Writing Process – Skyline Writing Center

From, To, Subject, Compose

Nora Zain (’24) reflects on the power of listening to your own voice. “I am not an advocate for bottling up your feelings, but I do feel it necessary to say now that relying on other peoples input/opinions to make your own will not make you happy.”

I’m not one to write in a diary; for three consecutive years (age twelve, thirteen, and fourteen). I would recycle the same dot-grid notebook and try to force myself into keeping a bullet journal and every year, without fail, the notebook would stay in perfect, pristine condition. That was until last summer: Granted, that exact notebook is likely stashed somewhere in a box, in a closet, in a house halfway across the world.

I started writing myself emails.

For The Vault, I’d write in the subject line each time. A Taylor Swift reference, of course. With each Vault letter I realized more and more how much worse overtalking my problems was than just overthinking. I was on one long slippery spiral slope of no longer believing in my own opinions.

Time Magazine: “We live in a world that doesn’t just encourage overtalking but practically demands it, where success is measured by how much attention we can attract.”

I’m an extrovert and (at least in my native language) consider myself confident and very comfortable talking in front of crowds. I’d learned to love sharing about my day in drawn out text messages to friends from other countries. It eventually became a competition to me: to see how long my daily round-ups could be; it had gotten to the point that I would throw the messages into a word counter just to see how many I could write in one setting.

My emails to myself made the writing feel more like a self-reflection and less like a way for me to brag about my day (or how my words I could write). They made me feel more intentional. I would sometimes not even finish an email for a few days.

Once Summer had wrapped up, I realized that I had stopped needing to write them entirely. I am not an advocate for bottling up your feelings, but I do feel it necessary to say now that relying on other peoples input/opinions to make your own will not make you happy. Everyone is different, and no one is going to know you better than yourself; I’m never going to be someone who writes in a diary or even consistently writes herself emails but I can teach myself not to overestimate my own strength in not caving to peer pressure/have my opinions on issues be swayed by people who aren’t in my situation to begin with.

I hope this advice finds you well.

Sincerely,

your scrapped email exclamation marks and more than half of this blog post.

Conquering Writer’s Block

Alicia Dyer (’25) offers practical suggestions to combat writer’s block. And remember, we can always help you brainstorm ideas in the Writing Center!

Lately I’ve been faced with a lot of really open-ended writing prompts and subsequent writer’s block. To help myself, and hopefully other people, I’ve compiled a list of strategies for turning a void of ideas into an overflowing excess of them!

A lot of times, the biggest issue with writer’s block is the inability to start. Saying “just start, then!” is definitely easier said than done.

Set a timer! In the Writing Center, we write for seven minutes almost every day, and I feel like that’s a pretty good time for me, but pick whatever works for you! I would recommend picking somewhere between five and ten minutes just to get you started, but try to force yourself to write for the whole time you’ve set out.
Turn the brightness off on your computer! Open a google doc, or whatever your preferred writing space is, and then turn down the brightness to zero. Once you can’t see anything, start typing for a dedicated amount of time. Again, I like about seven minutes, but it’s up to you. I get really stuck in writing a “perfect” first sentence, so not being able to see (or delete) what I’m writing leaves me at least without a blank page. It’s usually easier to edit a start than to keep starting over.
If you can’t figure out what your first sentence should be, but you have an idea of where you want to go, just start in the middle! No one said writing had to be linear. Well, maybe someone did, but I’m telling you now that you don’t have to do it that way! Start where you can, and come back to the beginning when it feels more approachable and you have an idea.

Ok, now that we can start, we need something to write about! If your prompts are open-ended, like mine, the issue is usually that there’s too many options! What will we choose…

Narrow it down! Make a list of things you’ve been interested in lately and see if any of them can be applied to your prompt.
Take inspiration from the world around you! This can be as simple as picking an object or idea represented in your direct surroundings and writing something, anything, about it, or you can go somewhere new, like a coffee shop. A change of scenery can be really helpful in getting inspiration. Go on a walk! Take pictures of the sky! Look at artwork or a museum! Sometimes the answer is right in front of you, literally. Again, make a list or try to write a few sentences about something, and see if you can apply it to your prompt.

If your prompt is not open-ended, it can still be really hard to start. Words and ideas aren’t flowing from you like they usually do?

Make a mind map! Write down all of the things you know about your prompt and literally connect them with lines! Scribble down some notes about why things go together and use these to start writing. Don’t know anything about your topic? Then the first step is research (my favorite)!
If the words just won’t seem to come to you, write it out using casual language, like you would explain it to a friend, and then come back later and use a… What type of dinosaur has excellent vocabulary? A THESAURUS! (Ok, sorry, that was really bad.) But seriously, let the ideas come first. The fancy words, if you choose to use them, can come later.

Music: The Perfect Study Tool

Vera Naines (’25) explores how music impacts our focus and study habits. “The human brain, in some sense, is an enigma. There are tons of ins and outs to enhance its performance, and music is one of them.”

Recently, I’ve been doing a fair amount of studying due to the quickly approaching finals. I go downtown, make my way to a campus study spot, put headphones on, and get to work. I look up to view the people around me and notice something we all have in common: we’re listening to music. This made me wonder… is there a deeper reason why so many students listen to music while working? Turns out there is, and it has all to do with our brains and how they function.

As you might know, sound travels as soundwaves. When these hit our eardrums, the vibrations are turned into electrical signals by the tens of thousands of nerve endings in our ears. These signals then travel to the brain which has to do a lot of work to interpret them. This is where the magic happens. Music is great for studying because it turns on parts of the brain that might have been dormant. It also has different effects in each part of the brain. For example, when you listen to music, the nucleus accumbens releases dopamine. Nucleus accumbensis the part of your brain responsible for turning motivation into action. In fact, music is a form of treatment for ADHD, which is partly characterized by lack of dopamine, because of its ability to release it. Dopamine is so important because it makes you happy. This improves creativity by broadening your mindset and increasing the desire to explore. Music also stimulates the secretion of adrenaline, serotonin, and other hormones responsible for upping levels of energy and mental focus. Plants have even been shown to have better growth when exposed to classical music!

Music can and should be used to help your brain promote and sustain productivity. The only question is what type of music to listen to. Different types of music do different things, so you can pick and choose the genre for what you want it to do. Listening to music you might have listened to long ago can help bring back memories. Listening to happy music increases divergent thinking. In terms of studying, though, there are some types that rise above the rest. Anything with no lyrics works best as to not distract you with meanings. Slow blues and jazz are great for this reason, and because they enhance alertness and creativity as the tune changes unexpectedly. However, classical music is, in my opinion, the best. It has all of the positive effects previously mentioned, plus a decrease in stress due to the calming effect of it. Generally, no matter what music, it is important to keep the volume at the right level so it doesn’t drown your thoughts, but it still blocks background noise.

The human brain, in some sense, is an enigma. There are tons of ins and outs to enhance its performance, and music is one of them. So next time you find yourself studying, try it out. Put on some tunes, and feel the power for yourself.