I have read many lists similar to this list. For the most part they all evoke the same response.
Me while I'm reading: Oh my gosh this is so wonderful I want to go write the world's next greatest novel and I am going to follow all this advice to a tee and read and imitate and dream and when I do I will emerge as one of this century's greatest writers!
What actually happens: Oh look, a blank page.
uhhhhhhhh
what was that thing they said to do again?
Following all this advice is not the easiest thing one can do. I'm glad this point is mentioned in number ten, saying that not everything works for everybody.
Something that did work for me was #8 - Do not think. Dream. You are trying to recover the literal vision of a child.
Lately I've been thinking about how different writing is now as opposed to when I was younger. When I was younger I would spend hours writing novels, not worrying that the talking animal thing had been done before, that the poem I wrote about the dragon sounded stupid, that people would think it was dumb that my heroine was eating a cheeseburger. I would just write because it was fun. I didn't care what anyone else thought. They were probably never going to see it, so why worry?
Now my more or less adult brain, even when knowing no one is ever going to see what I'm writing, goes "Har har har you actually think you can get away with that line about the daisies? Nice try, dumbo. Rewrite that one ten times until it actually sounds worthy of the intelligence of the average rock."
When it all boils down do it, basically, writing is hard. I will read lists like this and advice until I'm swimming in knowledge but then sit down to a page and feel like I am pounding out the world's worst story. I think it's both a combination of honing the writing craft, taking a deep breath, and crossing your fingers in the hope that something comes out of your brain that other people will connect with, too.
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