1. If a writer does not have a spouse to fix dinner, a hospitable sister will do just fine. Especially if she cooks from scratch.

2. Do not think you can make do with a computer that has no printer and a keyboard made for Tinkerbell. Unless you have a daughter who will FedEx you a better one.

3. Do not  sit for hours on a dining room chair that squeezes a nerve in your right thigh and causes pain; go instead to Goodwill and pay $13.00 for a perfectly good office chair that adjusts.

4. It is important to have a dog to remind you about leaving the desk every hour or so to provide food, chew bones, or to open the  door and clip on a leash so that he can take you for a walk around the block.

5. When you have revised a hard copy of a whole chapter of the book, don’t forget to retype it into the current file. (Yup, I was missing chapter eleven.)

6. Don’t throw out any hard copy until you see the work in print with a dust jacket and an ISBN.