Writing about how I write is best done by describing my writing process for this very blog post! I always get nervous when papers are assigned in class because I am a slow writer. I have so many ideas in my head but I do not know how to formulate them on paper. I know this very issue is why I am currently having difficulty applying to medical school as well! I am a slow writer but also a perfectionist. It is quite a dangerous combination. When given a prompt such as this one, I first think about what I am going to write. It is hard for me to brainstorm on paper because often I am greeted with a flood of ideas. So I do what I do best- I procrastinate! I open up Netflix to see if I could watch reruns of The Office. After a hilarious twenty minutes watching Michael Scott procrastinate his own work, I decide to get to work. First, I need to make the ideal work environment for myself. This means I first go downstairs and grab a bowl of grapes and a cup of yogurt with granola. Of course, I can’t come back upstairs until I have annoyed my younger sisters enough. Once they kick me out of the living room, I stumble back into my bed. Oh! I forgot to watch last night’s world cup highlights. I spend about an hour and a half doing that first. Now I finish up my snack and then start rereading the prompt. I think again about all my ideas and discard 90 percent of them, shaking my head at my own wild ideas. Then, I notice the time. It’s almost 11 pm and I need to wake up at 6 to commute from home! I calculate my hours of sleep in my head and then decide it’s time to do this. Then, when I finally start, I am on a roll. I am writing like that right now, and it feels amazing. My ideas are looking clearer and my brain is less full of ideas. Now I don’t check my phone, don’t open a new tab on my laptop, and don’t look at the clock. It’s just me and my ideas.
