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Essay Writing Guide

Essay Topics

Last updated on: Dec 19, 2023

Essay Topics: 100+ Best Essay Topics for your Guidance

By: Nova A.

13 min read

Reviewed By: Rylee W.

Published on: Jan 29, 2019

Let’s face it, essay writing can be tedious and boring. Spending hours to write a good essay is difficult, and brainstorming essay topic ideas can be even more confusing.

This is what makes writing essays difficult and time-consuming. Luckily, you can learn essay writing with practice and by following some good examples. But before that, you should know how to choose a good and engaging topic for your essay.

To help you get started, we have categorized a list of a number of different types of essay topic lists.

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Argumentative Essay Topics

An argumentative essay investigates a topic in great detail, forms an argument over it, and defends it using supporting data.

Below are some good argumentative essay topic ideas to help you draft winning essays.

School students should be allowed to curate their high school curriculum.
The role of physical education in the school system.
Should the death sentence be implemented globally?
It should be illegal to use certain types of animals for experiments and other research purposes.
Should the government do more to improve accessibility for people with physical disabilities?
Do people learn the art of becoming a politician, or are they born with it?
Social media platform owners should monitor and block comments containing hateful language.
Does technology play a role in making people feel more isolated?
Will there ever be a time when there will be no further technological advancements?
It should be illegal to produce and sell tobacco.
Girls should be motivated to take part in sports.
Rape victims should abort their unborn children.
Fathers should get equal paternity leave.
Do teenagers get into trouble because they are bored?
Individuals who have failed at parenting should be punished.
Vaping is less harmful than smoking cigarettes.
Covid-19 vaccination has more cons than pros.
Social media is the real cause of teenage depression.
Is the American education system perfect for society?
Recycling should be made compulsory.

Choosing a strong topic is key to writing a great essay. Have a look at our blog to select good argumentative essay topics to impress the audience.

Persuasive Essay Topics

A persuasive essay is similar to an argumentative paper. However, in it, the writer wants to convince the readers of their point of view. Simple essay topics would make better essays as they help the students stay focused.

Below is a list of some good persuasive essay topics for you:

Energy drinks should be banned in schools and colleges.
Gambling should be banned in the United States.
Should abortions be banned worldwide?
Hunting is an immoral act.
Is it okay to use animals in a circus?
Harmful dogs should be euthanized.
Cell phones should not be allowed in schools.
Teachers should pass a professional exam, just like students.
Schools should reduce the workload on students.
Sex education should be mandatory in high schools.
Vlogging isn’t an actual profession.
Is LinkedIn helpful for finding a job?
Social media has played a big role in increasing business opportunities.
Is Java becoming obsolete?
Should employers go through the candidate’s social media profiles?
Animal testing should be banned.
Violent video games should be banned.
Parents with mental disabilities should not be allowed to adopt children.
Alcohol consumption should be legalized in Muslim countries.
Every person should get Covid-19 vaccination.

For your help, we have gathered a wide range of persuasive essay topics . Give it a read.

Descriptive Essay Topics

A descriptive essay describes a specific thing by using sensory data. It is done to engage the reader’s five senses (taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight).

The following is a list of descriptive essay topic ideas for the students.

The person who is responsible for making a difference in my life.
Describe a smartphone and its benefits to someone from the ‘60s.
The most interesting piece of art I have ever seen.
Describe the experience of falling in love.
What does a place that only exists in your imagination look like?
Describe meeting a famous person.
Describe yourself and your personality to a stranger.
What will life be like in 2050?
An experience that changed my life forever.
Your idea of the perfect day.
My first trip abroad.
The most significant event in American History.
A popular book series that disappointed you.
A look into my daily life.
A day in the life of an ER doctor.
A trip to the museum.
The most interesting movie I watched during my summer vacation.
My favorite childhood memory.
An incident that changed my life.
An incident that restored my faith in humanity.

Here are some more descriptive essay topics to help you find a good idea for your essay.

Discover Captivating Topics in a Click!

Narrative Essay Topics

In a narrative essay, your goal is to share a personal experience by telling a story. This creative form of writing depends on how strong and exciting the theme is. The article topics for students given here are carefully curated and would help the students do good in their essays.

Some examples and topics of narrative topic ideas are presented below.

The experience that taught me how looks could be deceiving.
A week without internet and technology.
The impact your first love had on your life.
How much did your teachers contribute to making you the person you are today?
An experience that made you realize your parents were or weren’t always right.
A moment when someone you didn’t like surprised you with kindness.
The influence technology has had on your hobbies and life.
An achievement outside of academic life?
Which school lesson had the biggest influence on your life?
A day when you fought procrastination.
The time you faced rejection.
The time when you stood against your parents.
An experience that left you helpless.
The time you prayed to be an only child.
An act of kindness you can never forget.
Death of a loved one.
Your biggest pet peeve.
Your definition of a perfect weekend.
The things you regret most in life.
Your first experience of an air trip.

Choosing interesting narrative essay topics is essential to make the content compelling for the readers.

Research Essay Topics

While writing a research essay, the most crucial step is choosing a topic for your essay. Select a topic that is broad enough to compose an entire research essay on it.

Below are some of the best topics for your research essay.

Effects of violent cartoons on children.
Should universities provide accommodations to disabled students?
Events and experiences I agree are causing the increase in terrorism.
How do technology and gadgets affect the studies of children?
Do children who attend preschool do better in school?
Universities are becoming business-driven.
Does college debt affect the future lives of students?
Why has the divorce rate changed in the past decade?
Schools should allow the use of smartphones in school.
Effective ways to decrease depression among our youth.
Analyze the relationship between the United States of America and North Korea.
Why did the UK decide to leave the EU?
Is it true that students learn better in a same-sex school?
How does giving kids different gadgets affect their studies?
Compare the immigration policies of two different countries.
Events that lead to World War I.
Pros and cons of studying abroad.
How has Covid-19 influenced the education system of the world?
Individual acts that lead to Global Warming.
Effectiveness of the policies made to control Covid-19.

Looking for more? We have an extensive range of research essay topics to make the audience fall in love with your work.

Expository Essay Topics

While writing an expository essay, you have to explain and clarify your topic clearly to the readers.

Below is a list of expository essay topics:

Why do teenagers commit suicide?
What is the impact of music on our youth?
What are the consequences of skipping school?
Why do teenagers use drugs?
How can pets make you happy and improve your life?
Consequences of having alcoholic drinks within a school campus.
How does drug use affect relationships?
Is global warming a cause of skin cancer?
Is sodium bad for your health?
What is the line between being overweight and being obese?
Why do you want to pursue your desired career?
Explain how advancements in science improve the quality of life for humans.
What are some unconventional ways of relieving stress?
If you could swap your lives with someone, who would it be and why?
What are some major stress factors in a teenager’s life?
Why is getting a degree important for job life?
Pros and cons of getting financial aid.
How emotional support animals help in treating mental conditions.
How does prostitution influence society?
The environmental causes of smoking.

5StarEssays.com has gathered an additional and extensive list of expository essay topics .

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Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

In a compare and contrast essay, you evaluate and analyze the similarities and differences between the two subjects. Your reader must be able to form an opinion after weighing the pros and cons you have set forth.

Below are some topics for you to choose for your compare and contrast paper:

Extroverts and introverts.
Generation Y Vs. Generation Z.
Traditional Helicopters Vs. Lifesize Drones.
Unemployed students Vs. students with a part-time job.
SAT and TOEFL.
Persuasive and argumentative essays - How are they similar?
How were the causes of World War I different from the causes of World War II?
Education vs. professional career: what is more difficult?
Real-life or spending your time daydreaming.
Consequences of earthquake and tsunami: what’s worse?
Being popular in high school or alone?
Part-time work or studying for a higher degree?
Getting married at an old age or a young age?
Fashion today Vs. twenty years ago.
Donald Trump Vs. Hillary Clinton.
Democracy Vs. Dictatorship
Vietnam War Vs. War on Terror.
Benefits of drinking tea Vs. coffee.
Greek and Roman methodologies - Similarities and differences.
Traditional Vs. distant learning.

Get more interesting compare and contrast essay topics at 5StarEssays.com to impress your instructors.

Cause and Effect Essay Topics

The cause and effect essay explains why something happens and what happens as a result of those happenings. A cause and effect essay is a type of expository essay.

Here are a few topics for your cause and effect essay:

What are the causes of eating disorders?
Effects of climate change and global warming.
The effects of the Feminism movement.
What are the causes of increasing depression among teenagers?
What are the causes of suicidal thoughts?
Is keeping a pet effective in calming your mind?
How does divorce affects children?
Why are men afraid of commitment?
Effects of social media on youth.
Has social media affected relationships among families?
Discuss the effects of homeschooling on children.
Causes of heart diseases.
Causes of sibling rivalry.
Cramming doesn't help improve test scores.
Cause and effect of depression in the workplace.
How do abusive parents influence the mental stability of a child?
Causes and effects of bullying.
Causes of obesity in teenagers.
Effects of taking a balanced diet on health?
Causes and effects of insomnia.

To get more ideas, visit our cause and effect essay topics that are remarkable and well-suited for a great essay.

Controversial Argumentative Essay Topics

Argumentative essay topics are quite popular assignments in universities. If you are a student searching for a captivating argumentative essay topic, here is a list of ideas you can consider.

Third world war should be prevented by the Russian and US governments.
Political policies and practices affecting students.
Is gun control effective in reducing crime?
Same-sex marriage and constitutional law.
Is society over-regulated?
Are leaders born or made?
No one should be above the law.
Monarchy: pros and cons.
Rules on Political Activities by Federal Employees.
The most corrupt countries in the world.
Mercy killing should be legalized in all countries of the world.
Death penalties should be abolished.
Third-world countries should be provided with education plans by the developed countries.
Muslims should not be labeled as terrorists.
Illegal immigrants should be given equal rights.
Abortions should be legalized.
Live-in relationships should be encouraged.
Professional athletes should be allowed to consume steroids.
Should physical punishments be given to children?
Smoking in public should be an offensive crime.

Funny Argumentative Essay Topics

Are you looking for some funny argumentative essay topics for your essay? If so, choose a topic from the following list.

Why do people like watching funny videos?
What your cat is really thinking.
Why spam emails should be your favorite type of email.
Why wearing braces is fun.
School dropouts are the best in our society.
Why I don't like country music.
Types of dates.
A better way to get things done.
What organic food really is.
Things guys do that girls hate.
How to annoy your friend.
Why do women pretend that they enjoy sports?
Things preventing you from completing your homework in time.
Funny things we see in wedding ceremonies.
Why are spam emails more interesting?
Why does Starbucks coffee taste better?
Why are backbenchers smarter than other students?
Clowns are scarier than funny.
Should we be maintaining social distancing even after Covid-19?
Why is watching movies better than reading books?

Informative Essay Topics for Students

Essay writing requires depth. However, you don’t have to choose a complex topic in middle school, high school, or college.

Here is a list of interesting essay topics for middle school, high school, and college students.

Essay Topics for College Students

Virtual classes cannot replace the traditional class system.
Advantages and disadvantages of online classes.
Is there a need to reform the college education system?
Assault weapons should not be legal.
People with a history of mental illness should not be allowed to purchase firearms.
The taxation system needs to be changed around the globe.
Kids should not be the target audience in advertising.
The number of calories should be mentioned with every meal.
Feminists have effectively improved the workforce for women.
Is the death penalty effective?
How to identify fake news?
How to maintain a healthy life?
How to treat PTSD naturally?
Should people be judged on their appearance?
How is technology influencing the work performance of people?
Private Vs. public schools
How to choose majors in high school?
Impact of legalizing drugs on society.
Significance of learning social values.
How to prevent bullying on campus?

Essay Topics for High School

The choice to join the armed forces should be an individual decision.
Listening to music can increase work efficiency.
Being honest has more cons than pros.
People who have been in an accident value life more than others.
Embarrassing moments help boost your confidence.
Kindness is the most valuable personal trait.
Spontaneity can improve your life.
Can hobbies help improve the richness of one’s life?
Dressing properly in the office improves work efficiency
Being organized can help in school as well as the office.
Impact of homosexuality on society.
What is feminism?
How to overcome fears and phobias?
Significance of having leadership skills in job life?
Causes and treatments for bipolar disorder.
Side effects of consuming antidepressants.
How important is mental health in succeeding professionally?
How do teaching methods influence learning abilities?
Should specially-abled people be allowed to work in offices?
Discrimination and racism in the US.

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job!

Essay Topics for Middle School

Every child should have chores at home.
There should not be any summer classes.
Should students continue studying during summer vacation?
Parents should pay attention to the amount of time their children spend watching television.
Favorite family summer vacation.
Sports should be mandatory in every school.
Processed foods should not be part of private and public school lunch.
Do students still use newspapers for research?
Every individual should spend a year doing community service.
The weekend should be 3 days long.

Still need help choosing an essay topic? 5StarEssays is a professional essay writing service that helps you get a high quality essay. We have a team of essay writers who are professionals and can do your essay .

We also have an AI-powered paper writer for you to help you generate an essay in seconds to use as a reference!

As a Digital Content Strategist, Nova Allison has eight years of experience in writing both technical and scientific content. With a focus on developing online content plans that engage audiences, Nova strives to write pieces that are not only informative but captivating as well.

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50 Argumentative Essay Topics

Illustration by Catherine Song. ThoughtCo.

M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
B.A., History, Armstrong State University

An argumentative essay requires you to decide on a topic and argue for or against it. You'll need to back up your viewpoint with well-researched facts and information as well. One of the hardest parts is deciding which topic to write about, but there are plenty of ideas available to get you started. Then you need to take a position, do some research, and present your viewpoint convincingly.

Choosing a Great Argumentative Essay Topic

Students often find that most of their work on these essays is done before they even start writing. This means that it's best if you have a general interest in your subject. Otherwise, you might get bored or frustrated while trying to gather information. You don't need to know everything, though; part of what makes this experience rewarding is learning something new.

It's best if you have a general interest in your subject, but the argument you choose doesn't have to be one that you agree with.

The subject you choose may not necessarily be one you are in full agreement with, either. You may even be asked to write a paper from the opposing point of view. Researching a different viewpoint helps students broaden their perspectives.

Ideas for Argument Essays

Sometimes, the best ideas are sparked by looking at many different options. Explore this list of possible topics and see if a few pique your interest. Write those down as you come across them, then think about each for a few minutes.

Which would you enjoy researching? Do you have a firm position on a particular subject? Is there a point you would like to make sure you get across? Did the topic give you something new to think about? Can you see why someone else may feel differently?

List of 50 Possible Argumentative Essay Topics

A number of these topics are rather controversial—that's the point. In an argumentative essay , opinions matter, and controversy is based on opinions. Just make sure your opinions are backed up by facts in the essay. If these topics are a little too controversial or you don't find the right one for you, try browsing through persuasive essay and speech topics as well.

