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Your Life As A Book

YOUR LIFE AS A BOOK

Imagine your entire life as a book.

On every page of this book, no matter what is going on in the story, no matter what the words are describing, behind the words there is the white paper.

The paper is so rarely noticed, and even more rarely appreciated, but it is absolutely essential. Without it, the words would not exist.

You are very much like the paper behind the words of life. You are not the story of your life – your failures, your successes, your regrets and hopes, your memories and expectations, your great achievements and terrible losses – you are life itself, the wide open, all-embracing expanse of consciousness in which the story of your life plays itself out.

The paper of a book is never affected by the story that is being told in that book. The paper is only there to hold the words, to embrace them, to allow them to be, without condition. Words appear and disappear on the paper, happy words and sad words, sacred words and profane words; great battles are fought, incredible adventures are had, the cycle of life and death and rebirth plays out, but the paper always remains, ever-present, always complete in itself.

A love story, a comedy, a horror story, a war epic, a long and frustrating search for success or enlightenment – the paper itself doesn’t mind.

Whatever the story, the paper never needs to know how it all ends. And on the final pages of the book, the paper does not fear the end of the words, nor does it long for an earlier time in the story. And if the main character dies, the paper does not mourn. Even death is allowed by the paper. The paper doesn’t know that the story is ‘over’. The paper is beyond the cycle of birth and death of its characters.

You don’t know how many pages are left in the autobiography of your life. (In fact, your book has not been written yet – it is writing itself as it goes along!) From the perspective of the words – that is, from the perspective of the human mind – your story is not yet complete. We spend much of our lives trying to work out how to end our story. How to solve things neatly, how to resolve our unresolved problems, how to ‘fix’ and complete ourselves, how to control an uncontrollable future.

But from the perspective of the paper, from the perspective of consciousness itself, there is no story to resolve. Things are okay just as they are, right now. In this moment, everything is accepted just as it is.

This is the most peaceful book in existence, and it is what you are.

Thinking Through Our Fingers

Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers. – isaac asimov, imagining yourself as a writer.

Almost every semester that I’ve taught writing, I’ve run into a case (or two or three) of student plagiarism. Sure, sometimes these cases result from sheer ignorance (I’m supposed to cite my sources?). Other times I’m not sure what the motive is: laziness, last-minute panic, limited English abilities.

English professor Kelly Ritter, in a fascinating article called “ Economics of Authorship ,” suggests that sometimes plagiarism has another root cause: students don’t see themselves as writers. Therefore, they see nothing wrong in “purchasing” someone else’s work–for them, it seems much like any other transaction, like hiring someone to roof your house, since you lack the skills to do so.

Now, I’m not suggesting that any of us are plagiarizers! But I do wonder how often we sell ourselves short, believing that we’re not real writers because we don’t have an agent, or a book deal, or we’ve never been paid for the writing we do, or any number of reasons.

Not only does this belief undermine our faith in ourselves, but it potentially cheapens the work that we do.

My first few years as a writing instructor, I required students to write a short essay called “Imagining Yourself as a Writer.” The purpose of the essay was to help students see that they were writers simply by virtue of the fact that they were writing .

I haven’t felt like much of a writer recently. (Having a newborn and limited time to write–much less the brain cells–will do that to you). So this post is as much for me as for anyone reading this.

Those of us who read and write this blog are also writers , because we write. We may not (yet) be paid for the writing we do, we may not yet have the skills that we hope eventually to have, but that does not make us any less writers.

So, for today, I’m going to imagine myself as the kind of writer I want to be. And then I’m going to fake it until I make it. (Incidentally, this kind of “ imposter syndrome ” is particularly common among high-achieving women . But that is a blog post for another day . . . )

What do you do when you don’t feel like a “real” writer? How do you develop confidence in yourself?

4 thoughts on “ Imagining Yourself as a Writer ”

Oh boy was this post ever for me. Too often I believe I'm not as good as I would like to think that I am, and therefore, I really don't have any business in this writer thing. Generally I need to go back and re-read a passage from before, realize that for that sentence or paragraph or page, it really isn't horrible and if I could do that once, I can probably do it twice.

But I guess, even more than that, I can't imagine not trying to write stories, so even if it isn't where I want it to be, I need to keep at it for my benefit if nothing else.

Love this: (Incidentally, this kind of “imposter syndrome” is particularly common among high-achieving women.) Great post 🙂

I didn't know that about Imposter Syndrome. I feel like that all the time as a teacher and academic, even though I know what I'm doing and get mostly good results. I think you should expand on that.

I never thought about plagiarism being a result of them not believing they are writers. I'll have to keep that in mind. I like to tell students about the lady at UTA who plagiarized her whole dissertation (and off of Wikipedia mostly!)- she ruined her whole career chances over that.

Pingback: Permission to Write—Granted | Thinking Through Our Fingers

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Seeing Yourself as a Writer

Posted on December 4, 2019

A lot of people have a hard time imagining themselves as full-time writers—and that is often the only thing that holds them back. You might be a lawyer, a dentist, a coal miner, or a waitress, and you define yourself as that. Yeah, you love writing, but you don’t think you’re free to write. You may be wearing golden handcuffs, stuck in a high-paying job that you really don’t enjoy. Or maybe you’re working rather desperately at a dead-end job that won’t take you where you want to go.

I’ve met several fine writers who have medical conditions—back problems, anxiety, or depression that seem to define them. I think that authors need to begin defining themselves. They need to begin “seeing themselves as writers,” much as a basketball player can prepare for a game by imagining himself making shots.

So the real question is, “What is the life of a writer like?” Is it worth working for?

Twenty years ago, I got a call from the Deseret News, the largest newspaper in our area. They had heard that I was a writer, that I had a hit novel out, and they asked if that was true. I said “Yes.” Then they asked, if I could have any job, any dream job, what would it be? I was dumbfounded. I said, “I already have it. I’m a writer.”

It turned out that the article was for “Career Day.” The interviewer asked a person what their dream job would be, then called someone with that job and asked what their dream job was. They’d interviewed a senator, an astronaut, an actor, and so on. I was the last one interviewed. Writing was my dream job.

1) Writing is fun.

I find that any job where I create things—from pizza to painting is fun, but I get a unique sense of fulfillment when I finish the final draft of a big novel.

2) I get to work when I want.

If I wake up at two in the morning and have an idea for a scene, I can go to work at two in the morning. I don’t have to wait for office hours. If I want to go have lunch at my favorite restaurant, I can work it into my schedule. If I’m sick with a cold, I can sit down in my recliner with a blanket wrapped over me and write anyway. And since I love to write, it feels more like a reward than real work.

3) I can write where I want.

I used to take writing retreats down in Cabo, where I would get up at dawn and go out and wrote while the sun rose over the ocean. Some people like to write in coffee shops, others in bookstores. I like to compose in airports and in restaurants. Where would you like to be? In a cabin in the Rocky Mountains? In a swanky hotel in Berlin, in the tropical highlands in Fiji? Or a castle in Scotland? I’ve written in all of those places and loved it.

4) I’m my own boss.

I don’t have to worry about office politics. If one of my employees wants my job, I encourage them to give it a try. As my own boss, I get to choose what project I’ll work on next.

5) Your work can be as meaningful and challenging as you want to make it.

Would you like your next novel to change the world for the better? Please, make it so.

6) There’s no dress code. I’ve worked white-collar jobs where you have to shave everyday and wear a tie. I don’t mind that, but right now I’m wearing some casual sweatpants and a t-shirt. No one is going to see me today, and nobody cares.

7) I get to keep all of the money I make. When I was young, I stopped at an acquaintance’s house. He was a tax lawyer, and he came home from work and told his wife, “I just figured out how to save the company $14 million today.” His wife said in a deadpan tone, “Great, how much of that do you get to keep?” The answer was not much. If I make my company $14 million then I get $14 million because I am my own company.

As a writer, your books can sell in dozens of countries—the US, the UK, Australia, and into translations in places like Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Japan and China. Your books can go into movies, television, videogames and other mediums.

It often surprises nonwriters how much money a writer can earn from various sources. You can have mediocre sales in the US but make a fortune in Poland, and your neighbors will become convinced that you must be a drug dealer.

Years ago, when I recommended Harry Potter to be the book to push big at Scholastic and outlined the advertising campaign for it, I really didn’t imagine that it would make Rowling a billionaire. Several other writers that I’ve trained have made millions, too. One has made hundreds of millions. Making money is not that hard if you understand the business.

It really shouldn’t be too hard to imagine yourself in a job you love, making good money. You just need to begin inching toward what you want to do. Take little steps: write each day, research your next novel, and study new techniques. Work hard, and in no time at all, you can find yourself doing what you love.

I heard a story yesterday about a freelance comic artist. He said that when he left his full-time job working at McDonald’s, his boss put a fatherly arm around his shoulder, glared into his eyes, and wished him luck. He said, “Remember, if things get rough out there, you’ll always have a home here with us.”

Two of my online workshops Writing Enchanting Prose and the Advanced Story Puzzle will be starting again on Dec 14th!

The Advanced Story Puzzle: How to Brainstorm and Outline a Bestseller

The Advanced Story Puzzle covers the steps involved in prewriting and outlining your novel.

Learn to identify what pieces you need, what pieces you’re missing, how to find the elements you lack, how to know if a piece to your story puzzle is worthy of being included, and how to know if you’re even working on the right “puzzle”.

There are six lessons on setting, character, conflict, plotting, theme, and treatment. You will also have weekly video conferences where we can discuss your story and answer any questions. Turn in your weekly assignments and I will grade them and give further advice.

Writing Enchanting Prose You’ve read stories that absolutely swept you away into another world, stories made you forget you were reading and ultimately left you changed. This workshop is designed to teach you how to enchant your readers.

Similar to the Advanced Story Puzzle, there are eight lessons with weekly conference calls and assignments.

These workshops are each $399, but you can get audited versions of both with the Superwriters’ Bundle. However, this would be without the weekly conference calls and advice on the assignments.

You can find more information on both workshops here: http://mystorydoctor.com/online-workshops/

How to Write a Novel: A 16-Step Guide

A Checklist for Writing Your Story

How to Get a Book Published

How to Build a Better Outline For Your Novel

How to Write a Short Story

How to Write a Book

How to Write Your First Five Pages

david farland million dollar outline with another person

How to Make a Million Dollars with Your Writing

Understanding the Heart of Negative Character Arcs

How books are chosen for publication , super writers’ tuesday: creating a hero.

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⭐How To Write Best Selling Fiction ($4.99)

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The New York Times

The learning network | what’s your reading history reflecting on the self as reader.

What’s Your Reading History? Reflecting on the Self as Reader

Language Arts

Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.

See all in ELA »
See all lesson plans »

Overview | What does it mean to be literate? How do our reading experiences shape who we are? In this lesson, students reflect on a formative reading experience and use it as a springboard for tracing their reading lives by creating timelines to reflect past and present experiences. They culminate the personal reading history project through reading, writing and/or discussion.

Materials | Student journals, handouts

Warm-up | Tell students you are going to lead them through a guided meditation meant to help them recreate an important reading experience in their memory.

Begin by asking them to close their eyes and put their heads down on their desks. Turn the lights down or off. Read this script, giving them a few moments to reflect after each prompt:

Today, we’re going to take a trip back through your life as a reader. In your mind, put aside the reading you’re doing for school and go to a place where you have positive feelings about reading. … Maybe you are being read to or maybe you are reading yourself. … Try to settle on a single memory … and dwell in it. What book is being read? What does it look like? Feel like? Are the pages thick or thin? Are there pictures? What colors and images stand out? What does it smell like? Where did this book come from? How did you happen upon it? Did someone give it to you? Did you borrow it from the library? If you chose it, what attracted you to it? Now, look around. Where are you? Indoors? Outdoors? Cuddled up on a couch or lying in the grass? Are you comfortable? Are you warm or cold? How old are you? Are you alone or with someone else? How do you feel? Now listen. Who is reading? A parent? Grandparent? Sibling? Try to remember the voice. Is it quiet or loud? Soft? Animated? Or, are you reading to or by yourself? What sounds surround you? Are you aware of any as you read? Do you imagine any as you read? What characters do you meet as you become immersed in the world of the book? Are they like you or different? Where does the book take you? Is it a real place or an imaginary one? What do you remember about the world of the book? How do you feel reading this book? How do you feel when it ends? Slowly bring yourself back to the present day. What sticks with you still about this reading experience?

