Who is your favorite writer? You know, the one whose words just seem to sing? More than that, it appears that he (or she) wrote them effortlessly, as if they poured directly from the brain, through the fingers and onto the page.

Don't you believe that for a moment.

Writing is tough work. Your favorite writer has rewritten that sentence you love so much a dozen or two dozen times. You wouldn't recognize the first version of it and you would not be so nearly impressed, either.

So when you set out to write, don't even attempt to match what you are seeing on the printed page. Just get some thoughts out. It might look like (and be) mush but that is OK because you are going to spend time making it better.

In exactly the same way that your favorite author does.

If you believe the sentence you wrote is wonderful just the the way you first typed it out, there are two possible reasons:

A 1 percent chance that you are right and the perfect sentence flowed from you.

A 99 percent chance that you are fooling yourself.

So write down your thoughts without any pressure that anyone else is going to see them. Ever. There's no fear of failure that way.

Then put what you've written away for a day or two (it generally does not take long) and revisit it. You may find some of it that actually works, but if you are like me and most others you will immediately spot flaws large and small. My strategy is to correct problems as I see them.

Usually, I'll come back to the changes and see even more weaknesses, and correct once again. This goes on for quite some time.

But no one has ever seen this but me so it doesn't matter how bad it was. Don't let that first person read it until you are ready and feel comfortable.

They still might view what you wrote with a critical eye, so be prepared, but don't be afraid. My guess is after you go through the process you will have done quality work of which you can be proud.