What is the hardest part of being a writer?

What is the hardest part of being a writer?

What I least like about writing is the moment of publication, because your private work goes public. It happens very quickly, in the space of one month. And that can make or break your book. But crucially, writers do spend their time in isolation, reading, and writing, as, in fact, readers do as well. It's a personal letter, really, from the writer to the reader. That's the relationship. And the publication turns you into an actor, a performer. No writers I know really are performers.