Next, turn on the lights and ask students to open their eyes. Then, ask them to open their journals and freewrite about the memory they just experienced, incorporating as much detail as they can recall. If you’d prefer, you can do this exercise with the lights on, having them freewrite as you guide them through the script. In either case, the point is to write to think — assure students their work here will not be collected or graded.

Invite students to share their experiences. Ask: What kind of reading experiences remain etched in your minds? Why are reading experiences powerful influences? What does it means to be “well read”? What reading experiences are considered seminal for educated people? Why? What does it mean to be literate? What is cultural literacy? Information literacy? What other kinds of literacies are there?

Related | In her essay “I Was a Teenage Illiterate,” the novelist Cathleen Schine discusses how she found herself “illiterate” at 26 and explores the reading experiences that shaped her:

At the age of 26, when I returned to New York after an inglorious stab at graduate work in medieval history on the frozen steppes of Chicago, I had a horrifying realization: I was illiterate. At least, I was as close to illiterate as a person with over 20 years of education could possibly be. In my stunted career as a scholar, I’d read promissory notes, papal bulls and guidelines for Inquisitorial interrogation. Dante, too. Boccaccio. . . . But after 1400? Nihil. I felt very, very stupid among my new sophisticated New York friends. I seemed very, very stupid, too. Actually, let’s face it, I was stupid, and it was deeply mortifying, as so many things were in those days. But I have since come to realize that my abject ignorance was really a gift: to be a literarily inclined illiterate at age 26 is one of the most glorious fates that can befall mortal girl.

Read the essay with your class, using the questions below.

Questions | For discussion and reading comprehension:

What exactly does the writer mean when she says she is “illiterate”?
Who was Dostoyevsky ? Why does Ms. Schine blame him for her state of affairs?
On the other hand, why is she grateful to him?
What other books have been influential in Ms. Schine’s history as a reader?
What do you suppose Italo Calvino meant when he said that a work read at a young age and forgotten “leaves its seed in us”? What are some books that have left their seeds in you?

Related Resources

From the learning network.

Books, Readers, and Teachers: A Wrap-Up
Lesson: No More Moldy Oldies: Appreciating Classic Texts
Lesson: Out Loud: Assessing the Experience of Reading and Being Read to Aloud

From NYTimes.com

Times Topics: Books and Literature
ArtsBeat Blog: Where Does a Love of Reading Come From?
Essay: Volumes To Go Before You Die

Around the Web

Voices of Readers
National Public Radio: You Must Read This
Video: What Does It Mean to Be Literate in the 21st Century?

Activity | Explain to students that they will create timelines chronicling their reading history. Lead them through the process of brainstorming and drafting using the handout My History as a Reader (PDF), and then using their drafts to create polished pieces that reflect who they are as readers.

In their final timelines, they should include all types of experiences with reading that have shaped who they are as readers today and illustrate the timeline using meaningful images, such as book cover art for favorite books, photos of characters or readers who have inspired them, elements of locations that they have visited or would like to visit, etc.

When students have finished their timelines, post them around the room and encourage wandering. Ask students to look for and note commonalities in their classmates’ work. You might even hang blank sheets of paper underneath each one so that students can post comments.

Reconvene as a class for discussion. Ask: What reading experiences have been most influential in your life? How were you encouraged and discouraged to become a reader? What did you learn about yourself by creating your timeline? What did you learn about classmates by looking at their timelines? What did your classmates’ timelines make you think about? Do you consider yourself “literate”? Why or why not? By what definition? Is it important to you to be “literate”? Why or why not?

Going further | Here are several ideas for taking this activity further:

Students use the freewriting they did during the warm-up and their timelines as the basis for crafting short autobiographies of themselves as readers. They might use “I Was a Teenage Illiterate” as a model for their autobiographical essay, starting, as Ms. Schine did, with an assessment of themselves as readers today, then delving into their pasts as readers (using their timelines), discussing formative reading experiences, and finishing with a look forward to their possible futures as readers. Alternatively, they read Chapter 1 of Italo Calvino’s “If On a Winter’s Night A Traveler” and use it as a model for writing about their own reading histories, focused on one book that had a powerful impact on them.
Students bring in an influential children’s book or excerpt from a novel to share aloud with classmates for a read-around, along with the relevant section of their autobiography.
Lead a field trip to, or encourage students to visit, your school or local library or bookstore so that students can browse books that interest them. Then, have students create lists imagining their futures as readers. What books do they dream of reading? Why? Encourage them to think about what kinds of literacy they value and build their own personal reading list to reflect those values.
Circulate a variety of book lists, such as the College Board’s 101 Great Books , the American Library Association Booklists , Listology’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die or one of the “Great Books” lists . As students browse the lists, discuss what kinds of works are included and what or whose values these lists reflect.
Start an independent reading project in which students undertake one or more of the books they have dreamed of reading.

Standards | From McREL , for grades 6-12:

Language Arts 1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process 5. Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process 6. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of literary texts 7. Uses the general skills and strategies to understand a variety of informational texts 8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes

Life Skills: Working With Others 1. Contributes to the overall effort of a group 4. Displays effective interpersonal communication skills

Arts and Communication 3. Uses critical and creative thinking in various arts and communication settings 4. Understands ways in which the human experience is transmitted and reflected in the arts and communication 5. Knows a range of arts and communication works from various historical and cultural periods

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Table of Contents

1. Don't Confuse Motivation with Passion

2. Outline First

3. create small, attainable goals, 4. make it a daily practice.

5. Don't Be Perfect—Vomit on the Page

6. Focus on the Reader

7. practice self-care, 8. announce the book, 9. recognize and face your fear, 9 ways to boost your writing motivation (that actually work).

feature image computer screen with full battery

No one wakes up every single day with the motivation to write —not even Authors with major bestsellers under their belt (like me).

There will be days when you simply don’t feel like staring at a blank page.

As someone who’s been there, here’s my writing advice : push through and do it anyway.

Even on the days when you don’t feel like it. Otherwise, it’s easy to fall into a pattern of procrastination.

One day of “not feeling like writing” can easily turn into 2, then 10…until eventually, you give up entirely.

I’ve seen so many Authors give up the first, second, or even third time they tried to write a book—mostly because they lost their motivation and gave in to procrastination or fear.

If you want to publish a book , you have to dig deep and find the motivation to write every single day. Even if it’s terrible. Even if you hate it.

The only way to become a better writer—and to finish your book—is to push through those hard moments.

Here are 9 proven ways to motivate yourself to write—even when you don’t want to.

9 Proven Ways to Motivate Yourself to Write

1. don’t confuse motivation with passion.

Forget everything you’ve ever learned about writing “out of passion.” If you wait to feel passionate about what you’re writing, you’ll never finish writing your book.

You can’t rely on passion. It comes and goes too easily. You’re not going to feel passionate every single day.

The same goes for writing inspiration. There’s rarely a bolt of lightning that makes the words flow.

Writing is hard. That’s why a lot of aspiring Authors give up before they’ve finished their first draft.

Motivation doesn’t always mean loving what you’re doing. Sometimes it means digging your heels in and just doing it.

For example, I don’t always love going to the gym, but I do it anyway. And in the end, I’m glad I did (after I’m done).

Don’t confuse passion for motivation.

It’s okay to write when you don’t “feel motivated” if what you really mean is, “I’m not stoked about doing this right now.”

You don’t have to be stoked about it. You just have to start writing.

If you feel passionate, that’s great. But don’t expect more of yourself than necessary.

If you’re writing, you’re motivated. Period. You’re doing it.

At its core, writing is just communicating ideas. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.

Of course, you want the ideas you capture to be relevant to your book. That’s why you should always outline first—so you can capture all your ideas about a specific section before you move on to the next one.

Then, when you do sit down to write, you’ll already have all the relevant ideas gathered. That makes things a lot easier.

An outline is also your greatest defense against fear and writers’ block . It’s a lot harder to get stuck when you’ve got a roadmap guiding the way.

Scribe’s suggested outline is different from the one you might have learned in school. It’s not a bullet point list of every step of the argument.

We’ve found that traditional outlines aren’t flexible enough for most Authors. Plus, sometimes, you can’t get to that level of detail until you’re actually in the middle of writing.

What makes our outline different is that it’s designed specifically to help you write your book.

In fact, our writing process has helped thousands of Authors write successful nonfiction books. It works.

All it takes is 3 simple steps:

Brainstorm your chapters
Make a table of contents
Fill in the outline structure with your chapter’s hook, thesis, supporting content, stories and examples, key takeaways, and a callback to the hook.

If you want a template or more details, you can find them here .

Once you see your book in outline form, writing it will seem easier.

Conceptually, you’re not writing a whole book anymore. You’re looking at a clear collection of ideas and stories, most of which are already in your head.

You’ll be more motivated to write once you’ve broken your book into manageable pieces. It’s easier to climb a mountain when you take it one step at a time.

The reason an outline is so powerful is that it helps you see your book in terms of smaller, more attainable goals. You should do the same with all of your writing goals.

Many people start out thinking, “I have to write as much as possible.” Or, they set a high word count goal, like 1,000 words per day. And when they don’t reach those goals, they get disappointed. They feel like a failure.

That’s the worst way to motivate yourself to write.

With large goals, it’s easy to get intimidated (that’s usually when writer’s block sets in). But attainable goals make it easier to get over that hump.

Remember, motivation has nothing to do with passion. If you’re writing at all , you’re already motivated.

You don’t have to go overboard and shoot for the moon just to show you’re passionate about your book. When people do that, it’s usually because they’re trying to prove something to themselves.

You won’t prove anything by setting unattainable goals.

Rewire your brain and think small. Set goals that will set you up for success.

I recommend writing 250 words per day. That word count is low enough to be easily achievable. It leaves you with no excuses.

You could write 250 words on your phone between meetings. You could even dictate 250 words to your phone while you’re in the shower.

If you do end up writing more than 250 words, that’s great. Keep going as long as you want.

But if it’s one of those days where writing feels like a slog, you can still meet that word count and avoid being disappointed with yourself.

It’s more important to be consistent with writing than to have epic writing sessions.

When I was writing full-time, I blocked off 4 hours a day to write—but I rarely used that whole time to actually write. I read or did other things related to writing.

It’s hard to write for hours on end. And like most things in life, you’ll get diminishing returns.

Aim for 250 words every day, and stick with it. And remember, if you’re doing it, you’re motivated.

Notice that I said you need to write 250 words every single day . That’s because you’ll be much more motivated to write when it becomes a daily practice.

In addition to the 250 words per day, I recommend that you come up with a writing routine to help keep you on track.

Pick a designated writing time and stick to it every day. Are you better at writing in the morning, or do you like to write right before bed? Maybe it’s easier to squeeze 250 words in over your lunch break.

There’s no right or wrong answer. Just pick a time whenever you do your best writing and stick with it.

The same goes for your writing place. Maybe you write well in a quiet office. Or, maybe it’s easier for you to focus in a coffee shop.

We worked with one Author who wrote in his Tesla while it was charging in his garage. He put the same playlist on every day, turned up the volume, and spent the next 45 minutes writing.

