Walt got it into his head that he wanted to paint our deck. He figured, with a little scraping and a gallon of outdoor, weather-resistant paint, he could have the task done over a weekend.

To this end, we ran to the local home and garden center with a paint chip to allow for proper color-matching. You see, Walt is no amateur; he knows you need to match the paint properly or the whole thing looks like hell.

Enter stage right: Anne. She ran the paint desk. And believe me when I tell you that this Anne knew her paint.

She examined the paint chip, the substrate it was on, and came to one conclusion.

To get the job done right, we’d (OK, Walt, but I get to use the royal we because I’m the one writing this post) have to do the following:

1. Power wash the deck
2. Let it dry for two days
3. Take the leaf blower to the surface to get rid of any pollen, and, guaranteed, there would be pollen, even after a power wash
4. Take a long-handled swiper thingy and apply a coat of this specially formulated paint to the deck floor
5. Let it dry for a couple of days—and be careful about tracking it into the house because we’d NEVER get it off the rugs
6. Leaf blow the pollen off again before applying the second coat
7. For the rails, do the same thing, only with a short-handled swiper thingy… and only after the second coat has dried on the deck itself

To add insult to injury, the paint job was guaranteed to last, at best, three years, what with the weather conditions in the area.

Decks… they take quite a beating.

Even before we added up the equipment cost (rental or otherwise), the two gallons of specialty paint with the specialty price tag, both Walt and I knew it would be far cheaper to hire professional help. Somebody named Bob with a truck.

Because this wasn’t a weekend chore; this was an epic. One that required far more patience and time than either of us have.

And that time? Not to be all entitled, or anything, but we’re not flipping burgers at McDonald’s for $18/hr.  The time required to do the job right would take tens of thousands of dollars out of our pockets.

I tell you this story because writing a book is an awful lot like painting a deck. You know enough about the task to be dangerous. But to do the job right, well, you’re in for something more complicated and time-consuming than you might bargain for.

If you love writing and have all the time in the world to do the job right….enjoy. Crack open a can of Pepsi, douse yourself with bug spray, and get to it, buddy.

If you need your book to:

Attract ideal clients

Position you as an expert in your field

Be so good that it gets read from cover to cover for decades to come

All within a reasonable amount of time

Without the attendant nonsense and surprise expenses…

Consider bringing in a professional. One who knows how to do this job efficiently because she makes a living doing it!!

Maybe that means one-on-one book coaching. Or, if you’re running a business with ZERO time to play this game, ghostwriting could be the way to go.

Lots of ways to paint this deck without destroying your expensive carpets.