{"id":9793,"date":"2026-03-31T16:43:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=9793"},"modified":"2026-03-31T16:43:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:43:02","slug":"emma-straub-on-getting-your-passion-project-to-the-finish-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=9793","title":{"rendered":"Emma Straub on Getting Your Passion Project to the Finish Line"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Emma Straub is a New York Times\u2013bestselling novelist, a picture-book author, and the co-owner of the Brooklyn indie bookstore <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.booksaremagic.net\/\">Books Are Magic<\/a>, a childhood dream she actually went out and built in real life with her husband. Emma, in short, gets things done. <\/p>\n<p>Her latest novel, <em><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.booksaremagic.net\/item\/Y10lLSQ5wzPVNfxij0m8eg\">American Fantasy<\/a><\/em>, follows a newly divorced 50-year-old who finds herself on a boy band fan cruise, where hilarity and profundity ensue. It landed on \u201cmost anticipated\u201d novels lists from the likes of the Times, People and Time, and had me sucked in from page one. (True confession: In the late \u201990s, I was a writer for a teen magazine called Twist \u2014 I was on the frontlines of NSYNC mania.)  <\/p>\n<p>Emma joined me on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/how-success-happens\/id1288418637\">How Success Happens<\/a> to talk about ideas that can actually sustain a career, the messy reality of running a small business, and why when it comes to creative endeavors, finishing matters more than starting. Listen to our full conversation here and read on for tips to help your dreams take off in <strong><strong><span style=\"color: red\">three, two, one!<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=EML8916412082\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p><strong>Subscribe now: <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/how-success-happens\/id1288418637\">Apple<\/a> |<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/7zAcFs6B1nwjGXPTpK6gPB?si=Kh-jG4ZZS_u0V92JhcsTvQ&amp;nd=1&amp;dlsi=1b7da5539ac742f3\"> Spotify<\/a> |<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@EntrepreneurPodcasts\"> YouTube<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-three-key-insights\"><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><span style=\"color: red\">Three<\/span> Key Insights<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-how-to-know-when-an-idea-is-something\">1. How to Know When an Idea Is \u201cSomething\u201d<\/h2>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"\/>\n<p>Emma gets ideas all the time and dutifully plops most of them in notebooks, her Notes app, or files that never see the light of day. But every so often, \u201cmaybe three or four times\u201d in her life, an idea arrives so complete that she knows \u201cit could carry the weight of a whole novel\u201d instead of stalling out at page 50. With <em>American Fantasy<\/em>, the boy-band-cruise premise landed in her brain with enough emotional and narrative heft that she thought, \u201cHot damn. Yes.\u201d For her, the real test isn\u2019t whether an idea is clever; it\u2019s whether it can sustain 300 pages and months (or years) of work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Takeaway:<\/strong> Don\u2019t chase every clever thought\u2014wait for the idea you know you can live with long enough to build a real product, project, or business around it.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-treat-your-passion-like-a-job-not-a-vibe\">2. Treat Your Passion Like a Job (Not a Vibe)<\/h2>\n<p>Growing up around her father, legendary writer Peter Straub, and his friend and collaborator Stephen King, Emma absorbed one core lesson: \u201cWriting is a job. It\u2019s a real job that you do every day.\u201d She watched would-be writers in their twenties act out the stereotype\u2014staying up too late, drinking too much\u2014while missing the actual work, and her reaction was, \u201cThat\u2019s not what it is\u2026You gotta get to work. It is the coal mine.\u201d Even as life got fuller with kids, bookstores, and book tours, she kept a quota mindset, shifting from 30\u201340 pages a week in her twenties to a realistic 10 pages now. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Takeaway:<\/strong> Whatever your craft is, put it on the calendar and treat it like going to the coal mine\u2014non-negotiable.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/info.entrepreneur.com\/hsh\">Subscribe to the free\u00a0How Success Happens\u00a0Newsletter<\/a> for weekly inspiration.