The reason you need a writing routine is the same reason you teach your kids to brush their teeth every morning.

They may grumble or whine, but once they get into the habit, they do it anyway—no matter how much they don’t want to.

It works the same way when you’re writing a book. Writing habits keep you motivated to write and do it again the next day.

A writing routine gives you the fuel to keep going, even when you think your tank is running low. When writing becomes an automatic part of your day, it’s a lot harder to procrastinate.

5. Don’t Be Perfect—Vomit on the Page

Don’t intimidate yourself by trying to be a perfect writer.

First of all, there’s no such thing.

Second, if you do that, you’ll never finish your book because you’ll never live up to your own expectations.

I’m dead serious. I’ve seen countless Authors get stuck writing the first draft of their book. They’ll get off to a good start—but then they’ll re-read what they’ve written, delete it, and start over.

They do that 50 times and eventually give up (spoiler: they never finish their book).

Don’t fall into the same trap of unrealistic expectations . Just aim to get words on a page.

In fact, don’t even think of your writing as “writing a book.” You’re not writing a book. You’re just collecting your thoughts.

That’s why I call my first drafts “ vomit drafts .” I spew words and thoughts onto a page. I don’t stop to edit, re-read, or think about how the writing flows.

Like vomit, it’s not pretty. But after you’ve written all your ideas out, you’ll feel so much better.

Plus, it’s a lot easier to motivate yourself to write when you free yourself from the need to be perfect.

When you write a vomit draft, you don’t give yourself time to stare at a blank page. There’s no room for intimidation.

You just start writing and let whatever’s inside your brain come out. It’s not going to be perfect. In fact, it will probably be terrible.

But that’s okay. Most first drafts are terrible. Even books that go on to become bestsellers started as terrible first drafts.

Embrace it. Realize that bad writing is a natural part of the writing process.

A first draft is exactly what the name implies—a first step.

Your book will go through multiple drafts before anyone even sees it.

Of course, you’ll eventually have to wade through the vomit. You’ll have to trim, add, and edit . And you’ll probably have to move things around and rethink the structure of your chapters . That’s normal.

For now, stop worrying about how good or bad your writing is and start capturing your ideas. You can make them sound great later.

Don’t edit as you go. Just write. Vomit on the page.

It’s a lot easier to fix writing when you actually have writing to fix.

Many people find it easier to motivate themselves during the “vomit” phase. Once you get into the groove of spewing 250 words per day, it can be refreshing.

The part that’s harder is when you have to go back through all that writing to turn it into a coherent, well-written book.

Here’s my advice when you reach that phase: hold on to your motivation by keeping your focus on the reader.

You’re writing a nonfiction book for a reason. What made you want to do this in the first place?

At some level, it’s because you want to help your readers solve their problems.

If you’re writing a memoir , it’s because you want to share your story with people who can benefit from hearing it.

If you’re writing a knowledge-share nonfiction book , you’re trying to prove to your readers that you’re the person that can meet their needs.

Whatever kind of book you’re writing, your reader is at the heart of your motivation.

If you feel stuck or don’t feel like writing, remember that. Think about the people you’re going to help and how their lives will change because of your book.

When readers pick up a nonfiction book, they aren’t looking for perfection or a sublime writing style . They’re looking to learn information that’s going to make their lives better.

Here are 4 essential writing principles to help you deliver information in a way readers will appreciate:

Keep your writing short. Readers tune out when you wander.
Keep your writing simple. Readers want content they can easily understand, even if the ideas are complex.
Keep your writing direct. Get to the point, and make each sentence a single, direct statement.
Keep it about the reader. Ask yourself this question about everything you write: “Why does the reader care?”

Imagine having a conversation with a client or a close friend. What would you tell them, and how would you deliver the information?

Don’t make writing harder than it has to be. To stay motivated, imagine speaking directly to your reader and making an impact on their lives.

If you’re still unmotivated after all that, you might want to reconsider your intentions. If it’s that hard to motivate yourself, maybe writing a book isn’t something you really want to do.

This may seem odd to include in an article on motivational writing tips, but if you want to motivate yourself, you have to take care of yourself.

If you’re super stressed out or exhausted, you’re not going to function well. And you’re definitely not going to feel motivated to write.

I won’t lie. Writing can be a slog. And completing a book will take an emotional, mental, and sometimes physical toll on you. If you don’t take care of yourself, it’s easy to lose steam.

There are many ways you can take care of yourself. For example, you can:

Get plenty of sleep
Take nature walks
Talk to a therapist
Visit an energy healer or masseuse
Try acupuncture
Go for regular float sessions
Sit in a sauna
Take a bath with Epsom salts

Basically, take time to do things that will make your body and mind feel better. You want to develop good writing habits, not become a writing machine.

To do that, you need to check in with yourself from time to time to make sure you’re at the top of your game.

Being refreshed will make you a better writer. Self-care will revitalize you so you can come back the next day, ready to meet your writing goals.

While some people thrive on routines and self-care, others are more motivated by external accountability.

If you’re one of those people, I recommend announcing that you’re working on a book.

Tell people on social media. Write a guest post for your favorite blogger. Email your friends and family.

Whatever method works best for you, use it to announce your intention to the world.

And if you’re serious about writing, I recommend announcing your book on the platform that makes you the least comfortable.

Yes, that may seem like a lot of pressure. But it’s important to identify any points of resistance you have and push through them.

You’ll get a lot of positive feedback, which will help you become more motivated. And when your motivation wavers, you’ll be reminded that there are people eagerly awaiting your book.

I believe that every person has a book in them. But one of the major things that holds people back from writing those books is fear .

They’re afraid that their book won’t be good enough, original enough, or meaningful enough. They’re afraid of looking stupid or making people angry.

Those kinds of fears are normal, but you shouldn’t let them get in the way.

You have a story that’s worth telling. The only way to truly motivate yourself to tell it is to conquer your fear.

If you allow those fears to stick around, they only lead to procrastination , frustration, and surrender.

If you want to overcome your fear, I recommend facing them head-on. Write down all your fears about the writing process, self-publishing, or fears about how people will react once they read the book.

Evaluate each fear and recognize what those fears mean. Fear has a point and a purpose. It’s an indicator of risk.

Every Author who writes a book worth reading is taking a risk. If you’re scared, congratulations. It means you have something worth saying.

Fear isn’t the problem. The problem is when you let fears take over.

Keep in mind what your book is going to do for you and what it’s going to do for your readers.

Then, make a plan for facing your fears. For example, if you’re afraid you’ll never finish writing your book, use that fear as motivation. Create a writing routine and resolve to stick with it through the whole writing process.

The Scribe Crew

Writing a Novel Inspired by Your Life? The Do’s and Don’ts of Writing Autobiographical Fiction

in Writing on 12/09/17

Are you writing autobiographical fiction?

Recently I heard back from a literary agent who had requested my full manuscript: an upper middle grade contemporary that I wrote after reading some of my adolescent diaries. Here’s part of what the agent said:

I was seriously getting flashbacks to my first relationships–dating in eighth/ninth grade was SO AWKWARD! You absolutely nail that in this story. I like the set-up a lot in terms of the characters, dynamics, and the unfolding dilemma. However, I’m afraid it began to feel a little too mired in the reality of eighth grade (the back-and-forth wondering, highs and lows of the day) and thus a little slow pacing-wise.

When I read the email to my husband, he said, “so she didn’t like it because it was too realistic ?”

Yes, this is one of the problems with writing autobiographical fiction. Sometimes it’s hard to decide what “real stuff” you should leave out.

My manuscript isn’t exactly autobiographical, but it was certainly influenced by my actual adolescent thoughts, feelings, and experiences. There’s even one line in the novel that I lifted verbatim from my ninth grade diary because it was too perfect not to use (or so I thought).

What’s the difference between writing autobiographical fiction and writing a novel “inspired by” your life?

So how would I classify my manuscript? Probably on the end of “inspired by.” The main character is an eighth grade girl who loves math and writes poetry… pretty similar to myself as a teenager. The relationship she has with one of the boy characters was also heavily inspired by one of my first dating experiences. But the actual events of the novel are made-up.

Still, it’s been scary to send this manuscript into the world. When an agent rejects the book it’s hard not to feel like it’s my experiences and feelings that are being rejected.

Are you writing a novel inspired by your life? The Do's and Don'ts of Writing Autobiographical Fiction!

Writing autobiographical fiction: Do’s and Don’ts

When I first started writing the novel that was loosely based on my own diaries, I was embarrassed to tell people where the idea had come from. I was afraid they’d think I was vain or not being creative. But the truth is, you can write about anything — your life or otherwise — as long as you do it well.

Using our own experiences can be a great jumping-off point for a novel… as long as we concentrate on telling a great story instead of sticking too closely to what actually happened.

So if you’re writing autobiographical fiction, or a novel inspired by your life, how do you do it well? Here are a few suggestions…

DO consider whether the story you want to write is going to be interesting to people other than you , your friends, and your immediate family. If the answer is no, you could still write the book (maybe you just need to get it out of your system!), but you may not want to query agents with it. Give it to your family and friends instead.

DON’T worry about sticking to what actually happened. If you’re choosing to write fiction , you can (and should!) make changes to real characters and events. Take the real life event as a starting point then run with it into the fictional realm. Brainstorm how you can add, embellish, and change to make a truly compelling novel. Your life should be the inspiration, not the blueprint. You can decide later whether what you’ve written is autobiographical fiction, semi-autobiographical, or simply “inspired by” real events.

DO consider writing in third person. That can help give you enough distance to fictionalize real events.

DON’T write your novel as a series of diary entries unless you really, really, REALLY think it works best that way. Often we come across old journals and think, “this would make a great story!” But that doesn’t mean we need to stick to the diary entry format. In fact, I’ve written another post called 5 Challenges to Writing a Diary Novel that explains why the diary entry format is extremely difficult to do well.

DO consider if you’d rather write a memoir. If you find yourself not wanting to fictionalize your story, maybe you should be writing nonfiction instead.

DO write what you feel compelled to write. For a long time I resisted writing fiction inspired by my own experiences (even though I wanted to) because I thought that wouldn’t be “creative” enough. On the other hand, some people take too much to heart the “write what you know” adage and think they can only write about their own experiences. In the end, you should write what you want to write. Because writing what you’re passionate about is going to make the best story.

DO watch your word count. When we’re writing autobiographical fiction, it’s easy to include things that seem important to you but are not actually important to the story. An autobiographical novel with an excessive word count is a major red flag to agents and editors — makes it seem like you don’t know how to edit yourself. Check out Writer’s Digest’s guide to word count here .

DON’T get defensive and DO be open to constructive criticism. It can be hard to hear criticism about your writing no matter what, but it’s even harder when the story is inspired by your life and the main character bears a strong resemblance to you. When someone says, “this part didn’t seem realistic” or “I didn’t understand the character’s motivation” it can be hard not to get defensive. Keep in mind that “but it really did happen” isn’t enough justification for including something in your novel when it isn’t working in the context of the story. Try to hear the criticism as a way to improve your story and not as a judgement on your actual experiences.

DO consider how people will react to your story. Libel in fiction is very rare. Writers don’t often get sued, and when they do, they usually win. (First Amendment rights!) So I wouldn’t worry so much about the legal issues (although you can read here about libel in fiction and defamation and invasion of privacy ). Even though you’re probably not going to get sued, the things you write could still upset people and damage important relationships. If you’re writing a story with characters that are loosely based on people you know, it may be worth thinking about how they will feel about what you’re writing, and if you’re okay with their reaction. You may want to fictionalize their characters more, or talk to them about what you’ve written before it’s published.

As for my own manuscript, I’m going to really think hard about what’s necessary to the story and what’s not, in order to speed up the pacing and heighten the drama. In doing this, I’m going to get further from my own experiences and deeper into the realm of fiction, which is where this story belongs.

