If you want to score more points against us, focus on consistency, placement, and steady attacks instead of wild swings. Stop hitting everything crosscourt, go after my playing elbow more, and change directions at the last second so we don't know where you're hitting the ball five minutes before you hit it. And for god's sake, develop some good serves, both long and short ones. While you're at it, work on your receive - it takes practice, but if you focus on control, you'll get that control. If you do all this, and can put the ball away when you get an easy shot, you'll start beating us and we'll teach you the secret handshake. That is all. 

When you make a series of shots and then miss one, remember the feel of the ones that hit, not the one that missed. It's the ones that hit that you want to ingrain. Think about the miss only if you do it over and over, and then only think analytically to figure out what the problem is, and as briefly as possible. Then forget about the misses and think about the feel of the good ones. 

The primary danger of attacking with the forehand from the backhand corner (usually with a loop) is that you are leaving the forehand side open. Yet, you don't have to be a speed demon to cover that shot, though that helps. Balance and technique are more important. Here are keys to how to play the forehand from the backhand side without getting caught on the wide forehand. (Note - the advantage of the forehand from the backhand side is that it's usually easier to generate power with the forehand.)

• Balance. Often a player is in such a rush to step around that they are off-balance when they finish the shot. Others simply follow through way off to the side. In both cases, by the time they have recovered their balance, it's too late. Imagine a pole through your head, and as much as possible rotate around that pole. This gives you great torque yet leaves balanced and in the same position as when you started the shot.
• Depth. If your shot lands short, it's easy for the opponent to block aggressively to your forehand. If you keep your shots deep, you have a lot more time.
• Placement. If you put the ball very wide to the opponent's backhand (for righties), they have no angle into your forehand. In general, go down the line only for winners, since you'll be wide open to an aggressive angled block to your forehand.
• Speed. The harder you loop, the less time you have to recover. Often it's a good idea to loop slow and deep from the backhand side, since the slowness and depth of your own shot gives you time to recover. Alternatively, loop kill so the ball rarely comes back, so you don't have to worry about the wide forehand as much. It's those medium-speed loops that are regularly blocked to the wide forehand for winners.
• Backhand loop. There's nothing like a backhand loop from the backhand side to keep you in position!

A fast, down-the-line serve from the backhand corner (normally done with a forehand pendulum service motion) is a valuable serve. It's great at catching righty forehand loopers off guard as they look to loop your serve from the backhand corner. It's also sometimes good against more neutral players, as they aren't used to fast serves to the forehand and so can be erratic against it. It's even effective against lefties, who are often guarding against serves wide to their forehand, and so are vulnerable to this sudden serve to their wide backhand. Against lefties, however, you'd look to ace them by going crosscourt to their forehands, though you are less likely to get an ace as players generally guard the crosscourt angle. (Lefty servers, this serve is effective for you as well - but I'll let you work out the specifics.) So develop this serve or you will be handicapping yourself against some players.

If you aren't sure how to do the serve, ask a coach or top player to demonstrate. But the key is to fake as if you are serving crosscourt, then at the last second change directions and serve fast topspin down the line. Contact point should be a bit behind the table so that the first bounce can be near your own end-line, which gives the serve the maximum amount of table to drop and hit the other side. (This is true for fast crosscourt serves as well.)

Pick and choose when to use this serve. Often you can tell by the receiver's stance and body language if he's looking to step around. Even if he's not stepping around, if a receiver looks a bit flat-footed, he's probably vulnerable to this serve.

Once you can do the serve effectively, it's time to make it even more effective. Here are two ways you can do that. First, you can use spin, either sidespin either way or extra topspin. If you do, make sure to put more power into the serve so that you don't sacrifice much speed for spin. Extra topspin pulls the ball down and allows you to serve even faster.

Second, contact the ball with the racket still aimed at the righty receiver's backhand, but hit it down the line with sort of a slapping sidespin (your racket going from right to left at contact). This is my favorite. Typically the first time I go down the line, I do it the "easy" way, changing the racket direction at the last second. Now they are watching for that last second racket change, so I don't give it to them. By keeping the racket aimed to their backhand, you catch them moving to cover that shot, and their forehand side is open.

Once you've done a fast down-the-line serve, the rest of the match the opponent is guarding against it, and guess what? All your other serves become a bit more effective. 

Have you ever studied your opponent to see exactly when in his strokes he commits to a specific placement? There really are two important points in the swing.

The first is when the opponent has committed to the placement, but you don't know where yet. Normally you would not react to this, but sometimes, against a predictable opponent (which means most players), you can anticipate. For example, if you serve a deep breaking serve to an opponent's backhand, most likely he'll return it to your backhand. So you might anticipate this, and at the instant when the opponent has committed his direction - but hasn't actually telegraphed the direction - you might anticipate his return by stepping over to attack with your forehand. Don't overdo this, but it's a definite tactical advantage if you can do this sometimes.

The second important point in the swing is when the opponent has telegraphed where his placement will be. You should learn to observe this so you can move the instant you can see the direction. Many players don't move until the opponent has hit the ball, but for the large majority of players, you can see where they are going by the time they start their forward swing. At the higher levels, many players learn to hide their direction longer and to even fake one way and go another, so against players like that learn when they have really committed.

The shoulders are often the giveaway for where a player is going on the forehand. Many players line their shoulders up early to hit crosscourt or down the line, and it's like they have a big sign across their shoulders saying where the shot is going. When you first learn the forehand, this is fine, but as you advance, learn a little subtlety and deception. For example, from the forehand side, rotate the shoulders way back as if you are going down the line, then at the last second whip about and go crosscourt. Or set up to go crosscourt, and at the last second rotate the shoulders back more so you can go down the line. Or simply cock your wrist back at the last second and go inside-out down the line. These are easier shown then explained - have a top player or coach show you how to do these shots.