Put Your Best Writing Up Front

Always put your best writing up front. Don't hold anything in reserve.

The writer often feels (even if not articulated) that he or she isn't capable of writing at this high level of quality throughout the whole manuscript. And in a sense this may be true, but there is a wonderful technique called cutting and pasting that's so easy. Simply go through your manuscript and cut the bad stuff, put all the good stuff end to end, then fill in the holes.

The bigger hurdle for the writer often is the sense of inadequacy: you may feel you were lucky with this one scene, but couldn’t do it again.

Yes you can. Have faith in yourself. If you use up all of your good stuff, you're going to have to come up with more that is just as good. And you will. Many studies have shown that the best way to become skilled in an area is, surprise, doing it. So keep writing, even if it stinks, and when something's good copy and paste it in your end-to-end file. You'll be amazed at how this file begins to grow into a gripping story.