Are you writing autobiographical fiction or a novel inspired by your life? How’s it going? What challenges are you facing?

What Does Immersing Yourself in a Book Do To Your Brain?

On neurochemistry, lucia berlin, and the dangers of empathy loss.

Only connect.

–E.M. Forster

The act of taking on the perspective and feelings of others is one of the most profound, insufficiently heralded contributions of the deep-reading processes. Proust’s description of “that fertile miracle of communication effected in solitude” depicts an intimate emotional dimension within the reading experience: the capacity to communicate and to feel with another without moving an inch out of our private worlds. This capacity imparted by reading—to leave and yet not leave one’s sphere—is what gave the reclusive Emily Dickinson what she called her personal “frigate” to other lives and lands outside her perch above Main Street in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The narrative theologian John S. Dunne described this process of encounter and perspective taking in reading as the act of “passing over,” in which we enter into the feelings, imaginings, and thoughts of others through a particular kind of empathy: “Passing over is never total but is always partial and incomplete. And there is an equal and opposite process of coming back to oneself.” It is a beautifully apt description for how we move from our inherently circumscribed views of the world to enter another’s and return enlarged. In Love’s Mind , his numinous book on contemplation, Dunne expanded Proust’s insight: “That ‘fruitful miracle of a communication effected in solitude’ may be already a kind of learning to love .” Dunne saw the paradox that Proust described within reading—in which communication occurs despite the solitary nature of the reading act—as an unexpected preparation for our efforts to come to know other human beings, understand what they feel, and begin to change our sense of who or what is “other.” For theologians such as John Dunne and writers such as Gish Jen, whose lifework illumines this principle in fiction and nonfiction alike, the act of reading is a special place in which human beings are freed from themselves to pass over to others and, in so doing, learn what it means to be another person with aspirations, doubts, and emotions that they might otherwise never have known.

A powerful example of the transforming effects of “passing over” was told to me by a Berkeley-trained drama teacher who works with adolescents in the heart of the Midwest. A student came to him, a beautiful 13-year-old girl, who said she wanted to be part of his theater group performing William Shakespeare’s plays. It would have been an ordinary request, save for the reality that the young girl had advanced cystic fibrosis and had been told she had only a brief time to live. That amazing teacher gave the young girl a role he hoped would give her the feelings of romantic love and passion that she might never experience in life. She became, he said, the perfect Juliet. Almost overnight, she memorized the lines of Romeo and Juliet as if she had played the role a hundred times before.

It was what happened next that stunned everyone around her. She went on to become one Shakespearean heroine after another, each role performed with more emotional depth and strength than the one before. Years have now passed since she played Juliet. Against all expectations and medical prognoses, she has entered college, where she is pursuing a dual degree in medicine and theater, in which she will continue to “pass over” into one role after another.

That young woman’s exceptional example is not so much about whether the mind and heart can overcome the limitations of the body; rather, it is about the powerful nature of what entering the lives of others can mean for our own lives. Drama makes more visible what each of us does when we pass over in our deepest, most immersive forms of reading. We welcome the Other as a guest within ourselves, and sometimes we become Other. For a moment in time we leave ourselves; and when we return, sometimes expanded and strengthened, we are changed both intellectually and emotionally. And sometimes, as this remarkable young woman’s example shows us, we experience what life has not allowed us. It is an incalculable gift.

And there is a gift within a gift. Perspective-taking not only connects our sense of empathy with what we have just read but also expands our internalized knowledge of the world. These are the learned capacities that help us become more human over time, whether as a child when reading Frog and Toad and learning what Toad does when Frog is sick or as an adult when reading Toni Morrison’s Beloved , Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad , or James Baldwin’s I Am Not Your Negro, and experiencing the soul-stealing depravity of slavery and the desperation of those condemned to it or to its legacy.

Through this consciousness-changing dimension of the act of reading, we learn to feel what it means to be despairing and hopeless or ecstatic and consumed with unspoken feelings. I no longer remember how many times I have read what each of Jane Austen’s heroines felt—Emma, Fanny Price, Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice or in her newest incarnation in Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice . What I know is that each of those characters experienced emotions that helped me understand the range of the often contradictory feelings each of us possesses; doing so leaves us feeling less alone with our particular complex mix of emotions, whatever our life’s circumstances. As expressed in the play Shadowlands , about the life of C. S. Lewis, “We read to know that we are not alone.”

Indeed if we are very lucky, we may come to experience a special form of love for those who inhabit our books and even, at times, for the authors who write them. One of the most concrete renderings of this latter concept can be found in the most unlikely of historical persons, Niccolò Machiavelli. In order that he might better enter the consciousness and “converse” with the authors he was reading, he would dress formally in the style of dress appropriate to the authors in their various epochs. In a letter to the diplomat Francesco Vettori in 1513, he wrote:

I am not ashamed to speak with them, and to ask them the reasons for their actions; and they in their kindness answer me; four hours may pass and I do not feel boredom, I forget every trouble, I do not dread poverty, I am not frightened by death; I give myself entirely to them.

In this passage Machiavelli exemplifies not only the perspective-taking dimension of deep reading, but also the capacity to be transported from whatever our present realities are to an internal place where we can experience a sharing of the inevitable burdens that typify most human existence whatever our age: fear, anxiety, loneliness, sickness, love’s uncertainties, loss and rejection, sometimes death itself. I do not doubt that some of this was what the young Susan Sontag felt when she would look at her bookcase and feel she was “looking at my fifty friends. A book was like stepping through a mirror. I could go somewhere else.” And surely it is what these authors give witness to in the communicative dimension of reading and what it means at every age to leave oneself to enter the welcome solace of the company of others, whether fictional characters, historical figures, or the authors themselves.

That this freely given immersion in the reading life could be threatened in our culture has begun to emerge as a concern for growing numbers in our society, including an NPR team that spent a whole interview with me on their personal concern about this loss. There are many things that would be lost if we slowly lose the cognitive patience to immerse ourselves in the worlds created by books and the lives and feelings of the “friends” who inhabit them. And although it is a wonderful thing that movies and film can do some of this, too, there is a difference in the quality of immersion that is made possible by entering the articulated thoughts of others. What will happen to young readers who never meet and begin to understand the thoughts and feelings of someone totally different? What will happen to older readers who begin to lose touch with that feeling of empathy for people outside their ken or kin? It is a formula for unwitting ignorance, fear and misunderstanding, that can lead to the belligerent forms of intolerance that are the opposite of America’s original goals for its citizens of many cultures.

Such thoughts and their correlative hope are frequent themes in the work of the novelist Marilynne Robinson, whom former president Barack Obama described as a “specialist in empathy.” In one of the most remarkable of exchanges requested by him during his presidency, Obama visited Robinson on a trip to Iowa. During their wide-ranging discussion, Robinson lamented what she saw as a political drift among many people in the United States toward seeing those different from themselves as the “sinister other.” She characterized this as “dangerous a development as there could be in terms of whether we continue to be a democracy.” Whether writing about humanism’s decline or fear’s capacity to diminish the very values its proponents purport to defend, she conceptualizes the power of books to help us understand the perspective of others as an antidote to the fears and prejudices many people harbor, often unknowingly. Within this context, Obama told Robinson that the most important things he had learned about being a citizen had come from novels: “It has to do with empathy. It has to do with being comfortable with the notion that the world is complicated and full of grays but there’s still truth there to be found, and that you have to strive for that and work for that. And the notion that it’s possible to connect with someone else even though they’re very different from you.”

The desperately real lessons about empathy that Obama and Robinson discussed may begin with the experiencing of other lives, but they are deepened by the work that follows perspective-taking—when something we read forces us to examine our own prior judgments and the lives of others. Lucia Berlin’s story “A Manual for Cleaning Women” is a case in point for me. When I began the story, I saw the protagonist cleaning woman as being oblivious to the everyday tragedies that skirted just below the surface in the places where she worked. Until, that is, I read the last sentence, which ended the story with her utterance “I finally weep.” Everything I had first assumed about the cleaning woman narrator in this story collapsed with the final line. My false and circumscribing inferences flew out one of those windows that open when we see the prejudices we bring to whatever we read. No doubt that was the humbling realization that Berlin intended her readers to discover about themselves.

James Carroll’s book Christ Actually: The Son of God for the Secular Age describes a similar confrontation with perspective taking in the realm of nonfiction. There he related his experiences as a young, very devout Catholic boy reading Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl . He described the life-changing epiphany he had felt upon entering the life of that young Jewish woman with all her undiminished young girl’s hopes and enthusiasm for life, all of which she sustained despite the violent hatred of Jews that ultimately destroyed her and her family.

Entering the perspective of this completely foreign girl provided an unexpected rite of passage for the young James Carroll. From his memorable descriptions of his conflicts with his military general father during the Vietnam crisis in An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us to his descriptions of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity in Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews: A History , each of his books revolves around the need to understand, at the deepest level, the perspective of the other , whether in Vietnam or in a German concentration camp.

In Christ Actually , he used the life and thought of the early-20th-century German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer to underscore the life-and-death consequences of human failure to take on the perspective of other. Bonhoeffer preached and wrote unflinchingly, first from a pulpit and then from a prison cell, about the tragic inability of most people at the time both to understand the perspective of the historical Jesus as a Jew and to see the persecution of Jews in Germany from their perspective. At the heart of his last work, he asked: How would the historical Christ actually respond to Nazi Germany? Only he who shouts for the Jews, he asserted, can “sing their Gregorian chants.” That conclusion led him to act against his own religious beliefs about murder by contributing to two unsuccessful attempts on Hitler’s life and ultimately to being killed in a concentration camp on direct orders from the Führer’s representative.

I write this letter during a time when millions of refugees—most of whom are Muslim—are fleeing horrific conditions and trying to enter Europe, the United States, or anywhere else they can to regain their previous lives. I write this letter on the day a young Jewish boy from my own city of Boston has been killed in Israel during his gap year before college because he was perceived by a young Palestinian boy as the “enemy other.” Developing the deepest forms of reading cannot prevent all such tragedies, but understanding the perspective of other human beings can give ever fresh, varied reasons to find alternative, compassionate ways to deal with the others in our world, whether they are innocent Muslim children crossing treacherous open seas or an innocent Jewish boy from Boston’s Maimonides School, all killed miles and miles away from their homes.

The unsettling reality, however, is that unbeknownst to many of us, including until recently myself, there has begun an unanticipated decline of empathy among our young people. The MIT scholar Sherry Turkle described a study by Sara Konrath and her research group at Stanford University that showed a 40 percent decline in empathy in our young people over the last two decades, with the most precipitous decline in the last ten years. Turkle attributes the loss of empathy largely to their inability to navigate the online world without losing track of their real-time, face-to-face relationships. In her view our technologies place us at a remove, which changes not only who we are as individuals but also who we are with one another.

Reading at the deepest levels may provide one part of the antidote to the noted trend away from empathy. But make no mistake: empathy is not solely about being compassionate toward others; its importance goes further. For it is also about a more in-depth understanding of the Other, an essential skill in a world of increasing connectedness among divergent cultures. Research in the cognitive neurosciences indicates that what I call perspective taking here represents a complex mix of cognitive, social, and emotional processes that leaves ample tracks in our reading-brain circuitry. Brain-imaging research by the German neuroscientist Tania Singer expands former conceptualizations of empathy to show that it involves a whole feeling-thinking network that connects vision, language, and cognition with extensive subcortical networks. Singer emphasizes that this larger network comprises, among other areas, the highly connected neuronal networks for theory of mind, including the insula and the cingulate cortex, which function to connect large expanses of the human brain. Often undeveloped in many individuals on the autism spectrum and lost in a pathological condition called alexithymia , theory of mind refers to an essential human capacity that allows us to perceive, analyze, and interpret the thoughts and feelings of others in our social interactions with them. Singer and her colleagues describe how the very large neurons in these areas are uniquely suited for the extremely rapid communication necessary in empathy between these areas and other cortical and subcortical regions, including, of all places, the motor cortex.

