How to Beat Your Insecurities and Start Writing

We have all kinds of students coming to us and asking, “Can you write my essay?” Some are simply too busy having a life – and it’s okay. We understand YOLO philosophy. When can you have fun if not when you are young?

However, many of them are willing and capable high achievers, who are, for some reason, riddled with insecurities and fear they won’t be able to meet the high standards of their instructors. How come? Why writing assignments present students with such a challenge?

The reasons are numerous and could fill not only this article but the entire blog. Sometimes students aren’t able to think about anything to write about, some fear judgment and cannot bring themselves to start, some struggle because of their perfectionism, so they start over and over and result never seems satisfying to them. Whatever the case with you, you can employ the strategies listed below to improve your writing confidence.

Coming up with a relevant topic

Usually, students have writing prompts but those can be too vague. Alternatively, they may give strict instructions as to form rather than content. For example, to write a free topic essay using an extended metaphor. Thinking of the topic can be hard!

If you have time – ask around. Picking someone’s brain is always a fascinating experience because people see things so much differently. This will give you some fresh perspective. If you have to do the writing during a timed test – just stick to things you know about. There must be something that makes you talk for hours, something you are passionate about. Writing about something you love is motivating, but when you are inspired, it makes your writing more compelling as well!

Getting started

Big projects can be particularly intimidating. Before getting to work on a bigger paper, you may want to outline it. Just brainstorm and map your ideas out to lay a foundation. Spending about ten minutes on a quick outline will make you feel more confident and organized.

As a last resort, just to break the vicious circle of procrastination, put your fingers on a keyboard and start typing anything that comes to mind – just do it. This is only the first draft – it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be perfectly structured – you can start anywhere.

Perfectionism

Proofreading your work is important, but you don’t want to get stuck editing for hours on end. The best strategy to curb compulsive editing is limit the times you allow yourself to proofread to three. Go through your text slowly and be focused instead of rushing through it over and over. If you are easily distracted, find a quiet place to make all necessary edits.

Another thing that can speed things up is grammar- and spellcheckers. They detect some minor errors you may overlook and take care of typos. This already saves you couple rounds of editing – instead of obsessing about your commas, you can concentrate on the essence right away.

Rambling

This can be a side effect of the “just do it” method introduced above. If you feel that you have lost your focus and your text became too wordy, try structuring it. Break it into short paragraphs and try adding subheadings. If you have troubles with that chances are your text has some irrelevant pieces that you can scrap.

The next step is reading your text aloud. When you hear yourself reading, it is easier to notice a passage that is out of place or a sentence that is too long and difficult to grasp.

Here you are, a complete and succinct essay is before you, ready to be handed in. Didn’t hurt a bit, did it? Remember, practice makes perfect. Happy writing!