"When faced with personal challenges and business challenges, it's going to take a lot of energy to overcome them. So why not use that energy wisely and focus on the things you can influence and forget about the stuff you can't?"

Rob Law, aka Trunki Daddy, has faced more personal and business challenges than most. In this conversation he talks about living with cystic fibrosis (or '65 roses', as children often put it), his extraordinary journey as an entrepreneur, and the power of writing as a way of sense-making personally and professionally. 

Inspiring, challenging, and, as you'd expect from the Trunki Daddy, huge fun. 

'Writing the book was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life... There's no quick fix. Everybody finds it hard. What differentiates people who have written books from those that haven't is the ones who wrote the books dealt with the fact that it was really hard.'

Gemma Milne has come at hype from all sides in a career spanning advertising, sales, science journalism and investment, so she's well qualified to dissect it and help us understand what's really going on under the attention-grabbing headlines that bombard us every day. 

But that doesn't mean it's easy. 

In this frank and funny conversation she shares her frustration with the writing process and the revelation, on a flight to Austin, Texas, that transformed everything. 

Tom Cheesewright spends his life gazing into the future to help businesses identify and respond to trends and technology, but his advice for writers is rooted in the here and now. A fascinating conversation taking in principles for business survival in a fast-changing world along with super-practical tips for writing - and editing - effectively. 

Plus a great tip for writers that is much more fun than most! 

'Ask yourself continually: is this boring me?... Because if you're bored writing it, there is no chance that anybody is going to want to read it.'

Former Enterprise Editor of the Sunday Times, Rachel Bridge cheerfully admits that she has the classic journalistic characteristics: a short attention span and incurable curiosity. Both, it turns out, are useful when it comes to writing readable business books. 

Fast, funny and fearless, this is a masterclass in cutting through the 'showy-off wibble' (technical journalistic term) and delivering the goods. 

One of the great privileges of hosting this podcast is the way that so many extraordinary business book authors are willing to share the vulnerable stuff - especially the fear and uncertainty around writing - with me, I hope you find it helpful too. 

In this week's episode, I look back over the last few weeks and draw together examples of authors demonstrating 'whole self' writing: bringing their flaws, anxieties, strengths, superpowers, and unique ways of Getting Stuff Done to the work of writing a book. When you bring your whole self to the job, you write the book that only you can write, and the one that will most profoundly change your life. 

In this week's Best Bits episode: 

• Chris Wilson on transforming the harshest of backgrounds and the bleakest of situations through the power of reading and writing;
• Bryony Thomas on the unflinching reality of just how hard this writing lark is;
• Patrick Dunne on turning dyslexia into a non-linear superpower;
• Elsbeth Johnson on the crisis of confidence for an author without a social media platform; 
• Julia Hobsbawm on how even professional writers can worry about tackling a book; 
• Lucinda Carney on the struggle to find your distinctive voice; 
• Greg Orme on being comfortable with the messiness of writing; 
• David Mansfield on living by curiosity and collecting stories;
• Anne Taylor on writing the book you most need yourself. 

It's an exploration of the whole journey of writing, from idea through mess and uncertainty into clarity, and it's a whole-self process.