Abacus

“Write four pages per day to finish four novels per year and get to twenty books in five years.” (Dean Wesley Smith)

It’s important to forget your audience when you write and just concentrate on putting one word after another. If you think of your readers, you will start to think about how your words will be received, which inevitably leads to thinking about whether you will be disappointing your readers with your words.

There is nothing more de-motivating than a disappointed reader, but you need to realise that any state of satisfaction felt by your avid fans will come in the future – after you have written your words. No disappointment is possible before you get those words out of your mind and onto the paper.

Instead of focusing on your gentle reader (and at this point I must resist the temptation to say: ‘and that means you!’ (oops!)) put all your attention on making sure that you meet your word quota for the day – plus the 10% you will lose when you edit it down. In this way, you will find that your words flow more naturally and easily – unimpeded by the blocks your mind would otherwise impose.

I wrote the above for a very specific reason. I was feeling a kind of performance anxiety as I began to write this piece. I was nervous about how my writing would be received and so I tried to think of a way to remove that doubt from my mind. I suppose that I could have chosen any technique – but this one works for me. I hope it will help you too.