It follows that the real battle is not about motivation, but rather about getting in the zone and staying there. That's actually a much easier battle to win since the objective is clear and the opposition less nebulous.

Conversely, if you are in the zone, motivation isn't an issue and distraction is unlikely; you're lost in your story, so why would you want to be anywhere else?

Even so, writing itself is a quietly unheroic activity done - like gaming - in flow, "in the zone", and compatible neither with an agitated state of pumped up self confidence nor with taking it in turns to act as online cheerleader.

Yes, you do need some motivation to get started in the first place, to overcome insecurities and to elbow a place in your life in order to write.

However, I don't think focussing on motivation is useful.There is no equivalent to NaNoWriMo for, say, Halo. Nor do gamers generally post on forums pleading for tips about self-discipline.

I like the idea of National Novel Writing Month . Companionship and a deadline together will motivate you get your ducks lined up in order to tackle a novel, especially if it's for the first time.

Who's poised to embark on NaNoWriMo? Don't worry, this isn't one of those pep talk blog entries (Oh OK. Go YOU! Rah! You CAN do it! RAH! RAHHH!)

^^^ M Harold Page here! Just to clear up some twitter confusion: I'm the guy currently serialising a Heroic Fantasy versus Steampunk mashup called Swords Versus Tanks . I'm a bit further down the pecking order than our noble host, but still a professional author with four conventionally published novels and two -- now three -- "indy" ones, plus a book on writing called Storyteller Tools: Outline from vision to finished novel without losing the magic .

First, nail the physical aspects of writing. If you're wrestling with time, space and the mechanics of typing, then you're constantly shifting focus from the writing.

Learn to touch type. The BBC website has a tutorial in which talking animals will irritate you into excellence. Touch typing doesn't just speed up your composition, it also turns the screen into an extension of your brain -- you think it, it appears.

Sort out your writing space. I don't mean create the perfect study and hang swords over the door. Rather I mean have one or more places where you can sit properly at your machine and type -- if you don't know the correct posture, google it.

Protect your writing time and space. It takes 10-15 minutes to truly get into the zone and if you are being interrupted you either never enter the zone, or else spend most of your writing slot re-entering it time and again. NaNoWriMo lasts just a month, so a little peace and quiet is not an unreasonable request to make of those in your life.

Second, like Marshal Blucher, keep going forward. Any sort of backtracking spoils your flow.

Switch off your spell checker -- the feature that underlines bloopers as you type. If you're backspacing to fix a typo, you're no longer immersed in your story. You can spell check later.

Don't try to make perfect prose first time. All text is provisional until you reach the end anyway -- that lovely forest scene might not even make it to the final cut. If the description doesn't flow, just write what you're trying to evoke and move on. "It was a dirty, rundown café" will do for now. You can expand it later.

For similar reasons, don't go back to edit as you go, not for style and not even for continuity. If Chekov suddenly needs a gun on the mantelpiece, make a note to add it later. ("XXXX ADD GUN EARLIER XXXX" in the text itself works fine).

Anything rather than leave the zone.

Third and finally, build your story from conflict. Conflict is what moves a story forward, what engages the reader, what adds momentum to description and narrative.

Character is conflict. Setting is conflict. Plot is conflict. All is conflict! Or at least the reader only sees things that are part of a conflict.

Conflict can be as subtle as thematic forces playing out in a description, and as unsubtle as a sword fight on a zeppelin or a couple falling out over domestic chores.

If you have conflict, then you have forward momentum and won't write scenes that fizzle out. What you thought was "resistance" or "block" will melt away.

So, as soon as possible, identify the handful of significant conflicts in your novel. Make every scene about somebody or something pursuing one or more of those conflicts, possibly while engaged in a more limited local conflict, e.g. protagonist struggles with garden in order to impress the inlaws, or pilot soldier struggles with damaged star fighter in order to complete a mission...

This leads me to the most useful piece of advice, something I wish I'd known when I was much, much younger. Here goes:

When drafting a scene, focus on the conflicts in that scene and write with the point of view character in dialogue with the world, like this:

[Sentence or paragraph about the world as experienced by the POV Character]

[Sentence or paragraph in which the POV Character reacts viscerally then acts.]

[Sentence or paragraph about the world as experienced by the POV Character]

...and repeat. You end up with a rhythm like this:

Rain pattered down on John's head, soaking his hair, running down his back.

John shivered. He pulled up his collar and felt in his pocket for his gun.

The Smith Homestead emerged from the sodden darkness. Tentacles...

Writing this way is quick and easy -- no need to search for elegant joining words or to explicitly "filter" perceptions through the character ("John heard... John felt...") and it locks in the conflict you need to drive forward the story.

Also, since it keeps action and reaction from getting tangled, it's very easy to edit and expand or contract, or smooth out if it seems choppy... but you can do that later, once you've finished the first draft.

For more of this approach - yes, shameless plug - try my Storyteller Tools: Outline from vision to finished novel without losing the magic (UK link). It's a fast read, covers nuts and bolts, not literary theory, and offers no pep talks: success is motivation enough.

However, just in case: Good luck! Rah. Go you! I BELIEVE in you! RAH!