What these errors show you is just how important proofreading is. When your next step is to send material to agents or publishers, you cannot afford to let any errors undermine the quality of your work.

Burnout prevents you from proofreading effectively. This does not just refer to your state of mind at the time of editing, but also to the number of times you have been exposed to the same material. You need someone else to help with your proofreading to do justice to your ideas.

However, you should remember that the best training for writing a novel is to get the thing written. If you read it back and feel at all happy with it, then you’ll know that there is something to work on. Getting that first novel written is about working with what you have, so let your creative talent take centre stage and try and focus on the fact that some of the most famous names have produced work that isn’t ostensibly ‘about’ anything.

When you are reading, make sure to keep your vocab book handy to write down any words you’ve never heard or you simply want to make a note of and remember. This is particularly important when getting to grips with wordier texts and very challenging pieces of writing.

Even if you don’t commit all these words to memory, at least you have a record of them so that you can refer to them when you can’t find the words to express a particular thing.

Clichés might appear as sections of plot that use often-seen bits of action with characters that are too recognisable to feel original and exciting. However, they may also appear in a more granular sense.

Certain images and metaphors are considered very clichéd. If you feel you are using a term, phrase or image that you know you’ve seen before or that feels very familiar when you say it out loud then you might want to think of a new way of saying it.

The following stipulations usually come into play for all submissions:

• Double spacing
• Precise font and font size
• Page numbering
• Precise headings
• The inclusion of a synopsis, covering letter and CV
• Changing ‘justified’ margins to ‘left aligned’

Make sure you check the agent’s website so that you know their precise criteria beforehand. There’s no sense in ignoring these stipulations because they might count you out of the running before your work’s been looked at.

This means proofreading. You should only proofread when you are feeling alert otherwise you are wasting your time. Once you are satisfied that the work is error-free, you should pass it on to someone you trust to have equally high standards. Ask them to proofread it for you so that you benefit from the perspective of a fresh pair of eyes.

None of this is guaranteed to secure you a deal, but it will make sure the decision is based on the merits of your writing rather than on petty oversights.

It is not uncommon for writers to begin their second novel before their first has gone anywhere. This is because completing a novel often feels like it qualifies you to go on writing. This means you can press ahead with greater authority, which often leads to the discovery of a stronger voice and more confident style.

These are just the sort of attributes that will help your new work to make more of an impact, which is why you should write to the end of your first piece regardless of the struggle it sometimes entails.

However, the persistence required to finish the novel itself is not where it stops. You need to summon up all your reserves of determination and patience in order to see your work in print. First of all, you have to search for a literary agent – taking the time to make the right choice and then taking rejection on the chin until you get accepted.

After that, you can expect to face another long wait as you work alongside your agent to secure a publisher. This is a protracted and frustrating process that few writers can bear – but bear it you must if you want to share your work.

Whatever you do, don’t lose heart: if you have faith in your work you stand a much better chance of succeeding.

A writer’s journal can perform this function, as well as its primary: opening your imagination. If you make sure you write in it at least every few days, about what you’ve seen, your ponderings on things, and ideas you may have had you will really start to notice a difference. Even if it starts out being a bit like a diary, it will soon morph into an imagination portal, where you can really put those crazy things in your head into words.

Why not use the back pages of your journal as a notebook – for ideas and jottings when out and about – and the front as an actual journal? Two birds with one stone. Or something like that.

What he meant (rather than brutal child murder), is that your favourite line in a poem, or paragraph in a story, or chapter in a novel , probably needs to be taken out. A horrifying thought for anyone new to writing or who is only just becoming accustomed to others’ feedback, I know, but a necessary one none the less.

Be prepared to see your writing from someone else’s point of view. You may think that this particular image is poignant, beautiful, lyrical and meaningful, when in actual fact it is just pretentious, pompous drivel.
The bottom line is to get over yourself, and be aware that if you want to write for other people, you have to listen to other people and admit the fact that you don’t always know best.