Writer's Block

Location: On the Internet, so the location is wherever you can comfortably log on and learn.

Prerequisites: No formal prerequisites, just the willingness to learn about writer's block.

Description: A course on overcoming the obstacle known as writer's block so that you can write your best-possible personal statement.

Objectives: To recognize what writer's block is and how to minimize it.

We frequently hear from high school seniors and graduate-school applicants who say their biggest application fear is the blank sheet of paper, or a blank screen, that is to become their personal statement. College and graduate applicants experience a lot of stress because they don't know where to begin while the admissions countdown ticks away in their heads.

Here are some suggestions for overcoming writer's block and starting your personal statements:

1. Set an advance deadline several days or even weeks ahead of the actual deadline. Personal statements attempted at the eleventh hour show it, so give yourself a deadline and make yourself write something.

2. Talk it out. Find someone you can talk to about your topic. Enlist the most important person in your life to get the discussion going, or if you don't feel comfortable doing that, talk it out yourself. Verbalizing, whether to your friend or an apartment wall, can help you clarify your thoughts and get the writing process going.

3. Know what distracts you and avoid it. Is noise a distraction? Go somewhere quiet like the library. Do you keep going to the fridge to avoid the blank screen? Get away from it. Do not try to write your essay in a house full of people, with TVs on and music playing. You won't get anything written that way.

4. It doesn't matter where you begin. This is one of the biggest problems in writing. Some people think you need a great title or a great line to start, but you don't. Getting over the fear and the blank page is just about putting the pen down and writing anything. So start at the end or in the middle and work from there. Starting is the battle, once you've passed that you should be able to draft your personal statement.

5. Worry about grammar later. Grammar and spelling errors will be corrected during the editing stage. You should have a timetable developed for your personal statement so that you are not rushed. So don't worry about the grammar right now, focus on the writing instead.