20 Rules for Writers

1.    Believe in your talent.  Your desire to write is no accident. 

2.    Dare to imagine.

3.    Don’t think about publication.

4.    Create with joy and abandon.  Write as if no one will ever read what you’ve written.  You can always worry about “fixing” it later. 

5.    Remember the reader’s journey.  Give her what she came for.

6.    Don’t try to sound like a writer.

7.    Leave your ego at the door. 

8.    Try something new every day. 

9.    Leave the page once in a while.  Get outside and live! 

10.  If what you’ve been doing isn’t working for you, try something else. 

11.  Writer’s block just means you’re approaching your work from the wrong perspective.  The muse shuts down when we try to force the wrong thing onto the page. 

12.  Accept change. 

13.  Don’t expect approval for telling the truth. 

14.  Every experience in your life has purpose -- both the good and the bad.  Embrace them all.  They’re here to give you something to say. 

15.  Remember that novel writers are, by nature, risk-takers. 

16.  Forget about critics. 

17.  Forget your parents, your siblings, your children and your neighbors when you sit down to write. 

18.  Tell your truth and the truth of your characters.  Don’t worry about anyone else’s. 

19.  What you don’t write does not exist in your characters’ world. 

20.  There are no rules