With just three weeks until the bulk of college applications are due, I thought I would share a few ways we helped our senior through the essay writing process. Based on my writing experience and the trial-by-fire efforts with our senior, my husband and I came up with a process that worked for our son.

1. Don’t worry about word count. If all a writer can think about is keeping a piece to 250 or 500 words, it’s a creativity killer. What happens if your most brilliant thought occurred at word number 255? You would lose an amazing line that just might sew the whole essay together. It’s a lot easier to cut away than it is to add more to make the word count.

2. Write like you talk. Unless your senior is full of dudes, yeps and text acronyms such as OMGs and TMIs. In the beginning of college essay hell, my son wanted to write the most intelligent, perfect sentences. It wasn’t fun to read nor did it get to the heart of the story or sound like him. To me, just get the story out and then work on finessing the most eloquent line.

3. The first pass sets the foundation, the bones. Getting started is THE hardest part. It’s what makes a lot of writers run from their laptops. But once the bones are set, the next part is fun! This is where you add the color, the descriptors or “flesh.” If possible, wait a day to let the color settle in, then come back and look for ways to improve. A lot of writing ideas happen away from the computer, say the shower or sweeping the floor or just a fresh head.

4. Work without a formal outline. I don’t know what exactly will go into my essays but I follow a general flow in my head. The first paragraph is the set-up; tell the reader what you are going to tell them. The next few paragraphs, tell them. Cite examples to back your set-up. The last paragraph, tell the reader what you told them, or in some essay topics, the big aha. My essays are not five paragraphs with five sentences in each. In a personal essay, there is a lot more freedom than the English 101 format.  I am merely drawing a map for my reader.

5. Ask questions to get more out of your writer. A lot of what is lacking in any writing is depth. The writer is very clear in their head about setting up a scene but what is in the head does not always come out on paper. For example, our son saw a poster with a bass clarinet in his band class. He immediately knew he wanted to learn to play it. And that was the end of his desire. So, we (hubby and I) asked what was it about the instrument that made you want to play? Was it the color or size or sound? Describe it.

6. Set a time limit. After two hours of writing, get up and run a mile or play piano. Some writers get up every 45 minutes. Depending on schedules, come back the next day or a few hours later. A lot can be written in two hours and if there is a built in deadline, there is less chance for focus to shift to the smartphone or the fly in the window.

7. Don’t tell a story blow by blow. I am so guilty of including step-by-steps in a life story because that’s how I remember it. The reader really only needs the essence, a couple of lines to get the gist. This is where editing comes into play. Sometimes it’s easier to write down everything you know but then when you look back, you will find one sentence stands out and that is the line to build a story or paragraph around; maybe it’s the lead line of the paragraph.