You write alone, so it's easy to forget the reader is even there.
But reading is something they actively do, filtering every sentence through their own questions and objections, firing back in real time.
The writers who win, William says, treat it like chess: every sentence a move, the next one written to answer the reader's.
So how do you play a game whose other player never sits down?
You keep the absent player on the board.
After each sentence, voice the reader's move — the "so what," the objection, the "get to the point" — and write the next sentence in reply; adjust structure to the moves this reader needs rather than pouring your ideas into a template.
And when the page freezes you, remember the draft is for finding the idea, not proving it — write to get clear, then rebuild it for them.