The biggest cause of writer's block is stopping to judge what you've written while you're still writing it.
Some writers keep going back over and over what they've written rather than moving forward and completing a draft and then rewriting.
Others are so critical of the first part of their first draft that they give up the project entirely and start on something new--and then repeat the process again when they get to the mid-point of the next one.
Here are a few things to keep in mind in order to be able to move forward and complete your draft:
* A first draft isn't supposed to be judged by the standards of a finished book.
* Most successful writers do at least three or four, and sometimes many more, drafts of their books. Of course some of them think it's more impressive to say on talk shows that they just write one draft.
* As mentioned in another tip in this series, most writer experience what Seth Godin calls "the dip"--a time somewhere around the middle of a project when they doubt its quality. Expect it and work through it.
* If you have ideas for changes as you go along, jot them down as they occur to you. They will give you a head start when you are ready to start on your second draft.
* You will learn more from the process of writing one complete novel, even one that doesn't turn out well, than from writing six half novels.
If you find yourself itching to go back and rewrite as you go along, review this tip, ignore the itch, and move forward.
(There are valuable tips from Mark Twain, Ray Bradbury, Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway and many others in my newest book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)