Though it may seem something of a figurative leap to think that the motor cortex is activated when you read, it is closer to a literal, cortical hop. Reconstruct the fleeting image evoked in the last letter with the image of Anna Karenina leaping upon the tracks. For those of you who read that passage in Tolstoy’s novel, you leaped, too . In all likelihood the same neurons you deploy when you move your legs and trunk were also activated when you read that Anna jumped before the train. A great many parts of your brain were activated, both in empathizing with her visceral despair and in some mirror neurons acting this desperation out motorically. Although mirror neurons may have become more popular than they are fully understood, they play a fascinating role in reading. In what is surely one of the more intriguingly titled articles in this research, “Your Brain on Jane Austen,” the scholar of 18th-century literature Natalie Phillips teamed with Stanford neuroscientists to study what happens when we read fiction in different ways: that is, with and without “close attention.” (Think back to the two Collins quotes.) Phillips and her colleagues found that when we read a piece of fiction “closely,” we activate regions of the brain that are aligned to what the characters are both feeling and doing. She and her colleagues were frankly surprised that just by asking their literature graduate students either to read closely or to read for entertainment, different regions of the brain became activated, including multiple areas involved in motion and touch.

In related work, neuroscientists from Emory University and from York University have shown how networks in the areas responsible for touch, called the somatosensory cortex, are activated when we read metaphors about texture, and also how motor neurons are activated when we read about movement. Thus, when we read about Emma Bovary’s silken skirt, our areas of touch are activated, and when we read about Emma stumbling from her carriage to run in pursuit of Léon, her young, fickle lover, areas responsible for motion in our motor cortex activate, and, more than likely, those in many affective areas do, too.

These studies are the beginning of increasing work on the place of empathy and perspective taking in the neuroscience of literature. The cognitive scientist Keith Oatley, who studies the psychology of fiction, has demonstrated a strong relationship between reading fiction and the involvement of the cognitive processes known to underlie both empathy and theory of mind. Oatley and his York University colleague Raymond Mar suggest that the process of taking on another’s consciousness in reading fiction and the nature of fiction’s content—where the great emotions and conflicts of life are regularly played out—not only contribute to our empathy, but represent what the social scientist Frank Hakemulder called our “moral laboratory.” In this sense, when we read fiction, the brain actively simulates the consciousness of another person, including those whom we would never otherwise even imagine knowing. It allows us to try on, for a few moments, what it truly means to be another person, with all the similar and sometimes vastly different emotions and struggles that govern others’ lives. The reading circuitry is elaborated by such simulations; so also our daily lives, and so also the lives of those who would lead others.

The novelist Jane Smiley worries that it is just this dimension in fiction that is most threatened by our culture: “My guess is that mere technology will not kill the novel. . . . But novels can be sidelined. . . . When that happens, our society will be brutalized and coarsened by people . . . who have no way of understanding us or each other.” It is a chilling reminder of how important the life of reading is for human beings if we are to form an ever more realized democratic society for everyone.

Empathy involves, therefore, both knowledge and feeling. It involves leaving past assumptions behind and deepening our intellectual understanding of another person, another religion, another culture and epoch. In this moment in our collective history, the capacity for compassionate knowledge of others may be our best antidote to the “culture of indifference” that spiritual leaders such as the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and Pope Francis describe. It may also be our best bridge to others with whom we need to work together, so as to create a safer world for all its inhabitants. In the very special cognitive space within the reading-brain circuit, pride and prejudice can gradually dissolve through the compassionate understanding of another’s mind.

This emerging work on empathy in the reading brain illustrates physiologically, cognitively, politically, and culturally how important it is that feeling and thought be connected in the reading circuit in every person. The quality of our thought depends on the background knowledge and feelings we each bring to bear.

__________________________________

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Maryanne Wolf

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How to be More Creative: Imagine Yourself an Eccentric Writer of Poetry

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If you aren't already an eccentric poet, a new study suggests imagining yourself one in order to spark the fires of creativity. As poets, we aren't sure how we feel about this suggestion... From Quartz:

What comes to mind when you think of a stereotypically creative person? Now, try to behave like that person. It could boost your creativity. That’s the remarkably simple conclusion of a recent study, which explores a phenomenon known as the “stereotype effect.” In the first experiment, study authors Denis Dumas and Kevin Dunbar from the University of Maryland recruited 96 American undergraduate students, studying a range of degrees—including biology, physics, and art. A third of group were asked to imagine they were “an eccentric poet,” another third were told to imagine they were “a rigid librarian,” and the final third weren’t told to be a specific stereotype. Researchers don’t necessarily believe in these stereotypes, but note it was a stereotype generally held by these undergraduate students. The students were then asked to complete the Alternative Uses test, which has been widely used in research on creativity. Participants were given the name of 10 objects, such as a book and fork, and were asked to come up with as many different uses for it. Researchers measured creativity by counting the number of uses the participants came up with (known as fluency) and how original their answers were.

Continue hatching plans for the future at Quartz.

At top: Hugo Ball performing "Karawane" at the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916.

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Tips for crafting a compelling and authentic personal essay.

Writing an essay about yourself can be a daunting task, but when done right, it can be a powerful tool to showcase who you are and what makes you unique. Whether you’re applying for college, a scholarship, or a job, a well-crafted essay can help you stand out from the crowd and leave a lasting impression on the reader.

When writing a personal essay, it’s important to strike a balance between being informative and engaging. You want to provide the reader with insight into your background, experiences, and goals, while also keeping them interested and invested in your story. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of writing a compelling essay about yourself, from brainstorming ideas to polishing your final draft.

Essential Tips for Crafting

When crafting a compelling essay about yourself, it is important to think about your audience and what message you want to convey. Here are some essential tips to help you create an engaging and authentic essay:

	Understand who will be reading your essay and tailor your content to resonate with them. Consider their interests, values, and expectations.
	Avoid embellishments or exaggerations. Be truthful and genuine in your storytelling to create a strong connection with your readers.
	Showcase what sets you apart from others. Share your skills, experiences, and values that make you a compelling individual.
	Paint a vivid picture with descriptive language and specific examples. Engage the senses of your readers to make your story come alive.
	Review your essay for clarity, coherence, and grammar. Edit ruthlessly to refine your message and ensure it flows smoothly.

A Powerful Personal Essay

Writing a powerful personal essay is a way to express your unique voice and share your personal experiences with the world. By weaving together your thoughts, emotions, and reflections, you can create a compelling narrative that resonates with your audience. To craft a powerful personal essay, start by reflecting on your own experiences and exploring the themes that matter to you. Pay attention to the details and emotions that make your story come alive. Be honest and vulnerable in your writing, as authenticity is key to connecting with your readers. Additionally, consider the structure of your essay and how you can effectively organize your thoughts to engage your audience from beginning to end. By following these tips and staying true to your voice, you can create a powerful personal essay that leaves a lasting impact on your readers.

Choose a Unique Aspect

When writing an essay about yourself, it’s important to focus on a unique aspect of your personality or experiences that sets you apart from others. This could be a specific skill, talent, or life experience that has had a significant impact on your life. By choosing a unique aspect to highlight, you can make your essay more compelling and memorable to the reader. It’s important to showcase what makes you different and showcase your individuality in a way that will capture the reader’s attention.

of Your Personality

When writing about your personality, it’s important to showcase your unique traits and qualities. Describe what sets you apart from others, whether it’s your creativity, resilience, sense of humor, or compassion. Use specific examples and anecdotes to illustrate these characteristics and provide insight into who you are as a person.

Highlight your strengths and acknowledge your weaknesses – this shows self-awareness and honesty. Discuss how your personality has evolved over time and mention any experiences that have had a significant impact on shaping who you are today. Remember to be authentic and genuine in your portrayal of yourself as this will make your essay more compelling and engaging to the reader.

Reflect Deeply on

When writing an essay about yourself, it is crucial to take the time to reflect deeply on your life experiences, values, beliefs, and goals. Consider the events that have shaped you into the person you are today, both positive and negative. Think about your strengths and weaknesses, your passions and interests, and how they have influenced your decisions and actions. Reflecting on your personal journey will help you uncover meaningful insights that can make your essay more compelling and authentic.

Take the time	Reflect on your life experiences
Consider events	Both positive and negative
Think about	Your strengths and weaknesses
Reflecting will help	Uncover meaningful insights

Your Life Experiences

When it comes to writing an essay about yourself, one of the most compelling aspects to focus on is your life experiences. These experiences shape who you are and provide unique insights into your character. Reflect on significant moments, challenges you’ve overcome, or memorable events that have had a lasting impact on your life.

Consider discussing pivotal moments that have influenced your beliefs and values.
Share personal anecdotes that highlight your strengths and resilience.
Explore how your life experiences have shaped your goals, aspirations, and ambitions.

By sharing your life experiences in your essay, you can showcase your individuality and demonstrate what sets you apart from others. Be genuine, reflective, and honest in recounting the events that have shaped your journey and contributed to the person you are today.

Create a Compelling

When crafting an essay about yourself, it is essential to create a compelling narrative that captures the attention of the reader from the very beginning. Start by brainstorming unique and engaging personal experiences or qualities that you want to highlight in your essay. Consider including vivid anecdotes, insightful reflections, and impactful moments that showcase your character and achievements. Remember to be authentic and sincere in your writing, as this will resonate with your audience and make your essay more relatable. By creating a compelling narrative, you can effectively communicate your story and leave a lasting impression on the reader.

Narrative Structure

The narrative structure is crucial when writing an essay about yourself. It helps to create a compelling and engaging story that showcases your unique qualities and experiences. Start by introducing the main theme or message you want to convey in your essay. Then, build a coherent storyline that highlights significant events or moments in your life. Use descriptive language and vivid details to bring your story to life and make it more relatable to the readers. Include a clear beginning, middle, and end to ensure that your essay follows a logical progression and captivates the audience throughout.

Emphasize the lessons you’ve learned from your experiences and how they have shaped your character and outlook on life. Connect these insights to your personal growth and development, demonstrating your resilience, determination, and self-awareness. End your essay on a reflective note, highlighting the impact of your journey on who you are today and what you aspire to achieve in the future. By following a strong narrative structure, you can craft a captivating essay that showcases your authenticity and leaves a lasting impression on the readers.

Highlight Your

When writing an essay about yourself, it is essential to highlight your unique qualities and experiences that set you apart from others. Consider including personal anecdotes, achievements, strengths, and challenges that have shaped your identity. Focus on showcasing your authenticity and individuality to make your essay compelling and engaging.

Share meaningful stories from your life that reflect your values, beliefs, or character.

Highlight your accomplishments, whether academic, professional, or personal, to demonstrate your skills and dedication.

Discuss your strengths and talents, such as leadership, creativity, or problem-solving abilities, to showcase your positive attributes.

Describe any significant obstacles you have overcome and how they have shaped your resilience and growth.

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. » Autobiography Examples » Autobiography of a Pen

Essay on Autobiography of a Pen for Students of All Ages : 2 Examples

Here we brought you two essays on "Autobiography of a Pen" - unique and captivating pieces that offer an exciting perspective on the life of a pen. In these essay, you will encounter a narrator who is not just any ordinary pen, but a living being, sharing its experiences and journey with you.

With an engaging and relatable voice, the pen shares its story from the moment it was manufactured to the present day. It takes you on a journey through its life, sharing its thoughts, feelings, and emotions along the way. You will witness the pen's journey from a mere instrument to a beloved companion to its owner.

As you read through the essay , you will gain a newfound appreciation for the role that a pen plays in our lives. From recording memories and documenting important information to being an essential tool for education, the pen is an indispensable part of our daily routines.