Is global climate change caused by humans?
Is the death penalty effective?
Is the U.S. election process fair?
Is torture ever acceptable?
Should men get paternity leave from work?
Are school uniforms beneficial?
Does the U.S. have a fair tax system?
Do curfews keep teens out of trouble?
Is cheating out of control?
Are we too dependent on computers?
Should animals be used for research?
Should cigarette smoking be banned?
Are cell phones dangerous?
Are law enforcement cameras an invasion of privacy?
Do we have a throwaway society ?
Is child behavior better or worse than it was years ago?
Should companies market to children?
Should the government have a say in our diets?
Does access to condoms prevent teen pregnancy?
Should members of Congress have term limits?
Are actors and professional athletes paid too much?
Are CEOs paid too much?
Should athletes be held to high moral standards?
Do violent video games cause behavior problems?
Should creationism be taught in public schools?
Are beauty pageants exploitative ?
Should English be the official language of the United States?
Should the racing industry be forced to use biofuels?
Should the alcohol-drinking age be increased or decreased?
Should everyone be required to recycle?
Is it okay for prisoners to vote (as they are in some states)?
Should same-sex marriage be legalized in more countries?
Are there benefits to attending a single-sex school ?
Does boredom lead to trouble?
Should schools be in session year-round ?
Does religion cause war?
Should the government provide health care?
Should abortion be illegal?
Should more companies expand their reproductive health benefits for employees?
Is homework harmful or helpful?
Is the cost of college too high?
Is college admission too competitive?
Should euthanasia be illegal?
Should the federal government legalize marijuana use nationally ?
Should rich people be required to pay more taxes?
Should schools require foreign language or physical education?
Is affirmative action fair?
Is public prayer okay in schools?
Are schools and teachers responsible for low test scores?
Is greater gun control a good idea?

How to Craft a Persuasive Argument

After you've decided on your essay topic, gather evidence to make your argument as strong as possible. Your research could even help shape the position your essay ultimately takes. As you craft your essay, remember to utilize persuasive writing techniques , such as invoking emotional language or citing facts from authoritative figures.

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How to Write the “Overcoming Challenges” Essay + Examples

What’s covered:.

What is the Overcoming Challenges Essay?
Real Overcoming Challenges Essay Prompts
How to Choose a Topic
Writing Tips

Overcoming Challenges Essay Examples

Where to Get Your Essay Edited

While any college essay can be intimidating, the Overcoming Challenges prompt often worries students the most. Those students who’ve been lucky enough not to experience trauma tend to assume they have nothing worth saying. On the other hand, students who’ve overcome larger obstacles may be hesitant to talk about them.

Regardless of your particular circumstances, there are steps you can take to make the essay writing process simpler. Here are our top tips for writing the overcoming challenges essay successfully.

What is the “Overcoming Challenges” Essay?

The overcoming challenges prompt shows up frequently in both main application essays (like the Common App) and supplemental essays. Because supplemental essays allow students to provide schools with additional information, applicants should be sure that the subject matter they choose to write about differs from what’s in their main essay.

Students often assume the overcoming challenges essay requires them to detail past traumas. While you can certainly write about an experience that’s had a profound effect on your life, it’s important to remember that colleges aren’t evaluating students based on the seriousness of the obstacle they overcame.

On the contrary, the goal of this essay is to show admissions officers that you have the intelligence and fortitude to handle any challenges that come your way. After all, college serves as an introduction to adult life, and schools want to know that the students they admit are up to the task.

Real “Overcoming Challenges” Essay Prompts

To help you understand what the “Overcoming Challenges” essay looks like, here are a couple sample prompts.

Currently, the Common Application asks students to answer the following prompt in 650 words or less:

“The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”

For the past several years, MIT has prompted students to write 200 to 250 words on the following:

“Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?”

In both cases, the prompts explicitly ask for your response to the challenge. The event itself isn’t as important as how it pushed you to grow.

How to Choose a Topic for an Essay on Overcoming Challenges

When it comes to finding the best topic for your overcoming challenges essays, there’s no right answer. The word “challenge” is ambiguous and could be used to reference a wide range of situations from prevailing over a bully to getting over your lifelong stage fright to appear in a school musical. Here are some suggestions to keep in mind when selecting an essay subject.

1. Avoid trivial or common topics

While there aren’t many hard-and-fast rules for choosing an essay topic, students should avoid overdone topics.

These include:

Working hard in a challenging class
Overcoming a sports injury
Moving schools or immigrating to the US
Tragedy (divorce, death, abuse)

Admissions officers have read numerous essays on the subject, so it’s harder for you to stand out (see our full list of cliché college essay topics to avoid ). If events like these were truly formative to you, you can still choose to write about them, but you’ll need to be as personal as possible.

It’s also ideal if you have a less traditional storyline for a cliché topic; for example, if your sports injury led you to discover a new passion, that would be a more unique story than detailing how you overcame your injury and got back in the game.

Similarly, students may not want to write about an obstacle that admissions committees could perceive as low stakes, such as getting a B on a test, or getting into a small fight with a friend. The goal of this essay is to illustrate how you respond to adversity, so the topic you pick should’ve been at least impactful on your personal growth.

2. Pick challenges that demonstrate qualities you want to highlight

Students often mistakenly assume they need to have experienced exceptional circumstances like poverty, an abusive parent, or cancer to write a good essay. The truth is that the best topics will allow you to highlight specific personal qualities and share more about who you are. The essay should be less about the challenge itself, and more about how you responded to it.

Ask yourself what personality traits you want to emphasize, and see what’s missing in your application. Maybe you want to highlight your adaptability, for example, but that isn’t clearly expressed in your application. In this case, you might write about a challenge that put your adaptability to the test, or shaped you to become more adaptable.

Here are some examples of good topics we’ve seen over the years:

Not having a coach for a sports team and becoming one yourself
Helping a parent through a serious health issue
Trying to get the school track dedicated to a coach
Having to switch your Model UN position last-minute

Tips for Writing an Essay About Overcoming Challenges

Once you’ve selected a topic for your essays, it’s time to sit down and write. For best results, make sure your essay focuses on your efforts to tackle an obstacle rather than the problem itself. Additionally, you could avoid essay writing pitfalls by doing the following:

1. Choose an original essay structure

If you want your overcoming challenges essay to attract attention, aim to break away from more traditional structures. Most of these essays start by describing an unsuccessful attempt at a goal and then explain the steps the writer took to master the challenge.

You can stand out by choosing a challenge you’re still working on overcoming, or focus on a mental or emotional challenge that spans multiple activities or events. For example, you might discuss your fear of public speaking and how that impacted your ability to coach your brother’s Little League team and run for Student Council.

You can also choose a challenge that can be narrated in the moment, such as being put on the spot to teach a yoga class. These challenges can make particularly engaging essays, as you get to experience the writer’s thoughts and emotions as they unfold.

Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to have succeeded in your goal for this essay. Maybe you ran for an election and lost, or maybe you proposed a measure to the school board that wasn’t passed. It’s still possible to write a strong essay about topics like these as long as you focus on your personal growth. In fact, these may make for even stronger essays since they are more unconventional topics.

2. Focus on the internal

When writing about past experiences, you may be tempted to spend too much time describing specific people and events. With an Overcoming Challenges essay though, the goal is to focus on your thoughts and feelings.

For example, rather than detail all the steps you took to become a better public speaker, use the majority of your essay to describe your mental state as you embarked on the journey to achieving your goals. Were you excited, scared, anxious, or hopeful? Don’t be afraid to let the reader in on your innermost emotions and thoughts during this process.

3. Share what you learned

An Overcoming Challenges essay should leave the reader with a clear understanding of what you learned on your journey, be it physical, mental, or emotional. There’s no need to explicitly say “this experience taught me X,” but your essay should at least implicitly share any lessons you learned. This can be done through your actions and in-the-moment reflections. Remember that the goal is to show admissions committees why your experiences make you a great candidate for admission.

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the g arb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire.

Furiously I rubbed the twigs together—rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers. No smoke. The twigs were too young, too sticky-green; I tossed them away with a shower of curses, and began tearing through the underbrush in search of a more flammable collection. My efforts were fruitless. Livid, I bit a rejected twig, determined to prove that the forest had spurned me, offering only young, wet bones that would never burn. But the wood cracked like carrots between my teeth—old, brittle, and bitter. Roaring and nursing my aching palms, I retreated to the tent, where I sulked and awaited the jeers of my family.

Rattling their empty worm cans and reeking of fat fish, my brother and cousins swaggered into the campsite. Immediately, they noticed the minor stick massacre by the fire pit and called to me, their deep voices already sharp with contempt.

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame.

In the tent, I pondered my failure. Was I so dainty? Was I that incapable? I thought of my hands, how calloused and capable they had been, how tender and smooth they had become. It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive. And I’d gotten glasses, having grown horrifically nearsighted; long nights of dim lighting and thick books had done this. I couldn’t remember the last time I had lain down on a hill, barefaced, and seen the stars without having to squint. Crawling along the edge of the tent, a spider confirmed my transformation—he disgusted me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to squash him.

Yet, I realized I hadn’t really changed—I had only shifted perspective. I still eagerly explored new worlds, but through poems and prose rather than pastures and puddles. I’d grown to prefer the boom of a bass over that of a bullfrog, learned to coax a different kind of fire from wood, having developed a burn for writing rhymes and scrawling hypotheses.

That night, I stayed up late with my journal and wrote about the spider I had decided not to kill. I had tolerated him just barely, only shrieking when he jumped—it helped to watch him decorate the corners of the tent with his delicate webs, knowing that he couldn’t start fires, either. When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.

This essay is an excellent example because the writer turns an everyday challenge—starting a fire—into an exploration of her identity. The writer was once “a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes,” but has since traded her love of the outdoors for a love of music, writing, and reading.

The story begins in media res , or in the middle of the action, allowing readers to feel as if we’re there with the writer. One of the essay’s biggest strengths is its use of imagery. We can easily visualize the writer’s childhood and the present day. For instance, she states that she “rubbed and rubbed [the twigs] until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers.”

The writing has an extremely literary quality, particularly with its wordplay. The writer reappropriates words and meanings, and even appeals to the senses: “My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame.” She later uses a parallelism to cleverly juxtapose her changed interests: “instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano.”

One of the essay’s main areas of improvement is its overemphasis on the “story” and lack of emphasis on the reflection. The second to last paragraph about changing perspective is crucial to the essay, as it ties the anecdote to larger lessons in the writer’s life. She states that she hasn’t changed, but has only shifted perspective. Yet, we don’t get a good sense of where this realization comes from and how it impacts her life going forward.

The end of the essay offers a satisfying return to the fire imagery, and highlights the writer’s passion—the one thing that has remained constant in her life.

“Getting beat is one thing – it’s part of competing – but I want no part in losing.” Coach Rob Stark’s motto never fails to remind me of his encouragement on early-morning bus rides to track meets around the state. I’ve always appreciated the phrase, but an experience last June helped me understand its more profound, universal meaning.

Stark, as we affectionately call him, has coached track at my high school for 25 years. His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running. When I learned a neighboring high school had dedicated their track to a longtime coach, I felt that Stark deserved similar honors.

Our school district’s board of education indicated they would only dedicate our track to Stark if I could demonstrate that he was extraordinary. I took charge and mobilized my teammates to distribute petitions, reach out to alumni, and compile statistics on the many team and individual champions Stark had coached over the years. We received astounding support, collecting almost 3,000 signatures and pages of endorsements from across the community. With help from my teammates, I presented this evidence to the board.

They didn’t bite.

Most members argued that dedicating the track was a low priority. Knowing that we had to act quickly to convince them of its importance, I called a team meeting where we drafted a rebuttal for the next board meeting. To my surprise, they chose me to deliver it. I was far from the best public speaker in the group, and I felt nervous about going before the unsympathetic board again. However, at that second meeting, I discovered that I enjoy articulating and arguing for something that I’m passionate about.

Public speaking resembles a cross country race. Walking to the starting line, you have to trust your training and quell your last minute doubts. When the gun fires, you can’t think too hard about anything; your performance has to be instinctual, natural, even relaxed. At the next board meeting, the podium was my starting line. As I walked up to it, familiar butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Instead of the track stretching out in front of me, I faced the vast audience of teachers, board members, and my teammates. I felt my adrenaline build, and reassured myself: I’ve put in the work, my argument is powerful and sound. As the board president told me to introduce myself, I heard, “runners set” in the back of my mind. She finished speaking, and Bang! The brief silence was the gunshot for me to begin.

The next few minutes blurred together, but when the dust settled, I knew from the board members’ expressions and the audience’s thunderous approval that I had run quite a race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; the board voted down our proposal. I was disappointed, but proud of myself, my team, and our collaboration off the track. We stood up for a cause we believed in, and I overcame my worries about being a leader. Although I discovered that changing the status quo through an elected body can be a painstakingly difficult process and requires perseverance, I learned that I enjoy the challenges this effort offers. Last month, one of the school board members joked that I had become a “regular” – I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Just as Stark taught me, I worked passionately to achieve my goal. I may have been beaten when I appealed to the board, but I certainly didn’t lose, and that would have made Stark proud.

While the writer didn’t succeed in getting the track dedicated to Coach Stark, their essay is certainly successful in showing their willingness to push themselves and take initiative.

The essay opens with a quote from Coach Stark that later comes full circle at the end of the essay. We learn about Stark’s impact and the motivation for trying to get the track dedicated to him.

One of the biggest areas of improvement in the intro, however, is how the essay tells us Stark’s impact rather than showing us: His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

The writer could’ve helped us feel a stronger emotional connection to Stark if they had included examples of Stark’s qualities, rather than explicitly stating them. For example, they could’ve written something like: Stark was the kind of person who would give you gas money if you told him your parents couldn’t afford to pick you up from practice. And he actually did that—several times. At track meets, alumni regularly would come talk to him and tell him how he’d changed their lives. Before Stark, I was ambivalent about running and was on the JV team, but his encouragement motivated me to run longer and harder and eventually make varsity. Because of him, I approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

The essay goes on to explain how the writer overcame their apprehension of public speaking, and likens the process of submitting an appeal to the school board to running a race. This metaphor makes the writing more engaging and allows us to feel the student’s emotions.

While the student didn’t ultimately succeed in getting the track dedicated, we learn about their resilience and initiative: I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Overall, this essay is well-done. It demonstrates growth despite failing to meet a goal, which is a unique essay structure. The running metaphor and full-circle intro/ending also elevate the writing in this essay.

Where to Get Your Overcoming Challenges Essay Edited

The Overcoming Challenges essay is one of the trickier supplemental prompts, so it’s important to get feedback on your drafts. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

1. Adopt the right mindset

Before you start writing, it’s crucial to get yourself into the right mindset. You may be experiencing feelings of panic, feeling as though you don’t have enough time and you can’t do it. You may feel defeated before you’ve even begun. To be successful, however, you will need to banish these negative feelings . It’s vital to be positive, to try to relish the challenge, and to adopt a ‘can-do’ attitude. If it helps, imagine it’s a battle that you’re going to win. Give yourself a pep talk, and keep the end goal in mind: you’re going to do a great job and impress your teacher. You’re going to prove to yourself that you can take on this challenge, enjoy it, and write an essay in record time. Take a deep breath, remain calm, and start to attack the work systematically and logically.

