"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Tuesday, February 15
Rules For Writers
As Somerset Maugham once said, "There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Wiser minds than mine have, however, come up with a few immutable laws for writers. Some of these I heard with my own ears, some have been kicking around forever, so take these attributions with a grain of salt.
Bracken's First Law: Money flows TO the writer. Money flows TO the writer. Money flows TO the writer. The point: if you have to pay to be published, you're not doing it right (exceptions excepted).
Bracken's Second Law: A good editor buys your story. A great editor makes your story better, then buys it. Said by the man himself in response to my comments about working with Anthony Neil Smith, a truly great editor.
Bracken's Third Law: The secret to being a successful freelance writer is having a working spouse. This one needs no explanation.
And here's a mantra that I'll attribute to Stephen D. Rogers. As the aforementioned Neil once said, "Apparently, all he does is write and submit and is fed through a tube."
Rogers' Rule For Writing Success: Write. Submit. Repeat as necessary.
Feel free to post your on writer's rules in the comments.
New Tunes. Here's the latest list: "Add It Up", Violent Femmes "Train In Vain", The Clash "Not An Addict", K's Choice "Fell In Love With A Girl", The White Stripes "Look What You've Done", Jet "Closing Time", Semisonic "Not For You", Pearl Jam
I almost typed that as "Pearl James", which would be a really cool nickname, if I was named James. Although "Pearl Graham" isn't bad either.