Through the eyes of the pen, you will gain an insider's view of the writing process, including the joys and frustrations that come with being a writer's constant companion. You will also discover the importance of caring for a pen and the impact that it can have on its longevity.

In conclusion, "Autobiography of a Pen" is a remarkable essay that will leave you with a new perspective on the power and importance of this humble writing tool. So, join us on this exciting journey as the pen shares its life with you.

Autobiography of a Pen

Autobiography of a Pen 1 -

Hello everyone! I am a humble pen and I would like to share my story with you all.

I was born in a small factory, surrounded by my other pen siblings. We were all lined up, waiting for our chance to be molded and crafted into the writing instruments we were meant to be. My turn finally came and I was filled with excitement as I was molded into my final form.

I was given a sleek black barrel with a shiny silver clip, and a smooth writing tip that would glide across the page. I was so proud of what I had become, and I couldn't wait to be put to use.

Soon, I found myself in the hands of a young student who was starting her first day of school. She wrote down notes, took exams and even doodled in the margins. I was her trusty companion through all of her academic endeavors, and I felt fulfilled knowing that I was making a difference in her life.

Years went by and I was passed down from one person to the next, each one using me in their own unique way. I have seen countless notebooks filled with writing, ideas, and sketches, and I have been used in meetings, on road trips and even on adventures. I have written love letters and goodbye letters, I have taken notes in university lectures and recorded ideas for future inventions.

Over the years, I have also seen technology advance rapidly. Pens have gone digital, but I still hold a special place in people's hearts. I am portable, reliable, and I don't require batteries. I am always there for you when you need me, and I will never let you down.

So, that is my story. I am a simple pen, but I am proud of all that I have accomplished and all that I will continue to do. I may not be as flashy or advanced as some of my fellow writing instruments, but I am confident that I will always have a place in this world, as long as there is someone who needs to write down their thoughts, ideas or memories.

Autobiography of a Pen 2 -

I am a pen, a simple writing instrument that has been around for centuries. I might seem unassuming, but I have a rich history and a vital role to play in the world of writing and communication.

I was born in a factory, crafted from plastic and metal. At first, I was just one of many pens, waiting to be picked up and put to use. But then, I was chosen. I was filled with ink, and my journey began.

I have been many things in my lifetime - a tool for taking notes in class, a writing companion for a novelist, a signature-maker for a business deal. Throughout it all, I have remained steadfast and reliable. My ink flows smoothly, my grip is comfortable, and I am always ready to write.

As technology has advanced, I have adapted and evolved to stay relevant. I now come in a variety of colors and styles, with special features like erasable ink and stylus tips for touchscreen devices. I may no longer be the only writing instrument in town, but I will always be a classic.

I am proud of my long and varied history, but I also look forward to the future. I may be small, but I have the power to communicate ideas and make an impact. So here's to the next chapter of my story - I can't wait to see what the future holds!

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Autobiography of a Pencil >>

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Books for Kids and Grown Ups

Picture Books About Being Yourself/Being Unique

As we get older, we become prouder of our quirks, but it’s not so easy when you’re a kid — especially after the toddler years when people start to mold us into what’s “socially acceptable.” These picture books about being yourself help kids to embrace their unique quirks, whether it’s being tall, loving certain hobbies, or being particular about their preferences.

Picture Books About Being Yourself/Being Unique

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The Best Picture Books About Being Yourself

Here are some of the best picture books about being yourself:

Remarkably You

Published: February 5, 2019

With encouraging text and exuberant illustrations by Patrice Barton, readers will delight in all the ways they can be their remarkable selves.

You might go unnoticed, or shine like a star, but wherever you go and whoever you are… don’t change how you act to be just like the rest. Believe in yourself and the things you do best.

Where Oliver Fits

Published: September 5, 2017

Oliver has always dreamed about where he will fit. Will he be in the mane of a unicorn? The tentacle of a pirate squid? The helmet of an astronaut? When he finally goes in search of his perfect place, he finds that trying to fit in is a lot harder than he thought. But like any puzzle, a little trial and error leads to a solution, and Oliver figures out exactly where he belongs. Where Oliver Fits is a sweet and funny story that explores all the highs and lows of learning to be yourself and shows that fitting in isn’t always the best fit.

We’re All Wonders

Published: March 28, 2017

Over 15 million people have fallen in love with Wonder and have joined the movement to Choose Kind. Now younger readers can meet Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face, and his beloved dog, Daisy. Countless fans have asked R. J. Palacio to write a book for younger readers. With We’re All Wonders , she makes her picture-book debut as both author and artist, with a spare, powerful text and striking, richly imagined illustrations. Palacio shows readers what it’s like to live in Auggie’s world—a world in which he feels like any other kid, but he’s not always seen that way. We’re All Wonders may be Auggie’s story, but it taps into every child’s longing to belong, and to be seen for who they truly are. It’s the perfect way for families and educators to talk about empathy and kindness with young children.

My Shadow Is Purple

Published: June 15, 2022

My Dad has a shadow that’s blue as a berry, and my Mom’s is as pink as a blossoming cherry. There’s only those choices, a 2 or a 1. But mine is quite different, it’s both and it’s none. A heartwarming and inspiring book about being true to yourself and moving beyond the gender binary, by best-selling children’s book creator Scott Stuart.

Beautifully Me

Published: September 14, 2021

Meet Zubi: a joyful Bangladeshi girl excited about her first day of school. But when Zubi sees her mother frowning in the mirror and talking about being “too big,” she starts to worry about her own body and how she looks. As her day goes on, she hears more and more people being critical of each other’s and their own bodies, until her outburst over dinner leads her family to see what they’ve been doing wrong—and to help Zubi see that we can all make the world a more beautiful place by being beautifully ourselves.

Becoming Vanessa

Published: June 15, 2021

On Vanessa’s first day of school, her parents tell her it will be easy to make friends. Vanessa isn’t so sure. She wears her fanciest outfit so her new classmates will notice her right away. They notice, but the attention isn’t what she’d hoped for. As the day goes on, she feels more self-conscious. Her clothes are too bright, her feather boa has way too many feathers, and even her name is too hard to write. The next day, she picks out a plain outfit, and tells her mom that her name is too long. She just wants to blend in, with a simple name like the other girls–why couldn’t her parents have named her Megan or Bella? But when her mother tells her the meaning behind her name, it gives her the confidence she needs to introduce her classmates to the real Vanessa. Perfect for readers of Alma and How She Got Her Name and The King of Kindergarten.

John’s Turn

Published: February 24, 2022

It’s John’s big day at school today—a performance for Sharing Gifts time. His bag is carefully packed and prepared, his classmates are ready, and the curtain is waiting to open. John is nervous, looking out at all the other children staring back at him. But he takes a big breath and begins. Mac Barnett’s compassionate text and Kate Berube’s understated and expressive art tell the story of a kid who finds the courage to show others his talent for dancing.

The Cow Who Climbed a Tree

Published: January 3, 2016

Tina isn’t like the other cows. She believes that the sky is the limit, that everything is possible. But her sisters aren’t convinced – and when Tina tells them she has climbed a tree and met a dragon, they decide that her nonsense has gone too far. Off they go into the woods to find her . . . and soon discover a world of surprises!

Except When They Don’t

Published: May 21, 2019

Girls perform to fairy songs. Boys play football all day long. Boys yell, “Boo!” and run away. Girls like kittens and ballet. Except when they don’t. Children are often told by many different people about what toys they’re supposed to play with, what interests they should have, and who they should be simply because of their gender. This stereotype-breaking book invites children to examine what they’re told “boy” and “girl” activities are and encourages them to play with whatever they want to and to be exactly who they are!

Little Wolf’s First Howling

Published: April 11, 2017

Little Wolf can hardly wait. Tonight he will howl at the moon to the top of the sky. First, Big Wolf demonstrates traditional howling form: AAAAAAAAAAOOOOOooooooooo. Then it’s Little Wolf’s turn. He’s sure he is ready, but when the big moment comes, something happens. Something unexpected, something wild, something unbe-beep-bop-believable!Sisters Laura McGee Kvasnosky and Kate McGee have created a wonderful story about the importance of doing things your own way and being true to your heart when it swells with wildness and joy.

Giraffe Problems

Published: October 1, 2018

Can you guess what’s making this giraffe self-conscious? Could it be . . . HIS ENORMOUS NECK?? Yes, it’s exactly that–how on earth did you figure it out?

Edward the giraffe can’t understand why his neck is as long and bendy and, well, ridiculous as it is. No other animal has a neck this absurd. He’s tried disguising it, dressing it up, strategically hiding it behind bushes–honestly, anything you can think of, he’s tried. Just when Edward has exhausted his neck-hiding options and is about to throw in the towel, a turtle swoops in (well, ambles in, very slowly) and helps him understand that his neck has a purpose, and looks excellent in a bow tie.

I Am a Tiger

Published: July 30, 2019

This is a story about a mouse with BIG ideas. Mouse believes he is a tiger, and he convinces Fox, Raccoon, Snake, and Bird he’s one, too! After all, Mouse can climb a tree like a tiger and hunt for his lunch, too. And not all tigers are big and have stripes. But when a real tiger shows up, can Mouse keep up his act? With hilarious text by Karl Newson and bright and vivid illustrations from Ross Collins, this uproariously funny, read-aloud picture book encourages children to use their imaginations and be who they want to be! Doesn’t everyone want to be a tiger?

Maurice the Unbeastly

With his melodious voice, fondness for kale, and unfailing politeness, Maurice isn’t quite like other beasts. So his concerned Mama and Papa send their ridiculously photogenic beastie to the Abominable Academy for Brutish Beasts to learn how to behave badly. Will Maurice master growling, scowling, snarling, and howling? Or will he prove that being different is a good thing after all?

Published: May 26, 2020

Piglette can be a bit particular by her siblings’ standards. She always wants everything to be perfect . While her many brothers and sisters like rolling in the mud, Piglette prefers pampering in a mud bath. While her siblings eat slop, Piglette prefers pastries. But what she’s most passionate about is flowers. She loves to smell the lilies and lilacs in the pasture. So Piglette decides her precise nose is destined for the perfume shops of Paris! But Piglette soon realizes that there’s nothing more precious than the pleasant scents of home, and she finds a way to bring a little Parisian perfection back where she belongs. Debut author Kateyln Aronson and #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Eva Byrne have created an unforgettable, playful piglet who stays true to herself and the message that home is where the heart is.

When Ogilvy moves to a new town, the possibilities feel endless. There are so many new bunny friends and fun things to do together! But in this town, bunnies in dresses play ball and knit socks, and bunnies in sweaters make art and climb rocks. Ogilvy wants to do everything―and won’t let a sweater or a dress get in the way.

Giraffes Can’t Dance

Published: September 1, 2001

Gerald is a giraffe who simply can’t dance. Try as he may, his long, spindly legs buckle whenever he starts to boogy. Every year he dreads going to the Great Jungle Dance – until one night when he finds his own special music…

I Am Golden

Published: February 1, 2022

What do you see when you look in the mirror, Mei? Do you see beauty? We see eyes that point toward the sun, that give us the warmth and joy of a thousand rays when you smile. We see hair as inky black and smooth as a peaceful night sky. We see skin brushed with gold.

I Don’t Want to Be a Frog

Published: February 10, 2015

Frog wants to be anything but a slimy, wet frog. A cat, perhaps. Or a rabbit. An owl? But when a hungry wolf arrives—a wolf who HATES eating frogs—our hero decides that being himself isn’t so bad after all. In this very silly story with a sly message, told in hilarious dialogue between a feisty young frog and his heard-it-all-before father, young readers will identify with little Frog’s desire to be something different, while laughing along at his stubborn yet endearing schemes to prove himself right.