2. Switch off your phone and social networks

The last thing you need when you only have a couple of hours to write an essay is to get distracted by your phone or social networks, which have a habit of eating away at your time without you even realising. Procrastination isn’t an option at this late stage, so it’s time to ban yourself from your phone, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, iPlayer, YouTube, and anything else you think might distract you. Sit somewhere quiet and put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door. If it helps, install a full-screen text editor onto your computer, such as Darkroom , to force yourself to look at your essay and only your essay. You can also get browser apps that keep you off social networks for a time period of your choosing.

3. Type your essay rather than handwriting it

Most young people these days type faster than they write by hand, so unless you’ve been told that you must handwrite your essay, type it. This will make it much easier to edit what you’ve written and change things around, and you’ll be able to get more words in through typing quickly. It’s probably also going to be easier for your teacher to read a typed document than your handwriting, and you won’t suffer an achy arm that could slow you down, so that’s an added bonus.

4. Read the question carefully

When you’re in a rush, it can be easy to skim over the question and think you’ve understood it – only for you to realise, after writing most of the essay, that you got the wrong end of the stick and it’s too late to change it. This is particularly hazardous when you’re under pressure, because your brain has a tendency to see what it wants to see; it may tell you that the title is asking a question that you want to answer , while the reality might be subtly but crucially different. So, start by reading the question very carefully and ensuring you’ve completely understood what it’s asking you to do. If it helps, underline key instructional words in the title, such as “compare” or “analyse”. This forces your mind to focus on the right kind of task, so you write the essay with this in mind.

5. Get your books ready

Prepare your workspace by opening the books you’ll need to use on relevant pages, or putting Post-It notes in them to mark where relevant information is. This means you won’t have to keep wasting precious time hunting through books to find the information each time you need to refer to it.

6. Sum up your argument in a sentence

To get yourself thinking clearly about what you’re going to be writing, see if you can sum up what your argument is going to be in a single sentence – a bit like an ‘ elevator pitch ’. If you can’t do this, the chances are that you don’t quite know what you want to say, with the result that you may end up waffling in your essay, thereby wasting valuable time. It’s important to set out with a clear idea of what your argument is, because then everything you write subsequently will be working towards the goal of getting this particular argument across. Of course, don’t spend too long on this and end up with not enough time to write the actual essay!

7. Write your notes directly into the document

When you’re in a hurry, your notes can double up as an essay plan, killing two birds with one stone. Start by typing your essay notes directly into the document you’ve created for your essay. This could be bullet points or one-sentence summaries of what you want to write in each paragraph. For each point, also include a line or two on what evidence you’re going to use in support. Once you’ve done this, organise the notes into a sensible structure by dragging and dropping paragraphs into an order you think works. This becomes your detailed essay plan.

8. Then rewrite your notes into an essay with an argument

You now have the outline of your essay in note form. You can now turn your notes into an essay by rewriting them into academic prose, complete with ‘filler’ sentences that glue it all together and help build your argument.

9. Save the introduction and conclusion for last

Perhaps surprisingly, the introduction and conclusion of an essay are often the hardest bits to write. So, save these for last. By the time you’ve written the body of the essay, the task of writing the introduction and a summarising conclusion should be much easier, as you’ll already have spent plenty of time on your argument and you’ll be very familiar with it.

10. Do the references as you go along

If you’re required to add references and a bibliography to your essay, do these as you go along to save time. Each time you quote someone, add in a footnote saying where the quote is from, and at the same time, copy and paste the details of the book into a bibliography at the end of your document.

11. Proofread as you go along

Save time on proofreading by checking over each sentence or paragraph for spelling, grammar and typos as you write it. When you’ve finished writing, it’s still worth having a quick final read through your essay for a sense check and to ensure that it flows well – but this should take less time now that you’ve already checked for errors.

12. Don’t be tempted to copy and paste

The internet is full of resources that probably exactly match what you’re going to be writing about, and when you’re in a hurry, there can be a strong temptation to copy and paste useful paragraphs into your essay. Don’t ever do this! Plagiarism is not only immoral, but it also means that you won’t learn the topic in as much depth – and the whole point of writing an essay is to consolidate what you’ve learned and prepare you adequately for future exams. Teachers can use Google too, and if they suspect that you’ve stolen someone else’s work by copying and pasting something off the internet, all they need to do is type one of ‘your’ sentences in Google and they’ll instantly find where you’ve got it from. It’s normally easy to spot copied work, because the style will be different from the rest of the essay. It’s just not worth the risk, as you’ll lose your teacher’s trust and this will probably be reflected in the quality of the reference they give you for university.

13. Try not to over-quote

A common tactic by students pushed for time is to use too many quotes – or very long passages – from other people (scholars, sources and so on) to bolster the word count and reduce the amount of writing they actually have to do themselves. Try to avoid doing this if you can; it’s a transparent tactic and shows that you haven’t fully mastered the subject yourself, so you have to resort to hiding behind the words of others. The vast majority of the writing in the essay should be your own. Short quotes here and there, accompanied by your commentary on them, are a good thing; lots of long quotes that take up much of the essay, with little explanation from you, are not.

14. Keep your style concise

You’re not going to have time for long-winded sentences, so keep your written style as concise as possible. There’s nothing wrong with being short and to the point in your sentences, providing it adequately conveys what you want the essay to convey. Being economical with words will ensure that you express yourself clearly as well as saving you time, so it’s a good idea all round.

15. Try a change of scene

If you’re struggling to concentrate on writing your essay in your normal work space, a change of scene might be just what you need to focus your mind. If you normally work at home, try heading to the library or a local coffee shop to see if you can work any better there. If you’re distracted by noise at home, try some noise-cancelling headphones or simply put some music on.

16. Take a break (but only if you feel you need one)

It sounds counterintuitive when you’re pushed for time, but taking short breaks from time to time will stop you running out of energy and keep you focused. If you have two hours to write the essay, for instance, take a break for five minutes after you’ve worked for an hour. That said, if you’re really ‘in the zone’ and working efficiently, and you don’t feel you need a break, just work straight through and take advantage of your spate of productivity for as long as it lasts.

17. Don’t bother with the usual tricks

Many students try to trick their teacher into thinking that their essay is longer than it really is by widening the margins, selecting a bigger font and using wider line spacing. Your teacher will see straight through this, and it might irritate them – so don’t bother!

18. It’s OK to use Google for quick research

While Google is no substitute for reading what you’ve been told to read, it can be useful for quick definitions or getting to grips with something you’re struggling with at the last minute. Don’t rely on it, by any means, but if you’re writing your essay and haven’t quite understood something in class, a quick Google search should enable you to acquire the level of understanding you need.

19. Keep hydrated and fed

Make sure you drink plenty of water while you’re writing, as this will help you stay alert. You may also want to equip yourself with some snacks to keep you going, as this can make the process of writing an essay more bearable as well as maintaining your energy levels.

20. Reward yourself

Give yourself something to look forward to once you’ve finished the essay, as this will help to motivate you to complete it. It could be a chocolate bar, the promise of watching an episode of your favourite television show, or an evening out with friends – anything that will provide sufficient incentive to get your essay finished. You’ve worked intensively and have a great essay to show for it, so you deserve a reward!

Image credits: typing

9 Writers on Why Writing Is So Hard

Best-selling authors talk to Shondaland about what makes their craft so difficult and special.

Every item on this page was chosen by a Shondaland editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

There are few things as magical as reading a book that fully immerses you in a new world. Poetic and profound prose can evoke emotions that can remain with you for your entire life, transforming how you see the world. With that in mind, this month, Shondaland is exploring the world of books, from authors discussing their favorite reads and a publisher explaining the need for more transparency in the industry to a nearly published author sharing what it’s like to be on the brink of putting her first book out into the world. Happy reading!

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: “If writing were easy, everyone would do it!” You’ve likely read it a million times, right? Well, there’s a reason for that. You see, everybody has a story to tell. But it’s the actual telling of those stories that separates writers from everyone else yearning to share their tales. That being said, even the most seasoned and celebrated writers will quickly let you know that writing is just downright hard!

So, what is it that actually makes putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) so daunting, and how do you combat that difficulty when trying to write your story? Shondaland caught up with some of our favorite authors to find out. And what they have to say just might surprise you.

Why is writing so hard?

The solitariness of it, the elusiveness of it. If forced, we could generate words, sentences, paragraphs, but it would be meaningless. So, the thing that makes it a story, the words that etch out a character that the reader can see and feel and hear … there’s plenty of tricks to get there. You can create the conditions for that element to come forward, and do what you can to push yourself into that state that makes it happen … but part of it remains mysterious.

Alex Aster (author of Curse of the Forgotten City ) @alex.aster

Writing is so hard because we put so many expectations on our writing, and those expectations weigh down not only our fingers while typing, but also our words. I started writing books when I was 12, which I think saved me from a lot of the fretting about writing that I see so many people struggle with. When you’re a kid, you do what you love just because you love it. You don’t think to yourself, “Will these words be worth the time and effort? Will they turn into a book that will sell for enough money to allow me to pay my rent?” You just … write. As an adult, there are so many constraints on our time, so it’s natural for us not to want to waste it. We don’t have time to simply play the way we used to. Writing is hard because it’s a fluid, organic, almost magical form of creation that we often try so hard to bottle up or cookie-cut so it can be monetized.

Brandy Colbert (author of Black Birds in the Sky ) @brandycolbert

For me, not writing is often harder than writing. I don’t believe you need to write every day, but when I’m in the middle of a project, I either need to be actively thinking about it — working out plots and character arcs in my head — or getting words down on the page. I start to feel antsy and a bit anxious when I’ve taken too much time away from a project, to the point where it’s actually a relief to get back to work.

Sarah Gerard (author of True Love ) @sarahnumber4

It can be hard. It can also be easy and fun. Or fun and hard. Or hard but important, exciting, and fulfilling. We wouldn’t keep doing it otherwise. It’s hard because doing it well matters, because stories matter, and the details matter, and there are often a lot of details. Sometimes they take years to organize. The feelings and ideas and memories that we put into the writing also matter, and are layered, and we can’t force an understanding of them. We can only try to approach them with words, and, as many words as there are to choose from, or create, and despite their myriad iterations, they’re never enough.

John Green (author of The Anthropocene Reviewed ) @johngreen

I think writing is easier than many other things. For me, anyway, it is much easier than talking. But still, writing is difficult for me. Sometimes it is difficult because I do not know what I want to say, but usually it is difficult because I know exactly what I want to say but what I want to say has not yet taken the shape of language. When I’m writing, I’m trying to translate ideas and feelings and wild abstractions into language, and that translation is complicated and challenging work. (But it is also — in moments, anyway — fun.)

Kosoko Jackson (author of Yesterday Is History ) @kosokojackson

For me, the hardest part of writing is deciding what to write about. I have a lot of ideas, but not every idea is a viable idea. Is there a character? Is there a plot? Is there a through line? Is this something I want to spend 18 to 36 months on? Do I know enough to walk through the forest, but not so much that it feels boring to tell the story to myself? Writing is a journey for me that is as much writing a story that will appeal to readers (and my agent and editor) as much as telling a story to myself. What “lesson” am I trying to teach myself? What skill am I trying to sharpen? These are just a few of the questions I ask myself when making a novel, and not every novel has the answers — yet.

Morgan Jerkins (author of Caul Baby ) @morganjerkins

Writing is hard because sometimes — or perhaps many times — the words do not match the imagery of a specific scene that you have in your mind. It feels like there is always something that’s lost in translation as soon as it’s immortalized on the page.

Jonny Sun (author of Goodbye, Again ) @jonnysun

Writing is hard because you are dealing with the infinite. Out of a blank page, there is an unlimited number of possibilities of what to write. And at every scale of writing, this limitlessness exists — it feels like every word is an impossible choice. Every sentence can be written in endless different ways. And the ways those build to say something also exist in a million different permutations. The ideas and the way you structure those ideas are endless — the endlessness multiplies itself.

Chuck Wendig (author of The Book of Accidents ) @chuckwendig

I don’t know. Why is it hard digging ditches? Why is it hard being a god? Writing is somewhere in between both of those. You’re the god of digging ditches. You’re navigating this interstitial terrain between art and craft, between self-actualization and commerce, between empathy and evil. It has all these rules, and almost none of them are true. The work is the work, and the work is sometimes hard. It’s supposed to be easy, and some days it is — ironically, the easy days don’t mean the work was good, and the hard days don’t mean the work was bad. The short answer is, again, I don’t know. Maybe it’s hard because it needs to be hard, because if it were too easy, it wouldn’t really matter.

What do you do when writing gets most difficult?

Megan Abbott (author of The Turnout ) @meganeabbott

Go to a matinee. Take a walk. Read a writer I love. Main thing for me: Step away from the computer.

When writing gets really difficult, I stop writing. But just for a few hours. When words are hard to wrangle, I don’t try to force them onto the page. I have tried before, and the result was just more food for my computer’s trash bin! That being said, when I’m on deadline, I treat writing like any other job that has to be done, regardless of my mood. So, I’ll take a walk, reread something I’ve written that I particularly like (almost to show myself, see, you can make something good; you’ve done it before! ), or watch a movie. Once I’m out of the writing chair for a while, I’m often itching to get back in it to try again.

I do write every day when I’m on a tight deadline, and some days it takes hours just to squeeze out a few words. Sometimes I have to power through and remind myself I can fix whatever is not working in edits, either the next day or down the road. But it’s also important to realize when you need breaks. I’m a big fan of taking in other forms of storytelling, like watching television and films, reading graphic novels, newspapers, and magazines, or even rereading a favorite author’s work. Getting outside for some fresh air or a walk or hike usually helps. Cooking and yoga are also soothing ways for me to reset. Just engaging in activities that don’t require you to stare at a computer screen or notebook are all helpful.

Look at one piece of it at a time, rather than trying to apprehend the entire project. Alternatively, take 10 steps back and apprehend the entire project. Look at a different piece of it. Look at a different piece of writing altogether. Make dinner. Read. Hang out with my partner.

I get so frustrated. I cry. I take a walk. I get really angry at myself for being such a terrible writer. This is stupid! Why am I even attempting this when I am so hopelessly inept at storytelling? And then eventually, I get over myself and write. If there is a way to write without at least occasional weeping and gnashing of teeth, I have not yet found it.

I try to take a step back and evaluate “Is the issue I’m facing difficult or something that I truly don’t know how to solve?” If it’s the former, then that means I’m learning, and I’ve learned to be comfortable in the discomfort and trust my skills. If it’s the latter, then there’s something missing. Maybe I’m not at the skill level I need to be. Maybe I need to read more in the genre or more examples of what I’m trying to accomplish. Writing is as much pen-to-paper as it is refilling the well and learning from those who came before you.

