College Essay Lab | Lesson 2 | How to start writing your college essay
Okay, so you’ve chosen (and committed to) a topic for your college essay. Great.
If you’ve done this correctly, then it should be a story that you care about and know well.
Now’s the part where you sit down at a computer and win a staring contest with the blinking cursor on your screen, right?
Well, not necessarily.
How to begin your college essay
In this next section, I’m going to ask you to be really, really observant about yourself.
When I coach my clients’ writing, one of the first things I do, out loud or to myself, is identify something I call their “sharing conditions”.
“Sharing conditions” are the things that make a person most able to express themselves authentically and freely. Usually this involves being within your comfort zone, making sure you can focus, and maintaining your energy. It also includes identifying the method by which you record your thoughts.
A small minority of people I work with enjoy sitting down in front of an empty page on a word processor and quietly typing their first draft. Honestly, it sounds like a nightmare to me, and it’s a way of working that doesn’t work for a lot of people for a few reasons:
Computers are full of distractions.
Sitting still is not energizing.
Few people are most expressive through their fingertips.
As I’ve implied, rough draft-ing at a computer works for some people. If that’s you, skip to the section labeled “How to write the first draft of your college essay”. If not, stick with me for some questions that will help you identify some of your “sharing conditions”.
Get in the college essay zone
TASK: Take a moment and think about the feeling of being able to express yourself without a filter. The feeling of getting caught up in a process and unable to pull yourself out. The feeling that might make you say “Hang on one more thing…” The kind of focusing that actually takes energy to pull yourself out of. Instructions follow.
Review these questions and jot down your answers, even if they feel obvious to you. Remember: the things that feel obvious for you are not necessarily true for other people!
1. What mode of expression enables you to explore an idea well?
Is it writing with pen on paper?
Is it speaking aloud to yourself? Is it speaking aloud to somebody else?
Is it doodling?
Do you sing nonsense while you wash the dishes?
2. How do time and timing enable you to explore an idea well?
Is it first thing in the morning?
After everyone has gone to sleep?
Is it before you’ve begun thinking about your day?
Is it only after you’ve made sure you have no more homework?
How long a period of uninterrupted time do you need to enter a focused state?
Do you need to limit that time?
3. Where are you able to explore an idea well?
Is it somewhere familiar? Or do the reminders of your obligations get in the way?
Is it somewhere unfamiliar? Or does wandering distract or frighten you?
Is it in stillness?
Is it with movement?
Is it with other people, whose presence might keep you accountable?
Is it alone?
4. What does your body need in order for you to be enabled to explore an idea?
Are you hungry? No, really. This is my own number-one distraction.
Do you need to move or be still?
Check in with your senses. For example:
Do you need music? Ambient sound? Silence? If so, what kind?
Do you need a scent?
What level and types of light help you focus?
What kinds of clothes, if any, help you focus? What footwear, if any?
Do you need anything in your mouth? (I’m serious; I require almonds or tea.)
Use these answers and develop a plan for setting your “sharing conditions”. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to start telling your story.
How to write the first draft of your college essay
Repeat after me: writing the first draft is not the same thing as a first attempt to write a final draft. I call the first draft a “spit draft”, and I encourage you to approach it with one objective: get as many ideas out there as you can.
Here are some things you’re allowed to do when you write a spit draft:
Ramble on and on. Go long. Say too much. Push the term “word count” out of your mind.
Repeat yourself. Try saying things a few different ways.
Resist making decisions.
Tell it out of order.
Change your point of view. Provide commentary.
Got all that?
HOMEWORK: Set up your “sharing conditions” and then let your ideas loose as you write a “spit draft”. Give yourself at least 45 minutes to work on this.
Once you’ve done that, click here for the next lesson—where I’ll share my favorite way for organizing a big idea dump into a rock solid sequence that works both logically and intuitively.
FEELING STUCK? Schedule a drop-in appointment with me here. Make sure to indicate that you’re working on Lesson 2, and describe for me what your “stuck point” is.
