I prefer “unselfconscious first draft” to “shitty first draft” – aim to tell your story, say what you are saying, as well as you can, but do it for yourself without second-guessing how the readers might react, whether it’s on trend for the market, how it might be misinterpreted and so on.

You do need later to think about the wider context of your writing, but especially early on in the writing process you need to be focused on making something you are proud of, before you start working out how to finesse it to connect widely with others.