I like to tell myself that it’s only a draft. I have to build a foundation first no matter how bad it is because it’s not meant to be perfect. Other times, I take breaks in between writing sessions. It may be a day, or four. I also have been okay with knowing that not every writing session is going to be easy. There are good days and bad days.

I try to establish rules and boundaries so that the limitlessness feels like a puzzle. Instead of a blank everythingness, defining a container helps to figure out how to use those bounds to express things that feel outside of those bounds, and also helps to figure out when I can break those rules for specific purposes. I also — when faced with indecision — just try to write the bad version, and then revisit later. It’s always easier to edit and have something in front of you that you can improve as opposed to coming up with something when nothing is in front of you.

It depends on when, and why, it’s difficult. If it’s difficult toward the end of a writing day, I give up and go do something else for the day. If it’s at the start, I try to push through. Sometimes it’s a problem in the work, sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s, I dunno, a Thursday on a full moon with a high pollen count. Sometimes the thing to do is go take a walk, get the blood moving. The blood carries oxygen, and the brain needs oxygen, so churn that red stuff, get the idea bubbles bubblin’.

Do you have any advice for fellow writers struggling with their work?

Write badly. Give yourself permission to write badly. We’re always trying so hard to make it good, vivid, real, faithful to the vision in our head … and that’s a lot of pressure. If we give ourselves permission to write one bad page, two bad pages, we can forget all the rest and just churn out words, ideas … and, in the best circumstances, get to see that beautiful unconscious place that leads to good stuff!

The times when writing is most difficult is when I don’t have a plan. Anyone is going to look at an empty page and think, what am I supposed to do to fill it?! So, I recommend always working with some sort of outline. Some might believe it takes the magic out of writing, but what it really does is just gives a writer a place to start … and a direction to go when they’re a little lost. Almost like a map.

I also recommend writing for yourself first. When I began writing at 12, I was just writing the type of book that I wanted to read. Pretend you’re the only one who will ever read it. At least in the drafting stages. That way, you won’t be afraid to take risks.

I think writers could stop being so hard on themselves — myself included. It’s irrational but easy to compare works in progress to finished books on our shelves, and it helps to remember that no piece of writing comes out fully formed. And that every project is different, so it’s best to go into it without expectations and know that you might have to figure out new ways to shape the piece into what you want it to be.

Talk to other writers about it. Meditate on what brings you to the work in the first place, what is important to you at the core of it.

Try to be nice to yourself!

Your journey won’t match anyone else’s, and you should embrace that. Find what works for you and what doesn’t, but don’t be ashamed. I’m a writer who bounces around a lot, but when I settle? I settle. I write so many hundreds of pages of books that will never become real. That’s okay because that’s me. I’m also a messy drafter; that works for me. Don’t be ashamed of what works for you, and embrace what makes you unique.

Write it down. Just write it all down. Set the foundation first before you start sculpting. Who knows? Even the pieces you inevitably discard may help to propel the next plot point or character development. All can be useful if you allow it.

Figure out what you enjoy writing about and the ways you write that make you enjoy writing. It’s less about “write what you know” but more “write what you know you like.” So much is already difficult in this world — it doesn’t help to also make writing something a struggle too. I think it helps to find the topics and structures and ideas that make writing feel exciting and joyful — the writing will still be hard, of course, but if there’s something there that makes you keep wanting to revisit it, over and over, that you still feel excited about trying to figure out, then I feel like that means you’ve found something to continue following.

Write a lot. That’s it, really. Iterate as often as you can. Part of this is, obviously, doing the thing helps you learn the thing, but more specifically it also helps you learn your process and your voice, and in knowing those things, you come to recognize when a difficult writing day is normal — meaning, it’s part of your process, your pattern — and when it is abnormal. Abnormal difficulty can mean you’re not dealing with a writing problem, but rather anxiety or depression or some other neurodivergence, and those are normal and okay but can’t be solved the same way you’d solve an average writing block — you can’t “write your way through” depression. You’ll only sink deeper, like with quicksand. You have to be able to see clearly the difficulties in front of you and see when they belong to your writing process or exist outside of it. Writing a lot helps you get to that kind of clarity.

Scott Neumyer is a writer from central New Jersey whose work has been published by The New York Times , The Washington Post , Rolling Stone , The Wall Street Journal , ESPN , GQ , Esquire , Parade magazine , and many other publications. You can follow him on Twitter @ scottneumyer .

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The Hardest Part of Writing Really Well

by Joe Bunting | 52 comments

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We're here in Paris, and to better experience the city, I've been reading A Moveable Feast , Ernest Hemingway's memoir about living and writing in Paris. In the book, Hemingway reveals what I think is one of the hardest parts about being a serious writer, a writer who cares deeply about the quality of his or her prose.

It comes when he's talking with fellow expatriate author F. Scott Fitzgerald. They're drinking whiskey at Closerie des Lilas, a restaurant that still exists in Paris, and as they drink, they talk about their writing habits.

At the time, Hemingway is somewhat awed by Fitzgerald, who was older and more experienced than the 25-or-so-year-old Hemingway, Fitzgerald having already published a few novels, including The Great Gatsby , and several stories in the Saturday Evening Post.

Meeting Fitzgerald and talking about his writing convinces Hemingway that he needs to write a novel of his own, but the form intimidates him. He says:

But it was very difficult, and I did not know how I would ever write anything as long as a novel. It often took me a whole morning of work to write a paragraph.

Great Writing Is Slow Work

For the last few weeks, I've been able to spend more time on my creative writing and less on commercial work. It's wonderful, but it reminds me how much longer it takes to write good creative prose than it takes to write blog posts and journalism and non-fiction books.

For example, to write my posts for The Write Practice, I usually spend a morning writing, between three to five hours. However, when I write my essays for Goodbye Paris , it takes me about three mornings for pieces of roughly equal length. And even then they often need feedback from others and then more work afterward.

Creative writing is slow work, slow work that requires patience, discipline, and doggedness to finish no matter the cost.

The “Secret” to Writing Well

I've talked to so many writers who have great ideas but just can't seem to finish them. Many of them are even very good writers, but they can't complete their novels and plays and short stories.

Writing inspires them, entices them, but ultimately leaves them defeated. They email me disappointed, asking me what they should do to finish their ideas. “My ideas are great. Everybody says so. But I just can't seem to finish.”

I wish I had a better answer, some secret technique to turning your ideas into perfect novels, guaranteed bestsellers, masterpiece works of art. But I don't.

“I don't know,” I tell them. “Honestly, I'm right there with you, and so was Hemingway, and so were so many other great writers. It's very difficult. The only thing to do is keep writing.”

Are You Up For the Difficult Job of Writing?

Are you up for that? Are you willing to make space for your writing ? Are you willing to say no to great opportunities, even new ideas that other people tell you are genius, so you can finish your single paragraphs that take all morning?

Can you keep writing even when it takes three times longer than you think it will?

Writing a novel is very difficult. Are you up for it? It's fine if you're not, but if you think you are or you want to be, you need to learn to be dogged, to never give up, to keep writing no matter how long it takes. Writing is a hard job, which means that if you want to accomplish it you need to become hard yourself.

How about it. Are you up for it?

Today, work on your work in progress, no matter where you are in the process. If you don't currently have a work in progress, write about a writer who has been working on a single paragraph all morning. How is he feeling? What is he thinking about?

Write for fifteen minutes. When you're finished, post your practice in the comments section. And if you post, make sure you give feedback to a few other writers.

Bonne chance!

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Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

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52 Comments

I’ve written a novel and had it copyrighted for my sake, I guess to prove I could do it. It’s very long. I was stumped by three agents who didn’t seem interested. I have to take it out again and see where I stand in my own mind…to see if I should self-publish…and all that it entails, meaning self-promotion. But looking back, I never really gave it a chance. It is worth that at least. This is the year.

Carole, What an accomplishment! To write and copyright a novel is such a huge job. You should rejoice and give your manuscript your best shot. Maybe before this year ends you can see it published. Just keep working.

Carole, congrats on finishing a novel! Altho it’s hard to be rejected by agents, try to remember that not all of them will be a good match for your book. Kathryn Stockett was rejected by over 60 agents before she found one who believed in The Help! And, JK Rowling rejected by dozens for Harry Potter – keep sending it out!

Give it a chance, Carole!

Right now I am stuck in the last part of my novel. I have been writing for almost three years and I would be lying if I pretend I did my best to finish it. But I have worked through very hard circumstances and I am ‘dogged’ to accomplish it the best way I can. English is not my first language and the possibilities of publishing my novel in Egypt are not that encouraging. But I don’t allow all the negative thoughts that hammer my head day and night hold me back.

My characters keep me going, they have become part of my life and sometimes I feel it is them, not me who actually write. When I am discouraged for one reason or another I do something that may look stupid but it does work for me: I ask them to write their own version of the novel. And they use my mind and hands to write. They provide me with solutions for the most difficult problems that keep me awake at night. Maybe you will think I am crazy but I will give you an example. In the last part of the novel I had some dangling thread that I failed to pull up together. I did not know what to do with my antagonist. I let her write to me and she did. Here is what she wrote: How dare you leave me out of your last part like I was nothing? You think you can get away with it? You cannot just eliminate me whenever you feel like it because you hate me and I cannot speak for myself. I am your antagonist, don’t you ever ignore me! I will ruin your story, I will show the world how lousy a writer you are! You don’t think I can do this? Of course you are the one who will doom yourself to it, not me. What am I anyway? I am only one of the people you made and hated and could no longer stand my presence in your story. But make sure you won’t get away with it. I won’t lose much if you force me to disappear in your last section. After all I am just an ink creature. You will be the one to lose. In losing me you lose part of who you are, a piece of you that could have still breathed and lived and filled your world. You are limiting yourself, not me. I will not die anyway, you will find me haunting your day and sleep. You will find me jumping into your very next book, or even worse, taking shape in your personal life. Beware of me, I will not leave you alone! I am Maha Ghanem, the one you suffocated with every breath and success you gave to your precious sweat protagonist! Her words were the last I wrote before I slept and the very next morning I found a solution for her. Writing a novel is just a long term project that permeates your life. To me it is just like raising a kid.

I don’t think it’s crazy one bit, I love your idea to allow your characters to write for you when you are stuck! I am going to try this…I have to say, that Maha sure has a strong voice! Keep going….I hope she helps you finish.

Margaret, Thank you for the encouraging comment. I hope it works for you.

Letting the characters talk while we write was the topic of a post here about two (?) weeks ago, CHARACTERS AS MUSE (or something similar) by Jot Collado. Mine have been helping me in ways that is blowing my mind!

Though it’s not exactly a current wip, it bugged me a lot that I made quite some mistakes in it. But now I made some changes, though I know it could be way better – but it’s enough for today 😉 It’s also quite a long story, so I post only the beginning. If you fancy reading the rest, let me know.

As Polly the vampire sheep met the old woman, she hadn’t had any blood in days and felt weak. She even tried to eat grass, just like she used to do when she was still a normal sheep, but it didn’t help at all and had only made her feel worse.

You might imagine how relieved Polly was to see the old lady running around a house which was built of bread and covered with cakes, bantering happily with her black cat while collecting wood. Not that Polly paid much attention to the house, it was more the old woman that interested her. And even though this lady was the most ugliest woman she had ever seen in her entire sheep life, with a hump and a big wart on her nose, it did nothing to stop the starving sheep.

So Polly staggered forwards, carefully breaking through the thick undergrowth of the dark wood, hiding her pointy teeth so that the granny wouldn’t be suspicious right away and tried to hush her growling stomach. But the old woman wasn’t deaf and heard Polly approach, and suddenly swirled around and threw one of the thick branches at Polly, almost giving her a heart attack.

Polly only managed to dodge the branch because of her vampiric powers, which, even though she was starving, were still present and made her way faster than any other sheep in the world. Usually, Polly would have been proud of this, but right now she didn’t care much about her enhanced abilities. She was hungry like hell and she would drain this stick throwing old bat.

A vampire sheep with attitude. What fun!

Thank you Marilyn! 🙂

Bonjour, Joe! How fun to read Hemingway and share your insights while you are in that great city. I love the truth of this post. Writing IS slow work. Each sentence, sometimes even a word is like digging for gold in an abandoned mine. Oscar Wilde pretty much summed it up when he said “This morning I took out a comma and this afternoon, I put it back in again.” S-L-O-W work is right. And yet, to me it’s worth it. Each nugget I discover and each finish line I cross feels like a major accomplishment. I Just entered a short story contest (2,5oo words) and my first attempt at fiction. I made the deadline just under the wire and almost quit a dozen times. Doubt, fear and that old “can’t” word shadowed me for the two months I took writing the story. Don’t think it’s up to the contest standards, but I feel good for having finished and having the courage to put my work out there…. Here is the first paragraph of the story (haaa – I edited it again this morning even though it was sent a week ago…)

When daddy left in April, mama told us to stop calling her mama. “My name is Yvonne and that’s what I want you to call me now.” She was stirring the tomato soup on the two burner stove that scorched up the counter so bad it had more craters than my geography project of the Grand Canyon. “No sense pretending we’re a real family with your daddy gone again. Besides, I never wanted to be anyone’s mama in the first place.” Even when a bad fever made Finch call out to mama in the middle of the night, Yvonne just rolled over in the bed next to us and said “Natalie, tell your little sister there’s no mama here.” I turned ten that summer and was older and smarter than Finch, but calling mama Yvonne felt like taking the Lord’s name in vain….

Congratulations on making the deadline Margaret! That IS an accomplishment. Now when is the next one going to be? 🙂

I really like your story. What a strange and telling first line!

thanks, Joe! Working on the novel now. It’s my first love and has been in my head and heart over 6 years now. The short story was a distraction from that…btw, a great piece of advice I received recently from an author was to not look at a novel as a book. She said it’s daunting for even the pros and suggested I just keep writing scenes as they come to me and weave it together when I have enough scenes….food for thought.

Good idea, Margaret. You should write a guest post for the Write Practice about that. 🙂

I just might do that once I get a few more scenes under my belt 🙂

Nice work. The last sentence really grabbed me.

thx, Marilyn!

Great opener! Sounds like a story that would definitely hold my interest. Very well written too.

thx, Joanna!

You’re very welcome 🙂

The last few sentences really strike! Like it a lot.

thx, Hanni!

Hi Joe I loved this post. It’s nice to know the greats struggle as well 🙂 I must confess my real challenge comes in the edit. I can quite happily throw thousands of words on the page on a daily basis, but the slow steady approach that effective editing needs has me often frustrated. On the plus side, I’m reaching a point now where i can really tell the different in quality between my older stuff and current WIP and it’s because of the editing and the things I’ve learned along the way. I’m also learning to enjoy editing, bit by bit, as I recognise that a first draft is exactly that. I’ve stopped saying my book is finished and started saying my first draft is complete! 🙂 The point being, it’s all about the time. The amount of time you’re willing to put in and the dedication required to do so. cheers Mike

Exactly, Michael. As I was thinking about this post, I meant to mention something about editing as part of the part that takes forever, but then I got focused on some other aspect. I’m actually a slow writer AND a slow editor so it’s doubly bad! 😉 Thanks for chiming in.

