The best way to write an application essay

I spent several years cutting apart the daily newspaper, hunting through its sections to pull out interesting nouns and verbs, slicing up the advertisements to use their articles and conjunctions, and piecing and pasting them all into poems.

I read over those poems now, and a theme emerges: I was convinced that I could make something beautiful out of the broken stories that often made up the headlines. I believed I could cut up magazines and ads and create something clever.

I’m going to get very practical: clipping apart the newspaper was one of my favorite ways to write poetry, and in a similar way, I believe that scrapbooking our stories is the best way to write a cover letter, a scholarship essay, and even your next memoir.

Let me explain. Every time I began another newspaper poem, I worked backwards. I knew where I wanted the story to lead and I found and used the words that fit.

In the same way, as you approach the challenge of writing a personal statement, cover letter or scholarship essay, you have to begin with the end in mind. You have to do the storywork. Do the work of remembering the past and dreaming of the future and finding all the little bits that connect them.

As I coach students and job seekers alike, I encourage them to write down everything that comes to mind on their path toward the future. Write down your dreams. Write down where you’ve been. Write down who you were when the future felt unendingly possible. Search for these things like I scoured the newspaper. Seek. Clip. Gather.

Just like my poems were unique in their wording but consistent in their themes, find the pieces of your story that are core, and fit them into the “packages” of nuanced application materials.

This year I applied to be a cookbook editor, grant writer, botanic garden marketing assistant, and museum volunteer coordinator…all because of the storywork of knowing I wanted to get my hands dirty in the practical work of making the world a better, stronger, safer place, and those jobs fit the themes of my passions and skills.

Now I am an editor, helping writers feel confident about their communication and equipping everyday communicators to use words well.

So whether you’re applying for a job, a school, a scholarship, or you know of someone in the middle of those moments, this storywork is worth doing. Lay out the papers, get out the scissors, find your glue and get to work.