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.