I feel that pain, Joe. I can edit at a decent speed–I even enjoy editing and revision very much. It’s getting something valid to edit that’s been elusive for far too long. At least I know I am in great company on so many levels, lol.

I think it took JRR Tolkien something like seven years to write The Hobbit, twelve years to write Lord of the Rings, and most of his life to write the stories that eventually became The Silmarillion. That’s how I am… I started my first real novel-writing attempt about six years ago, turned the project into a short story about two years ago, and am STILL making minor edits on it to this day. I started another novel two years ago, have written several rough drafts, and am trying to figure out what to do with the latest one which is finally getting close to what I want but is incomplete. It really can be hard to stick with a project for as long as it takes to really perfect it. If it’s ever perfected. And I’m sure, even after publishing, most authors continue to tweak their stories. But… in spite of all the hardships… I love writing. 🙂

I wish I would have written only one complete draft for a novel, yet alone the editing. All I ever managed are short stories about 2000 words long, before I turn to another little project, and this is already quite some work for me.

Yes, he fascinates me. He was weirdly un-prolific, wasn’t he. But his inner world was so full. I admire him because it wasn’t about audience or being a great writer for him. It was all about the stories. But I also wish he had been more focused on publishing! Oh well. He was probably a good professor, right? 🙂

I like Steve Job’s quote, Sarah. “Real artist’s ship.” Perhaps it’s time to send out that story and work on the next thing.

This from my WIP, children’s historical fiction that takes place in 1928 in northern Minnesota:

“Psst, Lilly. Wake up,” Dorsey whispered. “This is the first day of school.”

“Leave me alone. “I’m still sleepy.” Lilly mumbled, pulling the blanket over her head.

“You old sleepy head. Get up. We can’t be late,” Dorsey said, still whispering, so she will not wake Lola and Henry, who are too young to go to school. “You know you want to wear that new dress Mama made you. It looks so pretty on you with all those tiny blue flowers.”

It’s true. Lilly can hardly wait to wear the new dress with the Peter Pan collar that Mama sewed in Iowa when they were harvesting corn. It makes her feel special. She almost never gets to wear new clothes. Instead, she wears clothes that Dorsey or a cousin already outgrew. Hand-me-downs, Mama calls them.

“I can smell homemade bread toasting in the skillet. You know how much you like it with strawberry jam. Let’s wash our faces and get dressed,” Dorsey said.

Soon the girls climb down the rope ladder from the sleeping loft. Mama gets up early to start a fire in the wood-burning stove, where she is cooking their breakfast. She turns when she hears them, “It’s about time you got down here.”

Dorsey is so excited to be going to their new school she can hardly eat, even though it is her favorite breakfast. When she plays school with her sisters, Dorsey uses a small piece of slate and a sharp rock to teach Lilly and Lola the alphabet. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up.

“I wonder what our new teacher will be like,” Dorsey said.

“I hope she’s pretty,” big brother Fred said, walking in on the conversation. “I’ve done my chores, Mama. Come on you two. Eat up. We have nearly two miles to walk to school.”

Thank you for posting this today. My WIP was calling my name when I woke up this morning, but I kept finding excuses, and I usually do WP before I start hammering on it to get “warmed up.” Instead I dove right into a chapter that has been bothering me for awhile. I definitely struggle with seeing projects through, after that initial rush of getting things out that you want to say, trying to mould it into something people can actually understand can be a drag. I need to find a way to keep that portion inspired. Hope Paris is treating you kindly!

Sounds like good timing Martha. Thanks. 🙂

OMG. Reading the comments. Thanks to everyone who shared and commented. It’s a relief to know that others are going through the process; yes…the editing is tricky Yes…the characters keep you going. They are real people and call out…it is not crazy. Thanks for the post…I so appreciate the comments and will probably come back for encouragement. Writing is a solo process, above all unless we engage with others. I have not done that in a while. It feels sooo good. Thanks.

No need to go solo, Carole. Glad you found some encouragement here. 🙂

Carole, You are absolutely right. It does feel good to share. It is the first time I try it and I feel better already. Keep going.

This is more a story about someone who hadn’t been productive in months. It’s the only thing that hit me as I read the prompt:

Ideas hadn’t come for months. Harper had already been reduced to part time slash work from home status; he wasn’t much use to a brainstorming agency without ideas, good or bad.

Harper had exhausted everything he could think of to restore the muse. He’d tried peppermint aroma therapy, talking to a motivational speaker, sessions with a counselor, seeing movies about big ideas (hoping they’d ignite his own), and even banging his head on the wall to jar something loose.

Nothing worked.

So he resorted to staring out the window as spring gave way to summer which gave way to fall.

As the weather cooled and trees began to shed, something happened. Harper noticed a certain tree, fifty or so yards away, started to get weird. There was definitely something in the branches. But he couldn’t see exactly what it was, as the remaining leaves formed a sort of protective cover. He continued to watch, but it was exhausting, as only one or two leaves fell a day. The tree was taking its sweet time.

Finally, when the first frost hit and Harper was on his last nerve, the final leaf fell.

What Harper saw made his hands and legs shake. The branches twisted themselves, perfectly, into the word, “SEE.” This wasn’t like some Jesus burnt into toast. The letters were unmistakable and impossible. He even took a picture with his camera – as speculative things never appear on film – and saw the letters clearly in the photograph.

For the first time, Harper felt hope. Legs propped up on a small cushion, he smiled while staring at the words. Things were going to turn around, he just knew it. It was time for him to “see” the ideas. After all, the tree was right there telling him to.

And so he watched and saw and noticed and worked. The next meeting was a disaster. And so was the next one. Whatever the tree was supposed to be telling him, Harper didn’t feel any different, so he became obsessed with the “SEE” tree. Not necessarily because of the extreme unlikeliness that branches could twist and turn to form words, but because the enormous, made-just-for-him sign that was staring him right in the face ultimately didn’t produce anything. Sitting in his seat and staring out the window for hours yielded nothing in terms of ideas or muses or paragraphs. And it was infuriating. What’s the purpose of an inert heavenly sign?

Finally, after crying everything out at his desk, Harper had had enough. He was going to the tree. Maybe touching it or getting a close-up might reveal something. Just in case, he brought a saw. If it came down to it, he wasn’t opposed to a little threat. He waited until twilight fell; that way, if he needed to climb up, he’d wait til darkness fell.

That evening, just as the sun hovered over his left shoulder, Harper climbed out his back window. It was odd, but he wasn’t letting the tree out of his sight. Then, he climbed his brick fence, scaled his neighbor’s wall, opened his neighbor’s gate, walked through his neighbor’s front yard, and froze. Just across the street, on a haphazard lawn, was the tree. And the words still stared at him.

Slowly, as if in a trance, he began inching toward the curb, the tree still in his sight.

Very interesting story! There’s something about nature that makes us want to get to the bottom of it, and yet it remains elusive no matter how hard we try. Have you read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard? She has this obsession with seeing a tree glow, seeing all it’s energy purely, and then one day it does and it nearly blinds her. This reminded me of that. You might check it out.

Thanks! I haven’t heard of the story, but will definitely check it out… I’m going right now, LOL 🙂

Hey Joe. What do you mean “How is **he** feeling?” ?? Why is the word “writer” automatically paired with the masculine pronoun?

(Just pushing your Parisian buttons. 😉 Have you tried one of those chocolate banana crepes on the street corner yet? )

Good question, Birgitte. I’m usually pretty good about that. Check the first paragraph. I suppose sometimes they really are he’s though. 🙂

Of course they’re he’s too. And lovely he’s, too! 🙂

Don’t leave Paris without the chocolate crepes….

It was already 11 o’clock. Three hours had scraped by, and I had written less than half a paragraph. I forced myself to smile at my computer, the way you smile at a know-it-all friend as you imagine what it would be like to smack him or push him backwards off a raft. Joe tells me that smiling helps – reduces stress by up to 20%, even! – but then he’s one of those know-it-alls. I turned my f-you smile 20 degrees and beam it at his photograph tacked to cork board next to my computer. It was a relief to look away from the words on the screen; just then they were beginning to look, to my eye, like the detritus you would collect on the beach after a small shipwreck. Or worse – that sort of jumbled rubbish is usually imbued with some sort of mystery and character, two qualities I had started to believe would remain entirely absent from not only my work, but me personally.

The room was too hot, I suddenly decided. The air floated like a thick mist around me, cloaking me with additional sweaty layers of skin. I thought about stripping down to my briefs, but couldn’t bring myself to move closer to the image of the crazy naked philosopher-writer, since it was bloody obvious I wasn’t actually doing any writing. Instead I settled for opening a window – the one at the furthest end of the room, a good excuse to have a few more seconds away from my desk. In the corner of my eye I saw the words of the screen fade away as the screensaver came on – today it was pinky-red, as if my computer’s eye were bloodshot with tears that I had abandoned it to find myself some comfort and unpolluted oxygen. Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual, I thought as I wrenched the window outward into the garden air. On days like this, no matter what I wrote, I felt like I was a lovesick teenager pouring insincere emotions out onto a page with phrases like “blackening soul” or “agonising love”. Each word was an unrequited love letter to a flame that had long since gone out; the flame of inspiration.

Ugh! I cringed at the phrasing of my last thought as soon as it materialised. I sighed out at the garden and abandoned the rest of the morning to daydreams about alternative career paths.

I really enjoyed reading this. Pretty much summed up my entire last years experience with writing. You painted a pretty good picture, though sometimes it was a bit much, like a song constantly being played on a high note. But over all, nice job.

Thank you for this post, Joe. I’ve never read a book about a writers life or experiences, but ‘A Moveable Feast’ sounds like a good read.It comforts me to know that I’m not weird for spending hours trying to finish three paragraphs. Anyway, here’s the beginning of my WIP:

Seated in the lonely park bench, dressed dapperly with a grey bandanna ’round his neck and a brown satchel beside him, Zachary Dale fixed his eyes on the young woman sitting in the grass field. The sun broke through the clouds, and in so doing, magnified her radiance. He’d been observing many things in the park, such as trees, the grass, the clouds, and even other people. But a subtle difference between her and the rest, was that through his eyes, she glowed. Her head turned to his direction, he pretended to be writing in his notebook. This had been a pattern for the last several weeks, and over the course of that time, questions had arisen: Why does she always sit in the same place at the same time? Who was she? And why don’t I simply leave this place and continue my travels? Indeed, he was a traveler. From the arctic wastelands to the Gobi Dessert. From a buttered croissant in Paris, to a chest burning bottle of homemade Vodka. But above all else, in every sense of the phrase, he yearned to touch the heavens. To boldly stand above the clouds on top the worlds watchtower, and feel the beauty of silence in its most pure form. Perhaps then, he may hear the voice of God himself.

“Hello, Zackary.” Zackary flinched out from his thoughts and looked up to his speaker. It was the woman, standing inches away from him, her golden brown hair eclipsing the sun. He hid his blush, “Sorry for staring.” “Don’t be,” she said while sitting next to him on the bench, “Though, I must admit, you’ve got a good deal more patience than myself. Usually it’s the man who asks the woman to dance.” “Might I ask how you knew my name?” She pointed to his satchel. ‘Zackary’ was sewed onto the front flap…

Bonjour, Joe, et bienvenue en France à toi et à ta petite famille ! Just a little word to say that it is “Bonne chance !”, my dear ! (See, I’ve read your prompt ’til the last words !) Thanks for your daily wonderful advices. Hope you enjoy your stay ! Don’t hesitate to write about this habit French people share, to be disagreeable with foreigners : we, french ones, often forget it and we need someone to remind us that even english speaking ones are real persons, who deserve respect, too…

Thanks for correcting me, Joy! I’ve fixed it. You’ll have to excuse mon beaucoup mauvais Francais!

I’ve had great luck with the French so far, so don’t worry. It helps though that I’m traveling with a very cute one year old baby. 🙂

I stared out the car window as the rain fell down leaving drops of patterns. The sky looked bleak and hopeless like my life. I listened to radio as the suffocating sileince of my dad in the car the lyrics because of you played softly in the background. The worn out road to the new house was riddled with pot holes that were forgotten we pulled into the driveway of the house the sad little thing. I felt the urge to hide and forget everything the death, the drinking, the abuse. I held on to the boxes on my lap and stepped out of the car. “CJ stupid girl you need the keys”. My dads roughly yelled at me. “Yes dad sorry”. I said faintly. “Speak up louder”. He yelled. I said it once more a little louder but my voice filled unease. I stepped into the house. A chill went up my spine the small house wasn’t welcoming at all. After moving in and unpacking I found my dad passed out on the couch with a bottle of whisky. I looked at him sadly and walked up stairs the old wooden stairs creeped from years of use. I stepped in my room closing the door softly. I laid down on my bed and cried softly. I woke up the next day and walked to my dads hardware store. The smell of metal, paint, and sawdust lingered. I sat behind the counter waiting for costumers. I stared at the clicking watching the hours slowly tick by. I snapped out of day dreaming at the sound of the bell if the door ring. “Good Day”. I say politely. A old black man smiled kindly at me and nodded. Please stay back there dad. I thought to myself. My dad is the biggest racist you’ll ever meet. Black, Yellow, Red he dosen’t care if your not white then you might as well die. I find no problem with color people. Mom always said to treat everyone with respect. “Miss where can I find this color of paint”. The man showed me a light color of blue. “I’ll get it”. I said. After mixing the paint I talked with him for awhile. “You talk better then most adults”. He said laughing. “Thanks”. I said. “What’s Your name”. “Camile Jazzimine Pines but everyone calls me CJ”. “My name’s Tom Rolk”. After we talked for awhile a I smelled whisky behind me. I turned and saw my dad standing behind me. CJ. I said coldly. “Y.. Y.. Yes dad”. I said. “Give the man his paint and stop talking with him how many times have I told you we don’t talk with people like him”. “Sorry dad”. I said quietly. I looked at tom to say sorry and he nodded. After tom left dad hit in the arm.” Don ‘t you ever do that again”. He yelled. He stumbled back to the office and slept. I grabbed a piece of paper 319 Oakville Dr was written it. I slipped it in my pocket and went back to work.

As a writer who spent nearly nine hours yesterday on an introductory paragraph re-write, I feel this one. Thanks for the reminder that it is supposed to go this way sometimes.

I’ve been looking for an answer for so long!

I’m 17.5. When I was 14, I wrote a whole book. I spent almost all of my summer vacation on it. Since then, I started writing a few stories but never seemed to finish. Every time I had some new idea, I was very enthusiastic about it, but after some time I just lost the motivation to write it.

