Writing your own book

OK, so given that we have many budding writers on the site, what stops everyone from getting themselves published?

I once tried to write a book but gave up after about one side of A4. My biggest problems were that
a) It was crap
b) I didn't have a very good idea in the first place

I always dream of doing a JK Rowling but lack the inspiration and the patience.

Has anyone else ever attempted to seriously aim to get a book published? Ever had any success? I'd love to hear people's experiences.

For any of those looking to try it, here's a great article aimed at helping people get published: http://www.rightreading.com/publishing/howto.publish/howto.publish.htm

Right now, coincidentally, I am working on my first e-book venture; nothing earthshaking, mind you, because it's a collection of some of my online movie reviews. So far it's 125 pages long and has about 30 reviews or so. Need to copy-edit it and write the foreword and maybe a few chapter intros.....

Bump in thread and an announcement:

Remember I mentioned that I was writing an e-book? Well, it's out now as a Kindle e-book and is available at Amazon.co.uk. It's titled Save Me the Aisle Seat and its priced (in Britain, anyway) at 2.60 pounds.

For those who prefer traditional books, the print edition can be ordered here. I think (so far) that this edition is only available on Amazon.com. It's priced at US $8.99.

Wow that's amazing! Well done!

Thanks, Emily! I have already received one (brief) review on the Kindle product page and it was a nice comment.