<p>All writers struggle with this. Anne Lamott (author of Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, among other excellent books) said: “give yourself permission to write a really s****y first draft.”</p>
<p>Chris Bohjalian, author of Midwives (an Ophrah Book pick) said: you can’t edit a piece of blank paper.</p>
<p>Tell her to get something down. It doesn’t count. It isn’t The Essay – it’s just stuff. </p>
<p>Maybe sit down with your laptop – she talks, you type. There’s something about forming ideas AND writing them down at the same time which is very tough.</p>
<p>Write to a friend. Have her imagine she’s writing a letter to her best friend, or favorite relative: I want to tell you about (her significant experience or historic person she most wants to meet – whatever the essay topic is). The words will come more naturally that way.</p>
<p>The “garbage can” test. Sometimes, you write an entire novel then decide – I hate it – it’s stupid – I can’t believe I wrote it – I’m throwing it in the garbage. Then you think, but there was that one passage where I wrote about the main character’s first experience in the pool, swimming, keeping up with the rest of the team – THAT part is worth saving.</p>
<p>And it turns out that’s the start of your new essay.</p>