Grant writing comes with lots of rules. I am not a fan of rules. Okay, some rules I'm all behind. I'm highly in favor of the "don't murder" one, and the "don't steal" one too. But a lot of rules have little to no defensible logic behind them. I struggle with those.
Many rules associated with grant writing can seem nit-picky and annoying. Trust me, I have picked some nits in my time, and been annoyed out of my black leather pointy-toed flats. I have wanted to plant one of those pointy toes right in a rule-maker's shin. Yet when you look closely at grant rules, the majority do have logic and are not that hard to follow.
And if you don't follow the rules of grant writing and submission? That great prose and stellar idea you spent hours and days and weeks crafting will land smack in the sponsor's trash bin. Even if you met the deadline.
Some sponsors have more pages of rules than they allow you to write for your submission. Every rule in there has to be followed. Some sponsors have so few rules you're not sure how to even ask for funding. You must somehow figure out how to approach them.
I will help you figure it out. But please, please... follow. every. rule. ALL of them. If the guidelines say it, do it. Just remember:
No rule is too small to trigger the trash bin.
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