I’ve searched the internet many times, just wanting to know why I could finish that book, and yet couldn’t finish anything else. I thought, maybe it’s the characters. I really loved the first book’s characters. And then I started wondering how to create characters I love so much. I didn’t find a satisfying answer till today. Then I wondered, maybe it’s time. My school has a pretty long school day comparing to other schools around here. I come home in the afternoon, pretty exhausted, and sometimes I don’t feel like sitting and writing. Or maybe it’s life. I don’t feel very satisfied from life right now. I know I felt like that at 14 as well, but the feeling was a bit different. Maybe if I don’t have motivation for life, then I won’t have motivation as well.

But there’s one thing I know: I never wanna give up. I’m still looking for an answer, but thank you so much for posting this. It made me feel less like a failure. I should just try and try and try until I get it right. The answer will come by soon.

🙂 Good luck everyone!

(Please forgive my english, if I got any mistakes, it isn’t my native language…)

Awesome stuff, Joe. I have three works in progress at various stages, so this is great help for me to finish. One at a time. You’re right though, the more I write the better it gets.

I’m one of those writers who has a hard time finishing her work. I start novels, but leave them unfinished. In fact, over the last several months I’ve let my writing practice slip because I felt list at sea with my writing. This week however, I set myself a solid thirty minutes a day where I sit down and write. This article came at the perfect time for me. Thanks Joe!

I LOVE creating, but I stopped because of family and career. But, now I want to do it again. I feel Shakespeare is the ultimate in writing and I think there are only seven plots or so. So every conceivable plot line has been done, not counting non-fiction. The key here is to make as much money as possible and then write your greatest work or works. What I am saying is it doesn’t have to be Shakespeare or Twain or Faulkner, at least your first novel doesn’t. Just write something that the publisher and people will like and then the rest will be history. Do me a favor, read a quick synopsis on Mickey Spillane. I think it took him a little over two weeks to write his first novel, I, The Jury. Hope this helps. Oh, if any of you make it big, I take 18%.

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Top 11 Toughest Writing Challenges And How To Overcome Them

This article contains everything you need to know about writing challenges, what causes them, and how to overcome them.

Writing is a lonely, mentally challenging, and sometimes grinding profession. Most of your time is spent in front of a screen, trying to put words together, while your brain is telling you, “Nobody would read this.”

On top of that, you’re expected to create a schedule, set rates, and find time for family and friends. Like Ernest Hemingway famously said ,

“Writing, at its best, is a lonely life.” Ernest Hemingway

How do you overcome countless writing challenges and keep your sanity at the same time? Well, there is an art to it, but in this post, you’ll learn:

What writing challenges every writer faces
What causes these obstacles
How to overcome them

Let’s dive in!

How To Eliminate Online Distractions

How to overcome the feast and famine cycle, how to find time to write, how to overcome writer’s block, how i overcome a productivity slump, how to structure your articles, how to edit while feeling drained and bored, how to set attainable deadlines, how to research your work, how to overcome feeling socially isolated, how to overcome this writing challenge, how to get your creative juices flowing, final word on writing challenges, what is a creative writing prompt, what is creative writing and what are some examples, writing challenges infographic, 1. online distractions.

Top 10 toughest writing challenges and how to overcome them

The biggest writing challenge for me is eliminating distractions for a few hours so I can get into a flow state and cultivate a habit of daily writing.

In this modern world, distractions are everywhere. I like separating them into two categories, offline and online distractions.

Offline distractions are easy to eliminate. Establish boundaries, and tell everyone in your house not to disturb you for the next few hours. Most people are reasonable and will respect your request.

Writing with kids in the house may be a challenge, but it comes down to timing. Aim to complete your deep work when they’re asleep, playing with their friends, or at school. Focus on the creative work while the house is quiet. Then, you can do any non-creative tasks, like answering emails, when they’re home and awake. Being a writer with children might mean early starts, late nights, or both.

The real challenge is removing online distractions. With so many social media platforms, you can’t keep track of them all. They draw your attention all over the place, and when it comes time to work, you find getting into that flow state impossible. A good web blocker like Freedom app can help.

Getting rid of online distractions requires a combination of discipline and tools to keep your core creative time distraction-free.

My ritual for eliminating online distractions is to close all the tabs I’m not using, like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and even email. I put my phone in a drawer in the next room. However, even after taking these steps, I still feel tempted to open Facebook or YouTube, and this is where distraction-blocking tools, like Freedom App, come in.

It blocks the news feed of any social media platform. That stops users from getting into that zombie-like trance where you’re scrolling Facebook for what feels like five minutes, then you realize an hour went by.

Simply head over to the Chrome store, and you’ll find distraction-free extensions for YouTube, Facebook, and any other social media platform.

I highly recommend installing the distraction-free YouTube extension since writers need to do a lot of research and this sometimes requires this search tool. YouTube shows videos you might like on the right sidebar, and if you get distracted, you can easily waste hours watching videos.

Distraction-free YouTube blocks the sidebar on the right so you can watch what you need for research purposes then head to your favorite place to write. You will still need a modicum of self-control but all it takes is one looming deadline for you to see the error of your ways.

Read our guide to the best distraction-free writing apps .

2. The Feast And Famine Writing Cycle

The infamous feast and famine cycle is another major challenge to those making their living as a freelance writer.

A feast and famine cycle refers to balancing the act of writing with finding your next writing job. One month you might get a lot of work and beat your monthly income target, and another you won’t even come close. Consider this an opportunity rather than a challenge.

Think of yourself as an employee of your company. Pay yourself a set salary that covers your expenses, and the money left over you either put into an emergency fund or invest back into your business.

This prevents you from going overboard with spending when times are good. Then when a famine rolls around, you have some money to fall back on while you get more clients.

This doesn’t tackle the root of the problem, however; it only treats the symptom. The other reason this poses such a challenge is during the feast period, many writers stop marketing and landing clients. When the inevitable famine comes, they have a lot of time to market their services, and this brings in a new flow of clients that leads to another feast.

Now that we know what causes a feast and famine challenge, the solution is obvious. Never stop marketing! Some ideal forms of marketing for writers include:

Social media outreach
Content marketing

Don’t stop once you’re busy because your lack of marketing might not show itself immediately, but in a few weeks or months, you’ll start to feel it.

Set an hour or two aside every day and pitch your service to potential clients. Make it a habit, and if you don’t have time to pitch because you’re too busy, hire a virtual assistant to do it for you.

By constantly pitching your writing services to potential clients, you’ll never experience a feast and famine cycle again. Your workflow becomes predictable and reliable.

Check out our guide to the best writing jobs and also our list of side hustle ideas for writers .

3. No Time To Write

You’re a full-time writer. You spend your days tapping away at the keyboard while sipping piping hot coffee, right? For most writers, finding time to write is a chore since life has a habit of getting in the way. But that’s where budgeting your time comes in. When you want to get better at money management, you budget your money. So why not do the same with your time?

Once you’ve structured your day, look for times where you can improve or eliminate as this allows you to get some extra writing done. The first time I planned my week in advance was difficult, but I quickly got into a creative groove.

Another mindset shift you must make is that you don’t need a laptop or computer to start writing. You carry a smartphone, so if you don’t have access to your computer, whip out your phone and blog away. You can always send the file to your computer later.

4. Writer’s Block

Ernest Hemingway once said writer’s block is the most terrifying challenge he ever faced. You know the terror. You open a Google Doc or Microsoft Word document, then you stare at a blank screen having no idea where to start. It can be very daunting for many writers. For those just starting out, it can feel insurmountable.

You don’t have to go through that dreaded challenge every time you start working on a new project. The most common reason people experience writer’s block is that they judge their work before it’s time.

Many new writers working across different genres expect to write pure magic as soon as they touch a keyboard. Instead of writing then editing, they judge and throw out their first drafts. With this practice, you’ll obviously feel stuck because writing a perfect first draft of a new story is impossible. Your first draft will be terrible regardless of your writing skills. and that’s fine. You can always edit your draft later.

Once you understand and accept that your first draft will be poorly written, you won’t experience writer’s block anymore. Daily writing becomes a piece of cake.

When you start writing, don’t judge your work. Just write. No matter how horrible you think your writing is, don’t delete or edit it right away. That comes later.

5. Productivity Lulls

Some days, you feel tired and unproductive . The words will refuse to flow. You will find a voice in your head questioning every word you write. All writers experience this, and it’s a good thing. Slow days allow you to appreciate productive days when you can write a few thousand words in a blink of an eye.

Here are a few tricks you can use to make your unproductive days a bit more productive.

My three go-to techniques for increasing productivity are:

Working out: creativity and exercise are interlinked
A nice, long shower

Multiple studies show the benefits exercise provides your brain. It improves thinking power, sharpness, and motivation. In simple terms, exercise promotes the growth of a protein called BDNF, which is found to increase mood, improve learning and even protect your brain against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

After running around the neighborhood a few times, hop in the shower.

Do you notice that when you’re showering, unique and creative thoughts magically pop into your head? This is because you’re relaxed and stress-free. These creative opportunities are essential to being productive.

Last, avoid eating until you’ve reached a required word count. For example, have lunch only after you’ve written 2,000 words. This technique encourages you to give yourself a reward for completing a difficult task. You’ll also be more inspired because hunger is a strong motivator.

Read our guide to productivity for writers .

6. Self-Editing Your Work

One of the biggest fears most freelance writers face is posting or sending an article to a client that includes typos and other mistakes. After you’ve written a post without judging it, you can bet you’ll find typos and structural problems. You also need to decide which subheadings are relevant, entertaining, and eye-catching for readers versus knowing what to cut. That’s key whether you’re writing a short story, article, or a soon-to-be Amazon best-seller.

Editing is harder and more draining than writing itself because when you’re writing, you enter a flow state after a few minutes. Editing is a drag on mental energy, but love it or loathe it, it’s still an important part of the writing process.

Outlines can make your life ten times easier. When creating an outline, visualize yourself holding your reader’s hand and walking them through everything they need to know to fix whatever problem your article solves.

After you’ve completed your outline, the rest is easy. You’ll feel like you’re just filling in the blanks since the structure of the post is already complete.

You can use index cards. A good outlining app can also help.

After you finish writing an article, put it into a good grammar checker first and fix any basic issues. Next, change the font and print the article. Why?

If you write in Arial and edit in a different font, the change tricks your brain into thinking you’re reading a different piece. You’ll be more likely to catch small errors. And printing your post on a sheet of paper prevents you from writing while you’re reading, which can interrupt the flow. Editing and writing are two very different processes and should be kept separate at all times. Instead, make a line under the mistake, then edit the document on your computer later.

I started doing this for my writing and have greatly reduced the number of mistakes in my articles, as did working with a professional editor.

Check out our self-editing guide .

7. Managing Deadlines

Many creatives dislike deadlines as they feel stifling and stressful. However, deadlines mean your clients want a piece of work by a set time. Missing them can result in a client terminating a contact. The potential for lost income can be a powerful motivator for the freelance writer.

It’s also important to realize that deadlines are should not just be imposed by clients. Deadlines are also important if you write for yourself. This is because shipping quality work consistently is key to earning a good living as a writer. You can’t earn from something you endlessly rewrite! While it may be difficult to start with, try setting yourself a deadline for every piece you work on, regardless of whether there is a client-imposed deadline also.

The first step in setting attainable deadlines is to break down your project into smaller chunks. For example, research, outline, writing the first 1000 words, then the last 1000 words, and finally editing. Breaking things down not only makes tasks less daunting, but the consistency of regularly hitting smaller deadlines will increase your motivation and your productivity.

Next, review previous projects and notice past delays. Maybe your piece required more research or editing took longer than anticipated. Factor this into the time it takes to complete your next writing project. Never stop evaluating and updating your processes.

After you’ve written blog posts for a while, you’ll gain a feel for how long you take to research, write and edit a post. When you receive a writing project, instead of trying to finish it as soon as possible, give yourself enough time to complete your project.

Even if your client hasn’t given you a deadline for a post, set a deadline for scheduling, submitting, or publishing. This ensures you don’t rush your post because of a deadline and hand in mediocre work. We recommend using personal Kanban to manage writing projects.

Setting writing goals is a great way to get into a routine and change the way you think about deadlines. You could set goals around:

Submissions
Publications
Projects e.g. NanoWriMo
A daily word-count

8. Researching Your Work

You need a system for capturing ideas and reviewing them. Many new researchers like Evernote. That’s ok for clipping story ideas. The commonplace book as popularized by Ryan Holiday is popular too. However, I recommend using the Zettelkasten method for capturing ideas and reviewing them regularly. Essentially, summarise ideas as you happen upon them, interlink them using software or index cards and turn the results into work you publish.

Researching and structuring blog posts, articles, and book chapters is sometimes a struggle for writers. After all, how can sit down to write if you suddenly have to stop to research a location, fact, figure, or story idea? This challenge is particularly stressful if you’re writing non-fiction or freelancing.

Read our guide to the Zettelkasten Method or check out my interview with Sacha Fast about this method

9. Isolation and Loneliness

Creative writing is a lonely profession, after all writers spend a lot of time alone with their ideas and words. However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make time to socialize with friends and family and meet new people.

Socializing is a skill. Like any other skill, you can improve it or lose it. If you’re spending all day indoors working on creative writing projects and you don’t emphasize socializing, don’t expect to maintain your social skills. An argument could even be made that strong social skills will help you write more engaging content.

As a writer, you must prioritize what’s important to you. Since we’re social creatures, socializing should be up there with food and water. But few writers prioritize it.

So instead of watching Netflix or browsing the internet after you’ve completed your work for the day, try something new. Go to a networking event for writers, take up a new hobby like dancing, surfing, or martial arts. These are all interesting ways of making friends with people who share your interests.

By getting out and about and talking to different people, you will also get a broader understanding of what other people are interested in. How they talk and interact with each other, etc.. All of this will help you become a better writer, whether you are creating fiction or writing freelance.

Check out our guide for lonely writers .

10. Feeling Like Your Work Isn’t Good Enough

It’s common for many new writers to work on a story or article, then get it ready to publish only to decide, “I need to improve it a little.” That’s fine for a bit, but too much revising and self-editing can rapidly degenerate into procrastination and perfectionism. You need to finish and submit your work if only to get feedback. Sometimes rejection and criticism are what we need to grow as a writer, not another round shadow boxing with our own self-doubt.

Commit to submitting and publishing a set amount of creative work each week, month, or year. Get feedback from a professional editor if you find yourself reworking the same pieces endlessly. As Stephen King famously said:

Write the the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Stephen King

Read our guide to conquering these types of writing fears .

11. Stifled Creativity

It’s normal to sometimes feel unproductive Similarly, feeling creatively dry is a common writing challenge. It’s particularly pertinent if you’re engaged in creative writing, like a short story or a novel. But you can take a few steps to get your creative juices for story ideas flowing again.

There are several ways of getting into a creative headspace. Some include;

Watching a new movie
Reading a great writing book
Listening to a podcast about writing
Socializing with old friends or make new ones

The activities above all do one thing. They take your mind off your writing challenge and let your subconscious do the work.

Did you ever notice you never get an amazing idea while you’re actively thinking about how to solve a problem? Great ideas come when you’re doing something totally unrelated like watching TV or talking to a friend or family member.