Published: April 7, 2009

Meet Spoon. He’s always been a happy little utensil. But lately, he feels like life as a spoon just isn’t cutting it. He thinks Fork, Knife, and The Chopsticks all have it so much better than him. But do they? And what do they think about Spoon? A book for all ages, Spoon serves as a gentle reminder to celebrate what makes us each special.

The Boy Who Grew Flowers

Published: October 5, 2005

Rink s grandmother was raised by wolves, his Uncle Dud tames rattlesnakes, and Rink grows beautiful flowers all over his body when the moon is full. Townspeople just don t understand the Bowagons. But one day a new girl named Angelica arrives at Rink s school, and he soon discovers she has some unique qualities too. Using humor and metaphor to promote acceptance, this touching story shows us that what makes us different makes us beautiful.

Mostly Monsterly

Published: August 31, 2010

Bernadette might seem like an ordinary monster, but sometimes she likes to do some very unmonsterlike things, like pick flowers. And pet kittens. And bake . When the time comes for Bernadette to go to Monster Academy, she’s just a teensy bit nervous. Her classmates just don’t understand her. They’d rather uproot trees than sing friendship songs. And they prefer fried snail goo to Bernadette’s homemade cupcakes with sprinkles. Can Bernadette find a way to make friends at school and still be herself?

Odd Dog Out

Published: August 25, 2016

It’s a dog’s life in the big city… Come join one busy dog on her journey to find her place in the world, in this third sublimely illustrated book from the bestselling, award-winning Rob Biddulph. For busy dogs A busy day Of busy work And busy play

But one dog doesn’t quite fit in. It’s lonely being the odd dog out, when all she wants to do is find her place in the world. She’s willing to go to the other side of the world to look for it but it might take a different kind of journey for her to discover that maybe where she’s meant to be is right back where she started.

It’s Okay to Be Different

Published: May 1, 2004

It’s okay to be a different color. It’s okay to dance by yourself. It’s okay to wear glasses. It’s okay to have a pet worm…. It’s okay to be different!

Rot, the Cutest in the World!

Published: December 19, 2017

Rot is a mutant potato. Like most mutant potatoes, Rot loves all sorts of games and contests. So when he sees a sign for the “Cutest in the World Contest,” he can’t wait to enter.

But when Rot realizes who he’s up against—an itty-bitty baby bunny, a little-wittle cuddly kitten, and an eenie-weenie jolly jellyfish—he loses confidence. Will the judges find room in their hearts for an adorable mutant potato?

I Like Myself!

High on energy and imagination, this ode to self-esteem encourages kids to appreciate everything about themselves—inside and out. Messy hair? Beaver breath? So what!

Here’s a little girl who knows what really matters. At once silly and serious, Karen Beaumont’s joyous rhyming text and David Catrow’s vibrant illustrations unite in a book that is sassy, soulful . . . and straight from the heart.

Published: August 8, 2017

Lily Wool gets bored with all of the grazing and resting that the herd does and prefers to count stars and dream of adventures. When Lily finds a strand of loose wool, she lets her imagination run wild and has a grand time until she accidentally unravels a problem.

Children will love seeing how Lily Wool puts her imagination and creativity to work to fix things, and how Lily discovers a way to help others while she finds her special place in the flock.

Published: June 3, 2014

But a chance encounter with a bulldog family in the park—Rocky, Ricky, Bruno, and Antoinette—reveals there’s been a mix-up, and so Gaston and Antoinette switch places. The new families look right…but they don’t feel right. Can these puppies follow their noses—and their hearts—to find where they belong?

Leaping Lemmings!

Published: September 6, 2016

Think before you leap! Lemmings look alike, sound alike, and act alike. If one jumps off a cliff, the others jump right after him. . . except Larry. Larry’s very independent and won’t follow his fellow lemmings blindly to their doom. But can he teach them to use their brains and stop making terrible group decisions? John Briggs has created a wonderfully funny, quirky tale about staying true to yourself, while Nicola Slater’s witty illustrations capture all the humor and pathos of Larry’s situation.

A Normal Pig

Published: June 4, 2019

Pip is a normal pig who does normal stuff: cooking, painting, and dreaming of what she’ll be when she grows up.

But one day a new pig comes to school and starts pointing out all the ways in which Pip is different. Suddenly she doesn’t like any of the same things she used to…the things that made her Pip.

A wonderful springboard for conversations with children, at home and in the classroom, about diversity and difference.

My Shape is Sam

Published: September 17, 2019

Circles were smooth and round. Good at rolling, spinning, and pushing. They all turned together to make things go. Squares were sturdy and even. Good at stacking, steadying, and measuring. They all fit together to make things stay. In a world where everybody is a shape and every shape has a specific job, Sam is a square who longs for softer corners, rounder edges, and the ability to roll like a circle. But everyone knows that squares don’t roll, they stack. At least that’s what everyone thinks until the day Sam takes a tumble and discovers something wonderful. He doesn’t have to be what others want or expect him to be.

There’s Only One You

Published: May 7, 2019

“In all the world over, this much is true: You’re somebody special. There’s only one YOU.” This feel-good book reassures kids that, whoever and whatever they are, it’s awesome being YOU! Expertly written to include all kinds of children and families, it embraces the beauty in a range of physical types, personalities, and abilities. Kids will love discovering and recognizing themselves in these pages—and they’ll feel proud to see their special qualities acknowledged. Adorable illustrations by Rosie Butcher show a diverse community that many will find similar to their own.

Rusty The Squeaky Robot

Published: April 19, 2018

Rusty is a friendly robot, but not a very happy one; he’s feeling down about the way that he sounds. The other robots on Planet Robotone – Belle, Twango, Hoot and Boom-Bot – show Rusty that being a little bit different is the best way to be, and together make a raucous song and dance that celebrates their differences. This charming story about friendship, self-discovery and the strength of pooling everyone’s talents together has a strong, empowering message of acceptance and embracing individuality. With wonderful, contemporary illustrations that will appeal to young children and parents alike, the story will provoke thought – and conversation – about being different, and how we should all embrace our characteristics and be comfortable and confident in ourselves.

There they are: 30+ picture books about being yourself. Which of these books have you read? Which ones did I miss?

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30+ Great Picture Books About Kids Being Themselves

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About Afoma Umesi

Afoma Umesi is the founder and editor of Reading Middle Grade where she curates book lists and writes book reviews for kids of all ages. Her favorite genre to read is contemporary realistic fiction and she'll never say no to a graphic novel.

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Spotlight: How to Be Yourself in 500 Words (or Less)

How to “be yourself”? Know who reads your application-and help them know you.

I feel very lucky to have been accepted to, and graduated from, Stanford University . While I worked hard in high school and put my best foot forward in my applications, I want to emphasize that there will always be some serendipity in college acceptances. At the end of the day, you can only be yourself. What you do have control over–and what you can work on in your college applications–is how well you use your essays to summarize who you are to admissions officers.

In the whirlwind of applications, keep in mind who your audience is (this is not to say that you should stalk your admissions officer online and tell them what they want to hear). Instead, be genuine and help the admissions officers understand you. Remember that they are only human, and are subject to feeling tired, forgetting things about you, and creating as holistic of a picture of you as you give them in your application.

Here’s how you can help someone understand you with 500 words:

Don’t be afraid to talk about yourself.

College admissions is perhaps one of the only times in which it is okay to brag about yourself. An admissions officer has about 5 minutes to figure out everything you’ve accomplished in 18 years of life. Use a (non-pompous) tone that accurately conveys your accomplishments. Be tactful by weaving them into your essay. As every university admissions information session harps: “Make sure your essay is about you, not your grandma.” However, what they often don’t tell you (and what I found to be successful) is: You can brag about yourself without ignoring your personal history or sources of inspiration that might explain who you are. There is no way for an admissions officer to know how your familial background has influenced your academic interests, or how your role models have catalyzed your career aspirations. While your essay should be about you, do not be afraid to give the admissions officer a broader picture of why you are the way that you are.

Tell a distinct story.

A good story has narrative structure and leaves the reader with a distinct insight. Our brains are programmed to look for a beginning, middle and end in a narrative. Make it as easy as possible for the admissions officer to scan your essay. Open with a gripping anecdote that is not too dramatic (after reading a million depressing and dramatic essays, a lighthearted, positive or self-deprecating tone can be refreshing). If your essay has multiple vignettes, then select a theme to tie them together. And while all good stories have an end, make sure you end with a forward-looking statement about how you hope to tie in your past interests into your career at said college. For your essay topic, pick a distinct theme. Many applicants will have the same experiences as you do. Write about an unusual activity that sets you apart. If you do not have an obscure experience to write about, explain your seemingly commonplace experience with an uncommon insight. Show the admissions officer that you can think in ways others might not.

Make your essay sparkle.

Out of a stack of thousands of applications, you will need to stand out. You can be memorable by being specific. By loading your essay up with lots of proper nouns, you will create a specific image in the reader’s mind. Furthermore, it will be easier to go back and remember your experiences if the reader can pull out specific words that trigger their memory of you. Likewise, keep your sentences short and to the point. You should skip excessive adjectives or effusive language. Instead of incorporating reflections on how you felt, write about what you did and why it matters. The officer assumes you are the author of your essays, so to cut words by removing unnecessary phrases like “I think” or “I feel”. While such advice might seem like English 101, it is easy to get bogged down in your own work during college applications. If it is allowed by the college, it doesn’t hurt to have another set of eyes help you to pare down your language.

Overall, there is no secret sauce to getting into college. Still, the trite advice of “just be yourself” is a maxim. If you are deep in the admissions process, you cannot alter your past accomplishments. During such a stressful time, you can only do your best. While you might regret not learning how to market yourself properly, you will not regret being yourself. The best thing you can do now is to spend time accurately communicating yourself to the complete strangers that are your college admissions officers. You are your best advocate. Best of luck, you’ll do great!

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College apps can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone. empowerly college counseling is in it with you., related articles.

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Be Yourself Essay | An Essay On Embracing Your True Self and Love Yourself

December 30, 2021 by Prasanna

Be Yourself Essay: We were born with a secret; all of us have always been mired deep down in the ocean of our own internal storms, our thoughts carved into the whiteness of our souls. Each one of us takes their own path on their journey of self-discovery, but what lets us through is this emotional journey that sets the stage for who we have become right now, and it might never happen again. This essay outlines the reasons why you should be yourself and love yourself.

You can also find more Essay Writing articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

How To Embrace Your True Self?

The future is bright for those who embrace their true self and are unafraid of a free market in which they can pursue their dreams with ease. Be curious about what’s happening in the world, practice mindfulness to be aware of your thoughts, feelings and actions. The reason we may not embrace our true selves is that life is dictated by societal norms. We were not living up to how the world wanted us to be. We weren’t fulfilled; it’s an empty feeling that isn’t filled with happiness. There is fear in not understanding who we are, or what our true potential is, so how do we embrace ourselves free from prejudice and expectations? There is one important step that everyone can take to be their best and most true selves every day.

Today, society thinks that it is important to be like everyone else and alter their true selves in order to fit into a certain “mold”. You should not be afraid of being “different” and embracing your true self. In the future, we will hopefully learn how to accept each other’s differences and embrace people from various cultures and backgrounds. Lastly, understand what is truly unique about you and start reflecting on questions like these:

What would I be to others if I didn’t care about everything they say?
What would I see and experience if I accepted the way I am?
Am I here because of what I have achieved, or what I choose to achieve?
Do I have the right to look back and call myself a good man or woman?
What motivates me the most?

Being Yourself Is The Key To True Happiness

One of the most important things you can do in your life is to love yourself. Self-love is different from self-centered. In order to stay the person that you want to be throughout your entire journey, you have to be truly happy with who you are. When we are compassionate and loving towards ourselves, we are able to free ourselves from holding on to judgements about who we think we should be. We need to let go of that idea of having a particular image or desired outcome when it is actually up to us as individuals to define ourselves and run with it. We are learning to be who we want to be, in the way that we want.

