"Get an accountant, abstain from sex and similes, cut, rewrite, then cut and rewrite again – if all else fails, pray. Inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing, we asked authors for their personal dos and don'ts." Huge, two-part article (presumably from Saturday's Review) with a great deal of advice - some sensible, some common sense, some insightful, some entertaining - on writing. And: much of it applies to other creative disciplines, too.

"Accept that everything you say will be forgotten and ignored but write as if you and your words are immortal. Don’t just describe but justify – make sure the reader knows WHY the record exists whether the reasons are righteous or rascally. And always remember you’re not here to give consumer advice or help with people’s filing. You’re here to set people’s heads on fire."

God, Nethack is far, far, far too complicated. This only reminds me why I hated it so much (compared to Rogue, or even Larn).

This is actually a useful way of thinking about writing almost any kind of documentation; single line up to large document. Tools like Scrivener actually make some of the techniques described even easier than using a spreadsheet.