Use this knowledge to your advantage. Next time you face a creative writing challenge, take your conscious mind off the problem and allow your subconscious to find a solution.

If you still need help, read our guide to self-care for writers .

If you face challenges while writing, don’t worry. The blank page is sometimes intimidating. So, spend more time creating than consuming, particularly across genres. That’ll get your creative juices flowing.

Then, get into the habit of working on story ideas until they’re ready to publish. When in doubt, set an hour or two aside each day to focus on your work without interruption. The journey towards writing a 50,000-word novel starts with 500 words a day. Those writing sessions quickly stack up on top of each other.

If you’ve time left at the end of the day, take an online writing course . Thanks to the internet, you can easily learn from top-tier writers without spending thousands of dollars or traveling. That’ll help you improve your writing skills. With a few simple tricks and techniques, you can kiss all these common writing challenges goodbye.

FAQs About The Toughest Writing Challenges

A creative writing prompt is a project like a short story or poetry challenge. Prior to tackling the challenge, know the purpose of the writing challenge, which writing style to use, and who the audience is.

Creative writing is any form of writing that goes outside the bounds of academic, journalistic, and technical writing. NaNoWriMo is an organization that promotes creative writing by holding short story and poetry challenges around the world. Other examples of creative writing include flash fiction and poetry.

Writing is a tough gig.

Perhaps you’re working on that difficult first draft, but you’re struggling with self-belief?

Maybe you’ve been playing with an idea for months, but deep down you know it’s not good enough.

Or perhaps you want to turn a hobby into a professional career that pays the bills, but you’re not sure how to do it?

Even if you’re a more accomplished writer or someone who’s finished a book or works with paying clients, it can take years to gain the confidence needed to become a professional writer.

These are common challenges, which anyone who wants to become a writer faces.

I wanted to learn more about these common writing challenges so last year, I asked 22 top authors and writers one question:

What was your greatest writing or creative challenge and how did you overcome it?

Now, I’ve put together the best answers in this writing infographic.

Save it, Pin it, share it!

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

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A Non-Definitive Guide to Non-Duality

Editor's Note: Hey! Dan here. Generally, at Every we try to stick to writing that's directly written for founders, operators, and investors in tech. We break this rule on two occasions: for pieces that are really good, or really important. This piece ticks both of those boxes for me.

I practice some form of non-dual mindfulness almost every day—and the experiences and techniques that Sasha writes about in this essay are real, reachable, and profound. They're also feasible to practice with just a few minutes a day. They're a key habit that helps me run Every, write weekly, and feel pretty good doing it. I hope it's as helpful for you as it has been for me.

You may have heard about this “non-duality” thing, or “non-dual meditation.” Perhaps you have heard rave reviews of a meditative state sometimes referred to as “non-dual awareness,” or “big mind” or “the natural state.” Maybe in connection with exciting-sounding phrases like “spiritual awakening” or “enlightenment.”

Sometimes, people hype it up in a way that can seem far-fetched. For example, nearly a full half of people who learned how to achieve non-dual awareness through a Sam Harris meditation course said it was the most important skill they’d ever learned in their lives. Presumably, these people have learned some important skills before, like job skills that allow them to feed themselves. So that’s quite an assessment. Also, non-dual teacher Loch Kelly says, “It gave me a way of relieving my underlying suffering and connecting to an inner joy that I didn’t even know existed.”

Okay, what is this thing? How is it done? What is “non-duality”?

Click here to read the full post

Midjourney / Prompt: "Create an illustration of yin and yang"

Starting a new career in my 40s was the hardest and most rewarding thing I've ever done

At 35 I left my job as an accountant to take care of my newborn.
To flex my brain, I started freelancing as a writer taking very few assignments
I'm now divorced and in my 40s and being a mom is not my only role in life.

Ringing in the Big 40 in 2019 triggered some weighty introspection. It wasn't reaching middle age that troubled me. I felt like I'd reached a roadblock in my life. Five years earlier, I left my job as an accountant to raise my newborn son.

I cherished my life as a stay-at-home mom , but not working chipped away at my confidence. The more time passed and the less contact I had with other adults, the more irrelevant I felt.

According to Hilary Berger, founder of Work Like a Mother, a career counseling method integrating careers and motherhood, that's a familiar feeling for moms who leave the workforce. "When we're focused on raising kids and running a household, we lose touch with our professional identity. The loss of ourselves becomes a real obstacle," she told Business Insider.

I started writing for a local parenting publication once or twice a month to flex my brain. Returning to a finance role wasn't for me, and since I have a Journalism degree (and am a parent), it made sense. But when my marriage got rocky, I felt trapped — I was financially dependent on my spouse. I wasn't confident in my ability to support myself, so I stayed put.

I had lost touch with myself

When 2020 hit, I fell into a deep depression , and it wasn't only because of the pandemic. In my marriage, I felt more like an employee than a partner or even a friend. I couldn't deal with the constant chaos of fighting, so I checked out emotionally.

I was sleeping more , walking for hours every day to escape, and felt myself getting physically sick. I felt so drained and exhausted that I was sure I had an autoimmune disease.

I started writing more and more

Berger said experiencing evidence of your competence and capabilities helps build your relevance and confidence. She advises getting support from a professional or peer group to sharpen your focus on the kind of work you truly yearn for.

For me, that's writing. I joined a few Facebook writing groups and signed up for a couple of online writing classes. I took a low-paying gig from a content mill writing non-bilined medical articles for popular health websites.

Over the next year, I pitched dozens of publications. Most of the time, I received a kind rejection or no response. But each time a new editor gave me a chance, it sparked the fire that kept me going. Landing my first major national byline in 2021 — followed quickly succession by several more — gave me the self-assurance to break free.

Now, I'm not 'just' a mom

Three years later, I'm divorced and hustling. I take on as much work as possible because part of me is still terrified that I won't make it. I contribute regularly to a few publications and do part-time editorial work for a healthcare company. Making money has to take precedence over passion projects, which I need more time to pursue. That can be frustrating.

Berger emphasizes the importance of patience when you're juggling work with parenting — there may be weeks, months, or even years when you need to put some aspects of your career goals on a shelf. "Look at what you can accomplish across 20 or 30 years versus this year. If you allow yourself to keep moving and growing, you'll be totally ready and positioned for the next stage," she told BI.

While I'm not pursuing new bylines every week, working remotely and setting my schedule lets me show up for my 10-year-old when he needs me. "Mom" is no longer my sole role but is still the most important. I know this precious time during his childhood is limited. I feel guilty that I have to work, and on really tough days, I feel like a total failure. But my home is a safe space full of love, and that's not nothing.

Watch: Marketing leaders from Amazon, LinkedIn, Lego Group and more tell Insider what pandemic-fueled business changes are likely to stick around

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Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning

Jonathan Lambert

A close-up of a woman's hand writing in a notebook.

If you're like many digitally savvy Americans, it has likely been a while since you've spent much time writing by hand.

The laborious process of tracing out our thoughts, letter by letter, on the page is becoming a relic of the past in our screen-dominated world, where text messages and thumb-typed grocery lists have replaced handwritten letters and sticky notes. Electronic keyboards offer obvious efficiency benefits that have undoubtedly boosted our productivity — imagine having to write all your emails longhand.

To keep up, many schools are introducing computers as early as preschool, meaning some kids may learn the basics of typing before writing by hand.

But giving up this slower, more tactile way of expressing ourselves may come at a significant cost, according to a growing body of research that's uncovering the surprising cognitive benefits of taking pen to paper, or even stylus to iPad — for both children and adults.

Is this some kind of joke? A school facing shortages starts teaching standup comedy

In kids, studies show that tracing out ABCs, as opposed to typing them, leads to better and longer-lasting recognition and understanding of letters. Writing by hand also improves memory and recall of words, laying down the foundations of literacy and learning. In adults, taking notes by hand during a lecture, instead of typing, can lead to better conceptual understanding of material.

"There's actually some very important things going on during the embodied experience of writing by hand," says Ramesh Balasubramaniam , a neuroscientist at the University of California, Merced. "It has important cognitive benefits."

While those benefits have long been recognized by some (for instance, many authors, including Jennifer Egan and Neil Gaiman , draft their stories by hand to stoke creativity), scientists have only recently started investigating why writing by hand has these effects.

A slew of recent brain imaging research suggests handwriting's power stems from the relative complexity of the process and how it forces different brain systems to work together to reproduce the shapes of letters in our heads onto the page.

Your brain on handwriting

Both handwriting and typing involve moving our hands and fingers to create words on a page. But handwriting, it turns out, requires a lot more fine-tuned coordination between the motor and visual systems. This seems to more deeply engage the brain in ways that support learning.

Shots - Health News

Feeling artsy here's how making art helps your brain.

"Handwriting is probably among the most complex motor skills that the brain is capable of," says Marieke Longcamp , a cognitive neuroscientist at Aix-Marseille Université.

Gripping a pen nimbly enough to write is a complicated task, as it requires your brain to continuously monitor the pressure that each finger exerts on the pen. Then, your motor system has to delicately modify that pressure to re-create each letter of the words in your head on the page.

"Your fingers have to each do something different to produce a recognizable letter," says Sophia Vinci-Booher , an educational neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University. Adding to the complexity, your visual system must continuously process that letter as it's formed. With each stroke, your brain compares the unfolding script with mental models of the letters and words, making adjustments to fingers in real time to create the letters' shapes, says Vinci-Booher.

That's not true for typing.

To type "tap" your fingers don't have to trace out the form of the letters — they just make three relatively simple and uniform movements. In comparison, it takes a lot more brainpower, as well as cross-talk between brain areas, to write than type.

Recent brain imaging studies bolster this idea. A study published in January found that when students write by hand, brain areas involved in motor and visual information processing " sync up " with areas crucial to memory formation, firing at frequencies associated with learning.

"We don't see that [synchronized activity] in typewriting at all," says Audrey van der Meer , a psychologist and study co-author at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She suggests that writing by hand is a neurobiologically richer process and that this richness may confer some cognitive benefits.

Other experts agree. "There seems to be something fundamental about engaging your body to produce these shapes," says Robert Wiley , a cognitive psychologist at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. "It lets you make associations between your body and what you're seeing and hearing," he says, which might give the mind more footholds for accessing a given concept or idea.

Those extra footholds are especially important for learning in kids, but they may give adults a leg up too. Wiley and others worry that ditching handwriting for typing could have serious consequences for how we all learn and think.

What might be lost as handwriting wanes

The clearest consequence of screens and keyboards replacing pen and paper might be on kids' ability to learn the building blocks of literacy — letters.

"Letter recognition in early childhood is actually one of the best predictors of later reading and math attainment," says Vinci-Booher. Her work suggests the process of learning to write letters by hand is crucial for learning to read them.

"When kids write letters, they're just messy," she says. As kids practice writing "A," each iteration is different, and that variability helps solidify their conceptual understanding of the letter.

Research suggests kids learn to recognize letters better when seeing variable handwritten examples, compared with uniform typed examples.

This helps develop areas of the brain used during reading in older children and adults, Vinci-Booher found.

"This could be one of the ways that early experiences actually translate to long-term life outcomes," she says. "These visually demanding, fine motor actions bake in neural communication patterns that are really important for learning later on."

Ditching handwriting instruction could mean that those skills don't get developed as well, which could impair kids' ability to learn down the road.

"If young children are not receiving any handwriting training, which is very good brain stimulation, then their brains simply won't reach their full potential," says van der Meer. "It's scary to think of the potential consequences."

Many states are trying to avoid these risks by mandating cursive instruction. This year, California started requiring elementary school students to learn cursive , and similar bills are moving through state legislatures in several states, including Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin. (So far, evidence suggests that it's the writing by hand that matters, not whether it's print or cursive.)

Slowing down and processing information

For adults, one of the main benefits of writing by hand is that it simply forces us to slow down.

During a meeting or lecture, it's possible to type what you're hearing verbatim. But often, "you're not actually processing that information — you're just typing in the blind," says van der Meer. "If you take notes by hand, you can't write everything down," she says.

The relative slowness of the medium forces you to process the information, writing key words or phrases and using drawing or arrows to work through ideas, she says. "You make the information your own," she says, which helps it stick in the brain.

Such connections and integration are still possible when typing, but they need to be made more intentionally. And sometimes, efficiency wins out. "When you're writing a long essay, it's obviously much more practical to use a keyboard," says van der Meer.

Still, given our long history of using our hands to mark meaning in the world, some scientists worry about the more diffuse consequences of offloading our thinking to computers.

"We're foisting a lot of our knowledge, extending our cognition, to other devices, so it's only natural that we've started using these other agents to do our writing for us," says Balasubramaniam.

It's possible that this might free up our minds to do other kinds of hard thinking, he says. Or we might be sacrificing a fundamental process that's crucial for the kinds of immersive cognitive experiences that enable us to learn and think at our full potential.

Balasubramaniam stresses, however, that we don't have to ditch digital tools to harness the power of handwriting. So far, research suggests that scribbling with a stylus on a screen activates the same brain pathways as etching ink on paper. It's the movement that counts, he says, not its final form.

Jonathan Lambert is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance journalist who covers science, health and policy.

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When Prison and Mental Illness Amount to a Death Sentence

The downward spiral of one inmate, Markus Johnson, shows the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill.

Supported by

By Glenn Thrush

Photographs by Carlos Javier Ortiz

Glenn Thrush spent more than a year reporting this article, interviewing close to 50 people and reviewing court-obtained body-camera footage and more than 1,500 pages of documents.

Published May 5, 2024 Updated May 7, 2024

Markus Johnson slumped naked against the wall of his cell, skin flecked with pepper spray, his face a mask of puzzlement, exhaustion and resignation. Four men in black tactical gear pinned him, his face to the concrete, to cuff his hands behind his back.

He did not resist. He couldn’t. He was so gravely dehydrated he would be dead by their next shift change.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

“I didn’t do anything,” Mr. Johnson moaned as they pressed a shield between his shoulders.

It was 1:19 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019, in the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison a few hours south of Chicago. Mr. Johnson, 21 and serving a short sentence for gun possession, was in the throes of a mental collapse that had gone largely untreated, but hardly unwatched.

He had entered in good health, with hopes of using the time to gain work skills. But for the previous three weeks, Mr. Johnson, who suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had refused to eat or take his medication. Most dangerous of all, he had stealthily stopped drinking water, hastening the physical collapse that often accompanies full-scale mental crises.

Mr. Johnson’s horrific downward spiral, which has not been previously reported, represents the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill. Many seriously ill people receive no treatment . For those who do, the outcome is often determined by the vigilance and commitment of individual supervisors and frontline staff, which vary greatly from system to system, prison to prison, and even shift to shift.

The country’s jails and prisons have become its largest provider of inpatient mental health treatment, with 10 times as many seriously mentally ill people now held behind bars as in hospitals. Estimating the population of incarcerated people with major psychological problems is difficult, but the number is likely 200,000 to 300,000, experts say.

