh, stronger terms).

Nothing on earth is gonna provide you with transcendent levels of passion for the 2-7 years it takes to work on a book.

Think of it like being in a good long-term relationship: Most days are great, sometimes you get mad, but rarely do you have first-date butterflies

Here's an article I wrote about this phenomenon
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/find-your-passion-is-terrible-advice/564932/

I also think the "you have to be passionate" rhetoric discourages women from writing more books! I don't think anyone interrogates men about whether they're "truly passionate" about ISIS or whatever

And here's my book, which I really did put a lot into, including, yes, plenty of passion: https://www.amazon.com/Weird-Power-Being-Outsider-Insider-ebook/dp/B07W56X29P