One important reason to know the rules is so you know how best to break them.

I’ve often spelt one of the words in this sentence wrong because it just feels more correct to me, and it matches how I pronounce it. Most spell-checkers don’t even pester me about it, since it’s a perfectly legitimate word for a type of grain.

Sometimes, you’re not yet sure where you stand on as subject and waffling and flailing is part of the process of sorting it out. Sometimes, you know that having someone else review your work would be a waste of time, because you have no intention of changing a syllable.

Sometimes, you just break the rules because that is what will get the job done, today, right now, this moment.

Never follow so many rules that your personality gets squooshed out and replaced with something that looks and tastes like instant oatmeal.

I know the whole “here’s how you should write” thing has been written to death, and that I am, perhaps, just another voice crying out in the wilderness. If one single person hears, if one writer sees how they could be a better version of what they already are, that’s enough. Just one would be enough.

Oh; that apostrophe thing? I’m gonna hold you to that one.

If you missed any of the episodes of Joel’s 7 Writing Imperatives, they’re all around here somewhere.