This is a great list that Meg Dowell came up with. Some of them *might* be helpful (joining a critique group, for instance), but not 100% necessary to your writing career. Some of them might be lies *or* truth based on personal experience (#9). But most of them – yep, complete bunk. You *don’t* need a writing degree or class, you can find the writing schedule that works for you and you alone (and that might even change from time to time or project to project), you can *definitely* work on more than one project at once. And don’t even get me started on #14. Where did that lie come from? If reading about writing were so unhelpful, why do so many books–and blogs!–about writing exist?
Nicely done, Meg! I love it!
1. To succeed in writing, you absolutely have to join a critique group or take a class.
2. People with writing degrees have a better chance than people without them.
3. No matter how hard you work as a writer, you’ll always struggle financially. Always.
4. You’re not a real writer until you’ve published a book — the “traditional” way.
5. Anyone can start a blog, so being a blogger doesn’t count.
6. If you don’t write every day, you’re not really a writer.
7. The only way to get as much writing done as possible is to wake up at 5 a.m, even on weekends.
8. Real writers NEVER discuss their ideas with anyone, EVER.
9. You can never work on more than one project at a time.
10. You can’t move on from one project to the next until the first one is worthy of publishing.
11. “Making…
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A Yarny Life 
I agree with you how #6 is a lie. Even when I’m not writing I’m thinking about writing.
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