Writing From an Outline--Literally

Well, the school year has officially started. (Sigh.) I've been taking classes for a month now, and as an English major, I have several papers to write.

Writing papers is a pretty straightforward process--brainstorming, outlining, research, drafting, and editing. It's similar to what fiction authors do. Unfortunately, in practice, writing papers can lead to its own special variety of writer's block: You're staring at your outline and wondering how you'll ever turn that bullet list into a full-fledged essay.

If this is you, here's a handy trick to help you out: Use the outline as the essay.

That sounds insane when I put it that way, so allow me to explain: Once you've outlined your main points and subpoints, write each part of the essay underneath its section in the outline. This way, the paper will be broken up into small, manageable chunks. This will help you keep track of your arguments and structure, too. When you break an assignment into bite-size pieces, your brain isn't overwhelmed by a mountain of work. Instead, you're just cresting several small hills. Then, when you've written all the small chunks, copy and paste them into one essay (and add transitions, if necessary.)

Writer's block hacked, paper written, due date avoided.