It’s college essay season and if you have a senior, the stress of finishing up essays is skyrocketing. Or maybe worse, because the senior hasn’t cracked the essay, at all. Summer was too fun, as it should be. And now, ugh, is there an easier way to go?

Yes, an essay coach, one that’s been writing and taking classes on the personal essay for years and years. A person who has given lots of feedback and received feedback on their own writing, a lot of it. Somebody who coached their own kids through the college essay.

Yes, me.

Since finishing my book, I’ve been struggling with what to do next with my time and all that writing experience. I keep coming back to finding a way to help high school kids with their writing. I hated history and English paper assignments in high school. I thought I was terrible. I thought I had nothing to say and that I needed a flowery vocabulary to write beautiful things. WRONG!!!!

The biggest thing I was missing:  confidence. Which makes sense when you are young. If only I had someone to tell me I did have something to say, a perspective that mattered, I might have taken a different path. I wish someone had told me I didn’t have to stuff a sentence with fancy-pants prose; I just needed to make sure my message was clear, like I really said that, not Shakespeare.

With my own boys, I’ve gone through college essay hell twice, and really three times, I know too well how painful the process is and I blogged about it here. I say three times because the youngest learned his first college choice was not the place for him, so he applied to another school. He had to write more essays. He got into his next choice but it’s pricey so he’s applying for scholarships. Guess what, he’s writing more essays.  My job never ends.

I’ve helped a handful of family friends with their college essays too. I love the heart of the writing process. To me, it’s like trying to figure out a puzzle, moving the sentences around to make a complete picture, Add to Story, adding hearts, not words. After all, that’s what the college essay is about, an opportunity for universities to get to know the fascinating applicant even better.

Your Story is exciting!

Yes, I want to take college essay writing on again and again. I want to build confidence in our kids, the boost I was missing in high school. I wish I could say I was free, but Hubby is looking at me with furry eyeballs, also wondering what I’m going to do next without kids or a book to write.

Let’s talk. Email me at francielow@francielow.com.