Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop!

What is the biggest “don’t” in writing?

Remember to visit my fellow writers to see what they have created. You can find their works here!

I’ve been told many different “rules” when I started out on my writing journey. Many are stylistic or personal preference. Some are a bit more of a given. One of the classics is “show, don’t tell.” As a writer, we should be able to show the reader what is going on without having to explain everything explicitly.

But I think for me, it’s got to be “just write.” I spent far too long in the early days worrying about what other people would think. I worried about whether my book was too long or not long enough to be considered a novel. After too much time researching and looking for a definitive answer, I realised that there are a lot of wildly varying figures depending on who you ask.

Then I spent far too much of last year chasing royalties from my writing. So much so, I found writing became a chore, something that had to be done. Once I stopped chasing the cash, I started to love it once more.

So that’d be my big rule for writing, particularly in 2026 – to just not care and enjoy my writing. If I write about what I’d want, then, in turn, my work will be more enjoyable, hopefully.