The Less You Want To Do Something

Hello friends,

I made a big list of all the things I need to do to see if I can reasonably do them by the end of the summer and thus justify taking about two weeks off. Kate, you might be saying, you're the Vice-President at your agency. Surely you don't have to earn your time off. And you'd be right. I don't have to punch a clock or request time off, but I do have to answer to my clients and their careers depend on me getting my work done. And also, if I don't get a certain amount of these things done and I still go on vacation, I'm just going to think about them the whole time and my number one goal on this vacation is don't think.

So, I tallied everything up and estimated how many hours of work it would be (I'm pretty good at that by now) and... I'm not going to tell you the number. It's high, but it's also not unreasonably high. It also doesn't include things like meetings and phone calls and random things that are going to come up, but I'm accounting for that in another way. All of this doesn't actually matter–I'm not going to track how long it takes me to read X novel and compare it to my estimate. This is just how I organize the chaos in my brain. If I can see (most of) it written down on paper, I can start to tackle it.

Because this is my job, even one I like very, very much, there are still things on this list I don't want to do. I mean, I want to read all my clients' books, but of course there are tasks that are less fun than others. This is work, after all. I still have to do admin and send hard emails. But if there's anything I've learned in the twenty years I've been an agent, and a grown-up with a grown-up job, it's the less you want to do something, the more you have to do it.

Need to make a hard phone call? Do it now. Faced with a difficult task? Get moving. Wavering on a decision because one route is hard and the other route is easier but uncertain? You gotta do the hard thing. Every time I've done the hard thing I didn't want to do, I realize in the end it was the right thing to do. Every time I've taken the easy way out, I've regretted it.

This has been true for me in writing, too. The minute you realize you have to change the tense of the whole thing, and you're avoiding it because it's going to be a lot of work, the more you have to change the tense. It's the right thing to do, especially if the primary reason not to do it is that it will take a long time. Don't make excuses; just get to work.

Say no to the thing you're dreading saying no to. Tell that person who wants something from you that you cannot deliver it to them. Say yes to the big, scary job. Write the email and ask for the thing you're scared to ask for. Apply for that residency. Send the query. Rewrite your synopsis. Ask the question. These things take guts and verve and gumption and all kinds of other old-timey words, but the sentiment is the same. Don't wanna do it? You should probably do it anyway, and right now.

(Here are all the usual caveats: if it's not safe for you, don't do it. If you need support, ask for it. If you need accommodations, seek them out. I'm not talking about things like amass a team to break your aunt out of that cult (but I'm not NOT talking about that), I'm talking about send a hard email. Make the damn appointment. Reread your book. Tackle the big edit. Don't spin this off into directions you know I'm not talking about.)

Forgive me, I'm a little salty today at the Supreme Court taking away rights from my friends and family.

Anyway, I'm going to get back to work. I'm going to do the hard things first because those are the things I know need the most doing.

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Celia Fink, you've won a free book!

K. Phillips Boehm, you've won a free query first five pages critique!

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OK, gotta go do some hard work.

XOXOXOXOXO,

Kate

Who am I and what is this? This is Agents & Books, a twice-weekly newsletter about writing, publishing, and the creative life. I've been an agent for almost 20 years, most of it at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency, and I'm the author of two books: Write Through It: An Insider's Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life (Simon Element, 2025) and a picture book called Pay Attention to Me!, with illustrations by Rob Justus (Sourcebooks, 2026). If you haven't already, become a subscriber today. $5 a month or $50 a year. Same price since 2019! Need to cancel? Look here.