Form your thesis. Make an outline. Keep your audience in
mind. When your teacher taught you these rules, she meant to help you with
writing—but what if these rules are actually jamming you up?

Composition scholar Mike Rose compared people who got stuck in
their writing with people who got their writing done. He found that the stuck
group tried their best to follow rules like the ones at the top of this post.
When they struggled, they stopped. The people who got their writing done also
struggled, but they didn’t stop. They abandoned the rules—Well, I guess I’ll just have to do it wrong—and got their writing
done.

I’m not suggesting that you should never follow rules or
organize your writing. I’m saying that for many (most?) of us, planning your
writing and keeping a bunch of rules in mind is not at all helpful. In fact, it
gets in the way of discovery, of risk-taking, of any pleasure you might find in
writing. As Mike Rose’s research suggests, it gets in the way of writing, period.

Maybe this doesn’t match your experience. Maybe you’re big
into predetermination and planning, and you get your writing done without
feeling miserable about it. If so, play on.

But if the rules and plans are getting in your way, rebel.
Do it wrong. You can always bring an outline into play in a second draft, but
it’s awful hard to organize a blank page.