I went to AWP 2016 with a mission to learn what the hundreds of experts, the writers that had acquired some success, had to say about the rules of writing…

Let me begin by saying that I was blessed with two paradoxical personality traits—I am a conflict-avoidant people pleaser, but I regard rules and outwardly imposed limits with an air of disdain. In my 20+ years of formal education (yes, you read that right, some people invest in the stock market or buy boats, I go to school), I have learned that in order for these two tendencies to work for me rather than immobilize me, I must do very careful research about rules and expectations in order to determine what I’m going to disregard. Because the finished product is kick-ass, then it won’t matter how many rules I eschewed to get there, right?

I went to AWP with a mission to learn what the hundreds of experts, the writers that had acquired some success, had to say about the rules of writing. I had two questions in particular that guided my session choices:

• How do you make a living and write?
• How do writers advise writing protagonists that are of different race/gender/age/ethnicity/physical ability/sexuality from their own? Or, do they?

What follows is a list of the tips and tricks, the rules of the trade and pieces of advice, straight from my notebook. These are the bits I felt certain would help guide me in my quest to figure out what rules I could conceivably break and how I could expect to make my way as a writer. I offer these without commentary.

1. Teaching makes us better writers because it forces us to practice what we preach.
2. Teach teens. They will call you on your bullshit and that will inevitably push you to be a more authentic writer.
3. Writing is the hardest thing you’ll ever endeavor to do.
4. It is nearly impossible to fairly and accurately represent a character from a different perspective than your own without reinforcing monoculturalism, cultural appropriation or writing from a deficit perspective.
5. Adjunct teaching is one step away from hell.
6. Don’t pay for an MFA.
7. On second thought, don’t bother with an MFA to begin with.
8. Don’t quit your day job. Ever.
9. Writing, like every other industry, is an old boy’s club with rules and gatekeepers barring the door.
10. When you finally make it through the door, it is your responsibility to stick your foot in the doorway and not let it slam behind you for the rest of us poor schmucks.
11. Writing is not coal mining, keep it in perspective.
12. Quit your day job. Go hungry. Stay focused. Bust your rump to shag even the most seemingly insignificant opportunity—it might lead you to something else.
13. Write every day. In the morning. Or the afternoon. Or while you’re in the school parking lot waiting on your kids. Or in a silent room with a do not disturb sign on the door.
14. Writing comes first. You must learn to say no.
15. Find a community. A writers’ group or a writing partner. MFA programs are  great places to develop those relationships.
16. Writing is hard. Anyone can have emotions, they doesn’t make you a writer.
17. The act of writing is a curious exploration, therefore always an act of optimism.
18. Ask questions. Write your way to the answer.
19. Writing perspectives that are not your own experience is the deepest act of empathy and respect if done so with intentionality and humility.
20. There is no true and pure definition of writing craft, this is a construct developed by the white male canon.
21. When asked if there is ever a time in which it is inappropriate and not advisable to write from another perspective than your own, the question is met with a long, VERY LONG silence. Then the moderator moves to the next question.
22. Working with vulnerable populations creates a greater awareness of narrative urgency and reminds us of the reason we write—to simply tell a story.
23. Everything begins with reading. Read diversely. Choose books that aren’t on the top 100 lists. Do so not because they were assigned, but because you are curious.
24. Resist envy and relative deprivation.
25. To quote Jane Austen, “Exert yourself, Marianne.” Just keep writing.

For someone looking for the rules so she can appropriately break them, I must say, this is entirely inconclusive. And yet it is helpful. Sometimes inspiring. And reminds me what I already know: that rules of any sort for making art are ultimately useless, that we make our own and break them. Most importantly, I am reminded that the risks we take, with our life, our career and our writing are entirely our own and the roadmap is made to be thrown out.

Sarah Ratermann Beahan is an MFA student at Goddard College. After traveling around the United States looking for a place to call home, she now resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She chronicles her adventures at www.greatbeahanadventure.com and www.sarahbeahan.com. You may have read her work in The Northeaster, her local newspaper, SWAMP Magazine, or STLtoday.com. While her first literary accolade was the production of her play Gas’n’Go at the Webster University Conservatory Theatre, she now focuses her energy on her thesis, a novel tentatively titled Flyover, and cleverly written Facebook status updates.