The three rules of writing

I was surfing the web the other day and I found this:

http://www.writersstore.com/the-3-cosmic-rules-of-writing

The three rules of writing. And what a brilliant list! Generally I subscribe to the view that when it comes to writing, there are no rules – but I have to agree with Dennis Palumbo, the author of the above article. He lists the three rules as

– You Are Enough – Basically he is saying that we all have within us the ability to write. We all have doubts and fears, but those doubts and fears are not real. We should ignore them and push on.

– Work with What You’re Given – His second rule is akin to ‘write what you know’. Look at your life – use the experiences of your life to write – not just the events or things that you know – but emotions that everyone experiences whether they live in a large city on earth in 2012, or an imaginary village in a world ruled by dragons.

– Writing Begets Writing –  And the last – just write. Never mind what you’re writing just get the words onto the screen, onto paper. Even if you write ‘I can’t think of anything to write and I am bored and maybe I shouldn’t do this anyway because it is all just silly’ etc etc etc. Get writing. Use writing to get all the nonsense out of your head, so the stories can find their way through.

This last is the one rule that I have followed for several years now. I sit down and I write. When I want to write a story I start by emptying my head of the nonsense that fills it so that I can make space for the inspiration to flow.