I really hate that annoying feeling where you need to start writing an essay but can’t think about what to write. It’s like that every time I need to start on some sort of creative project or writing. I need to think of something to write but my mind just starts drawing blanks. I might eventually come up with an idea but it’s not that great of an idea. Or, maybe I start writing out the introduction of my essay and it just doesn’t feel “right.” That means I have to go right back to the drawing board filled with zero ideas. This cycle of having no ideas and having to rethink ideas goes on and on, continuing for a long, long time.

Finally finding a topic to write about is only the beginning of the struggle called knowing what to write about in an essay. Your first paragraph and your topic might be solidified but you still have to get through your second paragraph, your third paragraph, and so on. The moment I skip to the second paragraph, I’m always hit with writer’s block. No ideas coming out of my mind. No idea how to format the right words on the page. 

Each paragraph of the essay is almost like the long journey that the characters in the short film “Scavengers” or the long journey Chihiro from the movie Spirited Away had to go through. The end goal of seeing Earth once again or returning home with your parents is like finally finishing the paragraph. However, that difficult and slow trudge through each task to get to the end goal is like trying to put words and characters together. Just like at the beginning of the essay, there is a constant cycle of writing down words and then deleting them while trying to finish each paragraph. 

Every time I write an essay I always wish for that surge of inspiration where words just seem to come naturally. It’s that state of inspiration where the words start flowing out of your brain and onto the document. It’s the same state of inspiration that artists like Blair from the video “Lost & Found” have to make ingenious creations. The words practically write themselves. Without that state of inspiration, each sentence, and each paragraph takes an eternity to get through. 

Then finally, the concluding paragraph. It’s my favorite paragraph to write in an essay. It does take some time to brainstorm what a good conclusion to the essay is. However, once you finally get through that last paragraph, you can finally sigh a breath of relief since you finally finished your essay.