All the rules, and music education won't help you composing music.
First, you have to have a IDEA, all the rest in music comes exactly then when you need it, not a second earlier.
This is completely false.
You can have a great idea, and if you know nothing, be utterly incapable of working it out and presenting it well.
I agree. Much of my living is made "helping" people who have not studied music, and while I gouge every penny that I can out of them, I still feel sad that some of them have been too lazy (or even arrogant) to take the time to study. After all I'm not even suggesting a course at a Conservatoire, just some listening and score studying so that they would have some idea of how to achieve the sound that they want. Obviously we can't all be experts at everything, but I would have thought that if I wanted to be a builder I would have bothered to learn something about most of the trades involved.
DG