Writing Heads

Writing progress isn’t always measured in sentences, paragraphs, or pages.

Sometimes it looks like questions, crossed-out thoughts, messy notes, and decisions that help you figure out where you’re going.

Since starting to write and create Join the Conversation, I’ve spent a lot of time working out what I wanted the tutorial to accomplish. That thinking - that time spent making writing decisions - was absolutely necessary.

The progress didn’t show up in pages and paragraphs - but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.

The takeaway? You don’t have to know exactly what you think before you start writing. Sometimes, writing is *how* you figure it out.

If you’re looking for a different way to approach essay writing, check out my free mini-tutorial, The Thinking Behind A Paragraph at WritingHeads.com —> Freebie

You don’t need to find an idea that’s already interesting, relevant, and ready to become an essay.

Ready-to-use ideas don’t exist. You’ve gotta put in the thinking and turn the small observation you noticed or the spark of curiosity you had into something.

Because most - if not all - ideas don’t start out as interesting. They become interesting when you give yourself a chance to become interested.

So… instead of practicing drive-thru thinking - recognize and challenge it. And, give your ideas a chance before you decide they’re “no good.”

Want to learn how to think your way through an essay? Essay Relief is a good place to start. Link in bio.

An essay can sound good - even confident and convincing- without actually being *credible.*

I’ve read a lot of essays and the ones that sound the best are always the ones that prioritize being credible over “sounding smart.”

Credibility comes from your thinking and tells me things like:
- have you been honest or exaggerative about what you’re claiming?
- have you considered other possibilities or only focused on your preferred interpretation / perspective?
- have you worked through opposing arguments or overlooked them?
- can I see how your thinking ties to the text or are you making a lot of assumptions or stretches and just hoping I’ll nod along?

These aren’t things you fix by adding another sentence or finding a more sophisticated word. They’re decisions you make while you’re developing your ideas.

And they’re a big part of what separates an essay that simply sounds good from one that actually has something to say.

If you’re interested in learning how to write credible essays - and not just ones that “sound good” - check out my tutorials.

Link in bio.

Timed-essays were actually my favourite!

If you want to make the most of your allotted time, you have to avoid the urge to jump right into the writing and figure out what city you’re visiting 😛

If you’re not sure how to turn your essay prompt into an essay question, that’s what I teach in Essay Relief.

Link in bio

“I suck at writing.” Maybe.🙃

Or… maybe you’re just trying to write down a thought that isn’t finished yet - that needs a little more time to “make sense.”

Because thinking doesn’t happen in neat paragraphs.(I know, it’s be nice if it did…)

It’s messy. Confusing. Full of false starts, questions, connections and half-formed ideas.

And, it’s tempting to think when you’re in the messy middle that you’re just “bad at writing.”

But, I’m willing to bet that’s not the case. And I say that as someone who has heard that same sentence over a 1000 times from a 1000s of students.

You just haven’t been taught how to work your way through the *messy middle* thinking.

And - that’s exactly why I designed Essay Relief. It’s where I teach you the thinking that comes *before* the writing.

Curious to know more? The link to Essay Relief is in my bio.

You don’t need another writing formula. You have a hunch’s another one won’t make a difference.

What you probably don’t have though - is a way to know whether your thinking is actually working.

That’s why my tutorials use thinking frameworks rather than formulas.

BAIT helps you test a thesis
—> it helps you identify its strengths / weaknesses / what’s working / what isn’t. It helps you identify and evaluate the thinking behind it - and not simply check off whether or not it has “all the right parts.”

OOPS! helps you move from summary to interpretation
—> it helps you learn how to think *with a text* rather than simply use the text to “back up” what you already think

These aren’t steps to follow. They’re practical ways to evaluate your thinking to see if you’re on the right track and where there’s room to correct.

Because my goal isn’t to make you better at following a set of writing formulas. My goal is to make you a better thinker — to develop your own writer’s sensibility - so you become a better writer.

If you’re interested in learning more about my thinking frameworks, you can find BAIT inside Thesis Thinking and
OOPS! inside Find Your Voice & Write Like a Grad.

Both are available on my website - link in bio

Essays don’t start with thesis statements.
They start with *observations.*

I like to think of observations as little ✨sparks of curiosity✨

Something you notice as you read that makes you stop for a second and think, Wait- whaaaaaat???

So you read some more.
You poke at it.
Pry into it.
Ask questions.

And slowly, those little observations start to connect.

That’s how you work your way toward an argument and writing a thesis statement. A series of observations that you can turn into a question and then into an argument.

And the same kind of thinking that goes into working out a thesis goes into working out an idea in a paragraph.

I made a FREE mini-tutorial to show you what that thinking looks like, The Thinking Behind a Paragraph.

Grab your copy at writingheads.com —> freebie (in the menu bar)

If your quotes feel added-on, you’re probably working backwards.

We’re taught to choose a quote, put it into our paragraph, and then figure out how to connect it to what we’re saying.

So we end up reaching for phrases like:

“This shows…”
“This demonstrates…”
“This quote proves…”

But the thinking shouldn’t come after the quote.

It should come before.

I made a free mini-tutorial to help you see what’s actually happening underneath a paragraph — and how the thinking comes before the parts we’re taught to write.