I’ve been writing book reviews for about eight years now, and I still remember the first one I submitted. It was terrible. I spent half the essay summarizing the plot and the other half making vague statements about whether I liked the book. My professor wrote one word in the margin: “Why?” That single question
I’ve written hundreds of essays. Some were terrible. Some were decent. A few were actually good. The difference wasn’t talent or natural ability–it was process. I learned this the hard way, usually at 2 AM with a deadline looming and nothing but panic and caffeine keeping me upright. The thing about essays is that most