In order for this movement of self-love to work in your favor, you need to genuinely love every part of you, right now. It does not make sense to hang on to what is no longer useful to you. Remember, you may have issues with forgetting who you are and what your priorities are at this moment in time, but we can take steps to fix this. Let’s start by loving from our heart, rather than making judgements about who we are or what our beliefs and behaviors are. This is the true apology for all the ‘dog eat dog’ behavior that many of us think is ‘okay’.

Finding Your True Identity And Purpose

Experiencing and educating oneself on the importance of finding one’s true self is no easy feat. However, in a world where our natural talents are stolen from us by technology and ever-changing lifestyles, it can feel like an uphill battle. Be yourself and love yourself for all of your endless potential. The future is bright for embracing your true self and discovering the people that surround you.

Acknowledge your talent and unique worth – When self-acceptance is received through the lens of confidence, other people are naturally drawn to the individual. We all have a unique set of skills and gifts that make us who we are, and it is so important to accept our beliefs and values every day. It can be tough to break out of society’s mold and remember your worth. It can be easy to abandon our standards of being a good person. Don’t let society beat us down, assess our abilities and motives with criticality, listen to your inner voice and lastly, respect yourself.
Believe in yourself – This is a powerful quote that means you should have faith in your abilities and skills. It also means that you should have confidence in your decisions and the actions you take. We need to believe that all humans have limitless potential. All of us are beautiful, smart, strong and all-encompassing in our own unique way.
Invest in yourself – This can be done through joining clubs, attending seminars, reading books, or just doing general self-reflection. It is important for people to invest in their needs because needs are often overlooked and not addressed.
Reject any role models on social media who make you feel bad about yourself, because everyone is unique in their own way. It is okay to celebrate the people we idolize, but we also need to celebrate who we are at the same time.
Find an activity you love and stick to it, but don’t do it to make yourself feel better, do it because it makes you happy and helps you figure out your limits and what makes you strong. It takes time to grow into yourself.

How To Act With Integrity And Improve Intellectually

The future may sound scary, especially for teenagers. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Everyone has a natural tendency to lose sight of themselves, their interests and what they have to offer; not because we’re not special, but because we’ve lost our purpose in life. We forget how much other people care about us and how much good we can really do as one single person while being humble and honest with ourselves.

Mental Health And Cognition

Mental health is often overlooked, but it may be one of the most important aspects of having a happy life. Embracing your true self can have profound effects on mental health that people often don’t expect. Instead of trying to please everyone else, focus on self-care, whether it’s changing what you eat or doing an exercise. Pursuing these habits may seem tough at first, but they will give you the feeling of satisfaction like nothing else ever will. When you have a healthy mindset, you can make even the most difficult things seem easy to accomplish.The main difference between self-improvement and mental health is not whether or not something can cause a problem; it’s whether or not that problem is worth the struggle. Fight for your interests, relationships and goals.

How To Stay Motivated During Difficult Times

Not only is it hard to stay motivated, but it can also be hard to keep up with what we need to do. This feeling of exhaustion and overwhelm can lead us to give up on our goals and put things off until later. The solution is realizing that this isn’t an uncommon experience. It’s totally normal for people to feel unmotivated at times, and there are ways we can work through these feelings so they don’t stop us from achieving our dreams. There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dark and ugly it seems.

How Do I Stop Belittling Myself?

This type of self-talk is called “self-criticism” and is a very common response to stress. One way to do that is by finding empowering thoughts in your life. For example, look at all the skills you have, or think about how much you have already accomplished in your life. Also, instead of focusing on changing your entire attitude about yourself, try to change one thing at a time. For instance, if you want to stop talking down to yourself, try listening to your thoughts and catch yourself saying something negative about yourself. If this happens, stop yourself and change the sentence in your head to something more positive.

Conclusion on Be Yourself Essay

We live in a world of uncertainty and change, but that doesn’t mean that we should be scared or give up hope. The future is what you make of it. And the more you take care and invest in yourself, the more satisfied and fulfilled you will be. And regardless of how our society evolves, it’s important to embrace and love your true self.

FAQ’s On Being Yourself

Question 1. What does it mean to be yourself?

Answer: It means to be happy, content, and excited about life. It means being present in the moment, not dwelling on the past or obsessing over the future. It means committing time to your passions and interests. It also means looking at what you have- not what you don’t have- and embracing your strengths and working on your weaknesses.

Question 2. Why is it important to be yourself?

Answer: One of the biggest things in life is to be yourself. We all have our own personality and quirks that make us unique individuals. Hence, it is important to be true to oneself.

Question 3. How can I be my own person?

Answer: You are born as a blank slate. As you grow up, you become the sum of all the experiences you have had. Your personality is shaped by everything that has happened to you, and it is up to you to decide what sort of person you want to be.

Question 4. Why is it so hard to be yourself?

Answer: Many people have a hard time being themselves because they are afraid of what other people think. They are afraid of being judged by their peers. When you are true to yourself, however, you feel liberated and alive. The amount of happiness that can be gained from doing this outweighs any judgment that may come your way.

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Your Life As A Book
Your Life As A Book. , August 19, 2012. YOUR LIFE AS A BOOK. Imagine your entire life as a book. On every page of this book, no matter what is going on in the story, no matter what the words are describing, behind the words there is the white paper. The paper is so rarely noticed, and even more rarely appreciated, but it is absolutely essential.
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The Change in Perception. Fearing failure and lacking an established identity held me back personally and creatively, but exploring the benefits of failure and choosing an identity have drastically changed how I perceive myself and how I move through difficulties in my life. Since becoming a writer, and choosing to identify myself as such, I ...
Imagining Yourself as a Writer
Not only does this belief undermine our faith in ourselves, but it potentially cheapens the work that we do. My first few years as a writing instructor, I required students to write a short essay called "Imagining Yourself as a Writer.". The purpose of the essay was to help students see that they were writers simply by virtue of the fact ...
Seeing Yourself as a Writer
A lot of people have a hard time imagining themselves as full-time writers—and that is often the only thing that holds them back. You might be a lawyer, a dentist, a coal miner, or a waitress, and you define yourself as that. Yeah, you love writing, but you don't think you're free to write. You may be wearing golden handcuffs, stuck in a ...
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Turn the lights down or off. Read this script, giving them a few moments to reflect after each prompt: Today, we're going to take a trip back through your life as a reader. In your mind, put aside the reading you're doing for school and go to a place where you have positive feelings about reading. …. Maybe you are being read to or maybe ...
Imagine your life is a book and you are the author. Try these 6 ways to
Try these 6 ways to re-write your life. Imagine your life is a book and you are the author. Imagine the power this gives you, the freedom to write the story you really want - complete with your own daring ending. 'We are the authors of our own lives. We write our own daring endings'.
9 Ways to Boost Your Writing Motivation (That Actually Work)
9 Proven Ways to Motivate Yourself to Write. 1. Don't Confuse Motivation with Passion. Forget everything you've ever learned about writing "out of passion.". If you wait to feel passionate about what you're writing, you'll never finish writing your book. You can't rely on passion. It comes and goes too easily.
Writing a Novel Inspired by Your Life? The Do's and Don'ts of Writing
If you find yourself not wanting to fictionalize your story, maybe you should be writing nonfiction instead. ... Secondly, I want to write fictional book about my future self and where I see myself in life (which would be actually published as a first one, and at the end of it the reader would be redirected to the "book, I am already writing ...
Autobiography Definition, Examples, and Writing Guide
Autobiography Definition, Examples, and Writing Guide. Written by MasterClass. Last updated: Aug 26, 2022 • 6 min read. As a firsthand account of the author's own life, an autobiography offers readers an unmatched level of intimacy. Learn how to write your first autobiography with examples from MasterClass instructors.
How To Write Autobiography: A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting ...
Reward yourself with a moment of respite, a treat, or a simple pat on the back. Celebrate your achievements, no matter how small, for they propel you forward on this grand adventure.
What Does Immersing Yourself in a Book Do To Your Brain?
The narrative theologian John S. Dunne described this process of encounter and perspective taking in reading as the act of "passing over," in which we enter into the feelings, imaginings, and thoughts of others through a particular kind of empathy: "Passing over is never total but is always partial and incomplete.
How to be More Creative: Imagine Yourself an…
Now, try to behave like that person. It could boost your creativity. That's the remarkably simple conclusion of a recent study, which explores a phenomenon known as the "stereotype effect.". In the first experiment, study authors Denis Dumas and Kevin Dunbar from the University of Maryland recruited 96 American undergraduate students ...
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Here are some essential tips to help you create an engaging and authentic essay: 1. Know Your Audience. Understand who will be reading your essay and tailor your content to resonate with them. Consider their interests, values, and expectations. 2. Be Authentic. Avoid embellishments or exaggerations.
How to Write a Personal Experience Essay With Sample Papers
Something that you did over and over that was meaningful to you. Your experience and memories of a place that embodies who you are or has meaning for you. A time you were scared but overcame your fear. An ending of a relationship, activity, or event. A beginning of something new. A time you felt embarrassed or guilty.
Mapping the Future: Where Do I See Myself in 20 Years
Projecting oneself two decades into the future is a thought-provoking exercise that conjures up a mix of excitement and uncertainty. As I contemplate where I see myself in 20 years, I envision a life marked by personal and professional growth, a harmonious family life, and a profound sense of purpose. In this essay, I will explore the various ...
Imagine yourself to be a book and write an essay about your life.
IMAGINE YOURSELF TO BE A BOOK AND WRITE AN ESSAY ABOUT YOUR LIFE I am a book. The words 'High School English Grammar and Composition' are written on my cover in huge letters. Yes, I am a grammar book. Iwas born many years back in the printing press of a publishing house in Delhi. When I was new, I wore a deep red, glossy cover which has ...
Essay on Autobiography of a Pen for Students of All Ages
Autobiography of a Pen 2 -. I am a pen, a simple writing instrument that has been around for centuries. I might seem unassuming, but I have a rich history and a vital role to play in the world of writing and communication. I was born in a factory, crafted from plastic and metal. At first, I was just one of many pens, waiting to be picked up and ...
30+ Inspiring Picture Books About Being Yourself
Remarkably You. buy on amazon. Published: February 5, 2019. With encouraging text and exuberant illustrations by Patrice Barton, readers will delight in all the ways they can be their remarkable selves. You might go unnoticed, or shine like a star, but wherever you go and whoever you are…. don't change how you act to be just like the rest.
Spotlight: How to Be Yourself in 500 Words (or Less)
College admissions is perhaps one of the only times in which it is okay to brag about yourself. An admissions officer has about 5 minutes to figure out everything you've accomplished in 18 years of life. Use a (non-pompous) tone that accurately conveys your accomplishments. Be tactful by weaving them into your essay.
An Essay On Embracing Your True Self and Love Yourself
Be yourself and love yourself for all of your endless potential. The future is bright for embracing your true self and discovering the people that surround you. Acknowledge your talent and unique worth - When self-acceptance is received through the lens of confidence, other people are naturally drawn to the individual.
Imagine yourself to be a book and write an essay on your life
To write a good essay about life one should be able to reflect a little, to release his/her mind from other thoughts and to start writing an essay on life. "Life is beautiful and yet life is not a bed of roses. Though it is full of ups and downs it has many facets of blessings and successes.
Imagine yourself to be a book and write an essay about your life
Answer: I am a book. The words "High School English Grammar and Composition" a written on my cover in huge letters. Yes, I am a grammar book. I was born many years back in the printing press of a publishing house in Delhi. When I was new I wore a deep red, glossy cover which had faded over the years and now has become dull.