There are a lot of things hard about being a writer, but there are also a lot of hard things about being a mom, being a wife, being a Proposal Writer. Being a writer does not differ from any other job. It just has different scenarios.
Writers who want to have their work published through traditional publishing have to work extra hard to pitch their work to agents, then have to work on contracts, deadlines, etc. Self-published writers set their own work schedule and deadlines, but we have to work hard on marketing and selling our own work. There are pros and cons of both. It just depends on the person and how much you want to put into it. With self-publishing, you get out of it what you put into it. I love writing, and I love when people give me great feedback after they've read one of my books. I guess you could say; the reward outweighs the risk.
After Saturday's show, I would like to say selling and marketing are the hardest, having the worst sales during a show I've ever done. But you know what? I sold more books at the show than I would have sitting at home not doing a show, so there's that. Complaining will do no good, and I would have done the show, anyway. I enjoy talking with people (even if they don't buy a book), talking to other vendors, and talking to the show coordinators. Networking can do a lot of good. Someone might know someone who might enjoy my books, you never know.
Many writers would probably say negative reviews or negative feedback, and I can't say I've had a lot of that. I had a woman stop at my booth and voice her opinion about having sex in my books. She didn't buy a book, wasn't about to buy a book, but felt the need to tell me I didn't need to put that in there. Her companion apologized on her behalf, but she didn't need to. The woman was absolutely correct in that a book does not have to have graphic sex to make it a good book, but I like to think that my books (so far) are not all that graphic. I've read much steamier books, and mine have some spice but are not that graphic. I like to live by the words a sales guy once told me years and years ago on a business trip: Be Bold, Be Brief, and Be Gone. Some scenes might need a bit more steam, while others can do well enough with some brief description and get the heck out of there.
I write romance. It's not Christian. It's not Amish. It's not YA. It's romance. There's going to be sex. Love it or hate it, it will not be for everyone and we writers know that our work is subjective.
So at this point in my writing career, I would think the hardest thing is balancing a full-time job and keeping my writing career afloat. I wrote about that a few blogs ago. That is my hardest thing about being a writer. The rest of it, the good, bad and the ugly, I absolutely love.