l. Your first sentence makes a promise that the rest of the story will keep.

2. Give your reader a reason to turn every page.

3. Keep a very large trash can beside your desk.

4. Be relentlessly descriptive. Use details from every sense you own.

5. Set your scenes in places you know well. Otherwise, your details will be bogus.

6. Know what your theme is. If you can't express what you intend to get across in a concrete sentence or two, do you really think anyone else is going to get it? Write it out for yourself, point blank. Then toss it, and return to your story with a better sense of direction.

7. Write with nobody looking over your shoulder. After your book's published, you can worry about whether the subject is commercial, how your mother will like the steamy sex scenes, etc. But while you're writing, your only worthy concern is defining your particular passion and giving it a voice.

8. A first draft is a work of construction. The seventh one is the work of an artist.

9. Don't wait for the muse. She has a lousy work ethic. Writers just write.