There are different, competing claims about the origin of the term rule of thumb. I prefer the idea that it stems from the fact that the length from the tip of the thumb to the knuckle is about one inch (or if you're a pilot and you use 1:500,000 charts, about 10 nautical miles).

In any case, they are useful guidelines that make it easier to do something without thinking it through from first principles each time. Here are ten of mine as applied to writing:

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How do you capture the flavor and texture of another language in your writing? To find out we spoke to Alfredo José Estrada, Cuban-born author of the novel Welcome to Havana, Señor Hemingway and the forthcoming history, Havana: Autobiography of a City (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). Both books lyrically convey Cuban culture and language across a span of historical periods. Alfredo explains how he makes this happen:

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My favorite bon mot on writing comes from a former editor of the LA Times: "There are only two kinds of writers, bad ones, and the ones trying to get better." If you aspire to the latter group, you must pick up Roy Peter Clark's newly-released Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. How essential? Well, let me offer my own humble testimonial: Nothing I've ever read has helped me sharpen my writing as much as this collection of tools. I think about strategies like "gold coins," "word space" and "the name of the dog" (not to mention the "power of three") every time I sit down to write a piece. I first came across these tools, by the way, on the website of the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists where Roy's the vice president and senior scholar. Now that Roy's mojo is in book form, you got it made! I called Roy to talk to him about his tools. -- Editor

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Roy Peter Clark, the journalist, writing coach and scholar we interviewed for our latest "Word Count" section, recommends these books about writing.

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Roy Peter Clark, author of Writing Tools and senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists, says "my colleague Chip Scanlan publishes wonderful pieces on writing for the Poynter website." To read Chip's blog please click here.

When last we sunk premolars into chewy bagel, we talked about the "controlling idea" in composition with playwright and creative exec Clark Morgan. In this installment of our ongoing conversation about writing, we look at what happens once you nail your main theme. In a word, rhetoric. Yes, old-fashioned rhetoric. Let Clark explain:

VT: Okay, I've got my controlling idea. I've written for a while, I've generated a bunch of things I want to say. Now what?

Clark: Now you're looking at it thinking, what have I wrought? How do I make sense of this?

VT: Yes, how? It seems like you could arrange it any number of different ways. How do you know what's the right way to organize?

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