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-structure-is-your-friend\">3. Structure Is Your Friend <\/h2>\n<p>When Emma and her husband, Michael Fusco-Straub, opened Books Are Magic, they wanted it to feel like a \u201cnon-hierarchical, lovey-dovey\u201d family, and quickly learned that is a recipe for chaos. She realized \u201cstructure is your friend,\u201d especially in a retail business where \u201cThe only problem is people,\u201d she laughs when describing her biggest business challenges. \u201cIt\u2019s the people you employ and the people who walk through the door.\u201d Hiring someone with real management experience helped them build systems and clear roles, and Emma had to accept a key truth about herself: \u201cI would rather die than confront someone,\u201d and that\u2019s okay as long as someone on the team is good at it. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Takeaway:<\/strong> Be brutally honest about what you\u2019re good at, what you\u2019re bad at, and hire to fill the gaps.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-two-free-resources-to-learn-more\"><strong><strong><span style=\"color: red\">Two<\/span> Free Resources to Learn More<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Keep up with Emma\u2019s world\u2014books, events, and behind-the-scenes bookstore life\u2014by following <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/booksaremagicbk\/\">Books Are Magic<\/a>. <span style=\"margin: 0px;padding: 0px\">Her latest novel,\u00a0<em><em><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.booksaremagic.net\/item\/Y10lLSQ5wzPVNfxij0m8eg\">American Fantasy<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/span>,<span style=\"margin: 0px;padding: 0px\">\u00a0arrives April 7 and can be ordered no<\/span>w.<\/li>\n<li>Learn why best-selling non-fiction author Susan Orlean says to trust your weirdest ideas.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"4-one-question-to-ponder\"><strong><strong><span style=\"color: red\">One<\/span><\/strong><\/strong> Question to Ponder<\/h2>\n<p>Emma said that once you\u2019ve finished one big project\u2014even if it\u2019s \u201cgarbage\u201d\u2014you now know you can do it again, and that confidence is everything. <\/p>\n<p>What is one ambitious, slightly scary thing you want to finish in the next 12 months?<\/p>\n<p>Send your answer to howsuccesshappens@entrepreneur.com, your response may be read on a future episode.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"5-call-to-action\">About How Success Happens<\/h2>\n<p>Each episode of <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/how-success-happens\/id1288418637\">How Success Happens<\/a> shares the inspiring, entertaining, and unexpected journeys that influential leaders in business, the arts, and sports traveled on their way to becoming household names. It\u2019s a reminder that behind every big-time career, there is a person who persisted in the face of self-doubt, failure, and anything else that got thrown in their way.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Emma Straub is a New York Times\u2013bestselling novelist, a picture-book author, and the co-owner of the Brooklyn indie bookstore <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.booksaremagic.net\/\">Books Are Magic<\/a>, a childhood dream she actually went out and built in real life with her husband. Emma, in short, gets things done. <\/p>\n<p>Her latest novel, <em><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.booksaremagic.net\/item\/Y10lLSQ5wzPVNfxij0m8eg\">American Fantasy<\/a><\/em>, follows a newly divorced 50-year-old who finds herself on a boy band fan cruise, where hilarity and profundity ensue. It landed on \u201cmost anticipated\u201d novels lists from the likes of the Times, People and Time, and had me sucked in from page one. (True confession: In the late \u201990s, I was a writer for a teen magazine called Twist \u2014 I was on the frontlines of NSYNC mania.)  <\/p>\n<p>Emma joined me on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/how-success-happens\/id1288418637\">How Success Happens<\/a> to talk about ideas that can actually sustain a career, the messy reality of running a small business, and why when it comes to creative endeavors, finishing matters more than starting. Listen to our full conversation here and read on for tips to help your dreams take off in <strong><strong><span style=\"color: red\">three, two, one!<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/entrepreneurs\/emma-straub-american-fantasy-secret-to-finishing-passion-projects\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emma Straub is a New York Times\u2013bestselling novelist, a picture-book author, and the co-owner of the Brooklyn indie bookstore Books Are Magic, a childhood dream she actually went out and built in real life with her husband. Emma, in short, gets things done. Her latest novel, American Fantasy, follows a newly divorced 50-year-old who finds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-green-brands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}