Many of these institutions remain ill-equipped to handle such a task, and the burden often falls on prison staff and health care personnel who struggle with the dual roles of jailer and caregiver in a high-stress, dangerous, often dehumanizing environment.

In 2021, Joshua McLemore , a 29-year-old with schizophrenia held for weeks in an isolation cell in Jackson County, Ind., died of organ failure resulting from a “refusal to eat or drink,” according to an autopsy. In April, New York City agreed to pay $28 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Nicholas Feliciano, a young man with a history of mental illness who suffered severe brain damage after attempting to hang himself on Rikers Island — as correctional officers stood by.

Mr. Johnson’s mother has filed a wrongful-death suit against the state and Wexford Health Sources, a for-profit health care contractor in Illinois prisons. The New York Times reviewed more than 1,500 pages of reports, along with depositions taken from those involved. Together, they reveal a cascade of missteps, missed opportunities, potential breaches of protocol and, at times, lapses in common sense.

A woman wearing a jeans jacket sitting at a table showing photos of a young boy on her cellphone.

Prison officials and Wexford staff took few steps to intervene even after it became clear that Mr. Johnson, who had been hospitalized repeatedly for similar episodes and recovered, had refused to take medication. Most notably, they did not transfer him to a state prison facility that provides more intensive mental health treatment than is available at regular prisons, records show.

The quality of medical care was also questionable, said Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, Sarah Grady and Howard Kaplan, a married legal team in Chicago. Mr. Johnson lost 50 to 60 pounds during three weeks in solitary confinement, but officials did not initiate interventions like intravenous feedings or transfer him to a non-prison hospital.

And they did not take the most basic step — dialing 911 — until it was too late.

There have been many attempts to improve the quality of mental health treatment in jails and prisons by putting care on par with punishment — including a major effort in Chicago . But improvements have proved difficult to enact and harder to sustain, hampered by funding and staffing shortages.

Lawyers representing the state corrections department, Wexford and staff members who worked at Danville declined to comment on Mr. Johnson’s death, citing the unresolved litigation. In their interviews with state police investigators, and in depositions, employees defended their professionalism and adherence to procedure, while citing problems with high staff turnover, difficult work conditions, limited resources and shortcomings of co-workers.

But some expressed a sense of resignation about the fate of Mr. Johnson and others like him.

Prisoners have “much better chances in a hospital, but that’s not their situation,” said a senior member of Wexford’s health care team in a deposition.

“I didn’t put them in prison,” he added. “They are in there for a reason.”

Markus Mison Johnson was born on March 1, 1998, to a mother who believed she was not capable of caring for him.

Days after his birth, he was taken in by Lisa Barker Johnson, a foster mother in her 30s who lived in Zion, Ill., a working-class city halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Markus eventually became one of four children she adopted from different families.

The Johnson house is a lively split level, with nieces, nephews, grandchildren and neighbors’ children, family keepsakes, video screens and juice boxes. Ms. Johnson sits at its center on a kitchen chair, chin resting on her hand as children wander over to share their thoughts, or to tug on her T-shirt to ask her to be their bathroom buddy.

From the start, her bond with Markus was particularly powerful, in part because the two looked so much alike, with distinctive dimpled smiles. Many neighbors assumed he was her biological son. The middle name she chose for him was intended to convey that message.

“Mison is short for ‘my son,’” she said standing over his modest footstone grave last summer.

He was happy at home. School was different. His grades were good, but he was intensely shy and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in elementary school.

That was around the time the bullying began. His sisters were fierce defenders, but they could only do so much. He did the best he could, developing a quick, taunting tongue.

These experiences filled him with a powerful yearning to fit in.

It was not to be.

When he was around 15, he called 911 in a panic, telling the dispatcher he saw two men standing near the small park next to his house threatening to abduct children playing there. The officers who responded found nothing out of the ordinary, and rang the Johnsons’ doorbell.

He later told his mother he had heard a voice telling him to “protect the kids.”

He was hospitalized for the first time at 16, and given medications that stabilized him for stretches of time. But the crises would strike every six months or so, often triggered by his decision to stop taking his medication.

His family became adept at reading signs he was “getting sick.” He would put on his tan Timberlands and a heavy winter coat, no matter the season, and perch on the edge of his bed as if bracing for battle. Sometimes, he would cook his own food, paranoid that someone might poison him.

He graduated six months early, on the dean’s list, but was rudderless, and hanging out with younger boys, often paying their way.

His mother pointed out the perils of buying friendship.

“I don’t care,” he said. “At least I’ll be popular for a minute.”

Zion’s inviting green grid of Bible-named streets belies the reality that it is a rough, unforgiving place to grow up. Family members say Markus wanted desperately to prove he was tough, and emulated his younger, reckless group of friends.

Like many of them, he obtained a pistol. He used it to hold up a convenience store clerk for $425 in January 2017, according to police records. He cut a plea deal for two years of probation, and never explained to his family what had made him do it.

But he kept getting into violent confrontations. In late July 2018, he was arrested in a neighbor’s garage with a handgun he later admitted was his. He was still on probation for the robbery, and his public defender negotiated a plea deal that would send him to state prison until January 2020.

An inpatient mental health system

Around 40 percent of the about 1.8 million people in local, state and federal jails and prison suffer from at least one mental illness, and many of these people have concurrent issues with substance abuse, according to recent Justice Department estimates.

Psychological problems, often exacerbated by drug use, often lead to significant medical problems resulting from a lack of hygiene or access to good health care.

“When you suffer depression in the outside world, it’s hard to concentrate, you have reduced energy, your sleep is disrupted, you have a very gloomy outlook, so you stop taking care of yourself,” said Robert L. Trestman , a Virginia Tech medical school professor who has worked on state prison mental health reforms.

The paradox is that prison is often the only place where sick people have access to even minimal care.

But the harsh work environment, remote location of many prisons, and low pay have led to severe shortages of corrections staff and the unwillingness of doctors, nurses and counselors to work with the incarcerated mentally ill.

In the early 2000s, prisoners’ rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against Illinois claiming “deliberate indifference” to the plight of about 5,000 mentally ill prisoners locked in segregated units and denied treatment and medication.

In 2014, the parties reached a settlement that included minimum staffing mandates, revamped screening protocols, restrictions on the use of solitary confinement and the allocation of about $100 million to double capacity in the system’s specialized mental health units.

Yet within six months of the deal, Pablo Stewart, an independent monitor chosen to oversee its enforcement, declared the system to be in a state of emergency.

Over the years, some significant improvements have been made. But Dr. Stewart’s final report , drafted in 2022, gave the system failing marks for its medication and staffing policies and reliance on solitary confinement “crisis watch” cells.

Ms. Grady, one of Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, cited an additional problem: a lack of coordination between corrections staff and Wexford’s professionals, beyond dutifully filling out dozens of mandated status reports.

“Markus Johnson was basically documented to death,” she said.

‘I’m just trying to keep my head up’

Mr. Johnson was not exactly looking forward to prison. But he saw it as an opportunity to learn a trade so he could start a family when he got out.

On Dec. 18, 2018, he arrived at a processing center in Joliet, where he sat for an intake interview. He was coherent and cooperative, well-groomed and maintained eye contact. He was taking his medication, not suicidal and had a hearty appetite. He was listed as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 256 pounds.

Mr. Johnson described his mood as “go with the flow.”

A few days later, after arriving in Danville, he offered a less settled assessment during a telehealth visit with a Wexford psychiatrist, Dr. Nitin Thapar. Mr. Johnson admitted to being plagued by feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and “constant uncontrollable worrying” that affected his sleep.

He told Dr. Thapar he had heard voices in the past — but not now — telling him he was a failure, and warning that people were out to get him.

At the time he was incarcerated, the basic options for mentally ill people in Illinois prisons included placement in the general population or transfer to a special residential treatment program at the Dixon Correctional Center, west of Chicago. Mr. Johnson seemed out of immediate danger, so he was assigned to a standard two-man cell in the prison’s general population, with regular mental health counseling and medication.

Things started off well enough. “I’m just trying to keep my head up,” he wrote to his mother. “Every day I learn to be stronger & stronger.”

But his daily phone calls back home hinted at friction with other inmates. And there was not much for him to do after being turned down for a janitorial training program.

Then, in the spring of 2019, his grandmother died, sending him into a deep hole.

Dr. Thapar prescribed a new drug used to treat major depressive disorders. Its most common side effect is weight gain. Mr. Johnson stopped taking it.

On July 4, he told Dr. Thapar matter-of-factly during a telehealth check-in that he was no longer taking any of his medications. “I’ve been feeling normal, I guess,” he said. “I feel like I don’t need the medication anymore.”

Dr. Thapar said he thought that was a mistake, but accepted the decision and removed Mr. Johnson from his regular mental health caseload — instructing him to “reach out” if he needed help, records show.

The pace of calls back home slackened. Mr. Johnson spent more time in bed, and became more surly. At a group-therapy session, he sat stone silent, after showing up late.

By early August, he was telling guards he had stopped eating.

At some point, no one knows when, he had intermittently stopped drinking fluids.

‘I’m having a breakdown’

Then came the crash.

On Aug. 12, Mr. Johnson got into a fight with his older cellmate.

He was taken to a one-man disciplinary cell. A few hours later, Wexford’s on-site mental health counselor, Melanie Easton, was shocked by his disoriented condition. Mr. Johnson stared blankly, then burst into tears when asked if he had “suffered a loss in the previous six months.”

He was so unresponsive to her questions she could not finish the evaluation.

Ms. Easton ordered that he be moved to a 9-foot by 8-foot crisis cell — solitary confinement with enhanced monitoring. At this moment, a supervisor could have ticked the box for “residential treatment” on a form to transfer him to Dixon. That did not happen, according to records and depositions.

Around this time, he asked to be placed back on his medication but nothing seems to have come of it, records show.

By mid-August, he said he was visualizing “people that were not there,” according to case notes. At first, he was acting more aggressively, once flicking water at a guard through a hole in his cell door. But his energy ebbed, and he gradually migrated downward — from standing to bunk to floor.

“I’m having a breakdown,” he confided to a Wexford employee.

At the time, inmates in Illinois were required to declare an official hunger strike before prison officials would initiate protocols, including blood testing or forced feedings. But when a guard asked Mr. Johnson why he would not eat, he said he was “fasting,” as opposed to starving himself, and no action seems to have been taken.

‘Tell me this is OK!’

Lt. Matthew Morrison, one of the few people at Danville to take a personal interest in Mr. Johnson, reported seeing a white rind around his mouth in early September. He told other staff members the cell gave off “a death smell,” according to a deposition.

On Sept. 5, they moved Mr. Johnson to one of six cells adjacent to the prison’s small, bare-bones infirmary. Prison officials finally placed him on the official hunger strike protocol without his consent.

Mr. Morrison, in his deposition, said he was troubled by the inaction of the Wexford staff, and the lack of urgency exhibited by the medical director, Dr. Justin Young.

On Sept. 5, Mr. Morrison approached Dr. Young to express his concerns, and the doctor agreed to order blood and urine tests. But Dr. Young lived in Chicago, and was on site at the prison about four times a week, according to Mr. Kaplan. Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, was not one of those days.

Mr. Morrison arrived at work that morning, expecting to find Mr. Johnson’s testing underway. A Wexford nurse told him Dr. Young believed the tests could wait.

Mr. Morrison, stunned, asked her to call Dr. Young.

“He’s good till Monday,” Dr. Young responded, according to Mr. Morrison.

“Come on, come on, look at this guy! You tell me this is OK!” the officer responded.

Eventually, Justin Duprey, a licensed nurse practitioner and the most senior Wexford employee on duty that day, authorized the test himself.

Mr. Morrison, thinking he had averted a disaster, entered the cell and implored Mr. Johnson into taking the tests. He refused.

So prison officials obtained approval to remove him forcibly from his cell.

‘Oh, my God’

What happened next is documented in video taken from cameras held by officers on the extraction team and obtained by The Times through a court order.

Mr. Johnson is scarcely recognizable as the neatly groomed 21-year-old captured in a cellphone picture a few months earlier. His skin is ashen, eyes fixed on the middle distance. He might be 40. Or 60.

At first, he places his hands forward through the hole in his cell door to be cuffed. This is against procedure, the officers shout. His hands must be in back.

He will not, or cannot, comply. He wanders to the rear of his cell and falls hard. Two blasts of pepper spray barely elicit a reaction. The leader of the tactical team later said he found it unusual and unnerving.

The next video is in the medical unit. A shield is pressed to his chest. He is in agony, begging for them to stop, as two nurses attempt to insert a catheter.

Then they move him, half-conscious and limp, onto a wheelchair for the blood draw.

For the next 20 minutes, the Wexford nurse performing the procedure, Angelica Wachtor, jabs hands and arms to find a vessel that will hold shape. She winces with each puncture, tries to comfort him, and grows increasingly rattled.

“Oh, my God,” she mutters, and asks why help is not on the way.

She did not request assistance or discuss calling 911, records indicate.

“Can you please stop — it’s burning real bad,” Mr. Johnson said.

Soon after, a member of the tactical team reminds Ms. Wachtor to take Mr. Johnson’s vitals before taking him back to his cell. She would later tell Dr. Young she had been unable to able to obtain his blood pressure.

“You good?” one of the team members asks as they are preparing to leave.

“Yeah, I’ll have to be,” she replies in the recording.

Officers lifted him back onto his bunk, leaving him unconscious and naked except for a covering draped over his groin. His expressionless face is visible through the window on the cell door as it closes.

‘Cardiac arrest.’

Mr. Duprey, the nurse practitioner, had been sitting inside his office after corrections staff ordered him to shelter for his own protection, he said. When he emerged, he found Ms. Wachtor sobbing, and after a delay, he was let into the cell. Finding no pulse, Mr. Duprey asked a prison employee to call 911 so Mr. Johnson could be taken to a local emergency room.

The Wexford staff initiated CPR. It did not work.

At 3:38 p.m., the paramedics declared Markus Mison Johnson dead.

Afterward, a senior official at Danville called the Johnson family to say he had died of “cardiac arrest.”

Lisa Johnson pressed for more information, but none was initially forthcoming. She would soon receive a box hastily crammed with his possessions: uneaten snacks, notebooks, an inspirational memoir by a man who had served 20 years at Leavenworth.

Later, Shiping Bao, the coroner who examined his body, determined Mr. Johnson had died of severe dehydration. He told the state police it “was one of the driest bodies he had ever seen.”

For a long time, Ms. Johnson blamed herself. She says that her biggest mistake was assuming that the state, with all its resources, would provide a level of care comparable to what she had been able to provide her son.

She had stopped accepting foster care children while she was raising Markus and his siblings. But as the months dragged on, she decided her once-boisterous house had become oppressively still, and let local agencies know she was available again.

“It is good to have children around,” she said. “It was too quiet around here.”

Read by Glenn Thrush

Audio produced by Jack D’Isidoro .

Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice. He joined The Times in 2017 after working for Politico, Newsday, Bloomberg News, The New York Daily News, The Birmingham Post-Herald and City Limits. More about Glenn Thrush

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