Just lately I’ve been immersed in revising the first draft of my WIP. Actually it’s not so much a first draft as a mish-mash of various drafts. I’ve been through the whole thing twice and worked on separate specific parts numerous times. But while I’ve been trying to concentrate on getting on with this–because I’m still hoping to publish in September–I have been under siege!

There’s the work, obviously, that needs to be done on a daily basis. Then there’s the time I grudgingly share with my family. (I mean, I do love them and for some reason they put up with me but when I’m doing stuff with them, my laptop is calling me.) And I’ve had (still got) the typical summer cold which comes with sore throat, pounding head and sneezing. My energy levels have been drained to nothing and then I get the emails and the social media messages: ’12/10/8/6/5/3 TOP TIPS to improve/upgrade/build/maintain/push/leverage/enhance your (fill in absolutely anything here)’

I mean, this stuff just comes at you from every direction. Everyone has a ‘top tip’ to give you to tell you how to do what you’re already doing even better. And it’s never anything good or helpful – it’s always stuff you already know and have been doing for years. It’s nearly always obvious, common sense stuff that is not in the least anyone’s ‘special’ or ‘exclusive’ insight. Normally, it’s stuff your mum/teacher/doctor/best friend/priest told you twenty years ago. There are a lot of people out there making money from selling old hat/rope.

So here’s my advice, because I love a bandwagon:

Ignore them all and just carry on doing what you’re doing. Go indoors, batten down the hatches, pull out the internet cable, have a nice cup of coffee and a couple of chocolate digestives and get back to doing what you know works for you, and stop worrying about whether you should be doing everything the way some celebrity entrepreneur does it. You’re okay.