Every self-respecting writer seems to have a list of rules they live by for writing. Many turn out to be recurring themes - write every day (or don't); always write in the same place (or don't); write in solitude (or don't) - you know. The lists go on. I guess there is comfort and inspiration in knowing that other writers struggle to get started, to keep at it, and to bring it to a close. If other writers struggle as much as me, then maybe my struggles don't disqualify me as a writer. "Every writer I know has trouble writing," said Joseph Heller.
Maybe composing ten rules for writing is a way of throwing out a line to other writers, to offer them some comfort and inspiration. Maybe writing them down is a way of persuading myself to get back to it, or maybe if I have my own "ten rules for writing" I will believe I am a writer and not a faker. Or maybe writing about the rules for writing is yet another mode of procrastinating; write about writing because I am having a hard time writing.
I wrote recently about writing the way you can, and I wrote about Proust and writing in bed. But when it comes down to it, if I boil down my own wisdom into ten rules for writing, they are pretty simple. Here they are:
1. Write.
2. Break the rules.
3. Write.
4. Break the rules.
5. Write.
6. Break the rules.
7. Write.
8. Break the rules.
9. Write.
10. Break the rules.