“I’ve been writing 1000 words a day. Knocking out these essays shouldn’t take more than a couple weeks.”

My famous last words on a call with a friend.

Writing my MBA essays was supposed to be easy. Between blogging and journaling, I had struck a balance between stream of consciousness and creative writing that I was certain had prepared me to “Talk about a time I failed” in 300 words or less.

I thought wrong.

Journaling and blogging are low-stakes writing formats. No one reads my journal other than me. My blog has some readers, but I churn out 3 posts per week. Each post has to reach a certain level of professionalism, but I’m writing 80-90% of my best work.

That last 10% was what I needed for my MBA applications. It resulted in weeks of paralyzing writer’s block as I sat down to write my essays.

The Creative Act

“A river of material flows through us. When we share our works and our ideas, they are replenished. If we block the flow by holding them all inside, the river cannot run and new ideas are slow to appear” -Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

I wish I had read The Creative Act before I started this writing endeavor. Every time I sat to write, my intentions were contorted between the prompt and the single idea I believed to be the only possible way to write the prompt.

Take Columbia’s prompt, for example. “Discuss one experience in your undergraduate career where you contributed to your community and what you learned from the experience.” (250 words)

I immediately knew my topic: the Guinness World Record for the Longest Hopscotch Game which my club, SEED, successfully completed in April 2022.

But I wrote 7 drafts of this essay before realizing that “what I learned” wasn’t that interesting.

I finished in 2 iterations once I changed the topic.

For Stanford’s “What matters most to you and why?” (650 words) essay, I was certain I’d write about asking that question to 100 strangers in Cyprus, Barcelona, and Vienna. But, this contained two inherent flaws:

• It wasn’t an essay where I reflected from within
• It didn’t show how I applied what mattered most after the fact

There was no “after the fact!” It was a recent conclusion.

I wrote 4 What Matters Most to You and Why drafts before writing about a completely different topic–ironically, the Longest Hopscotch Game I shelved earlier.

Two drafts later, that essay was done.

Writing Extravagantly

My writer’s block stemmed from being married to my adventures. I felt so passionately about them that I couldn’t bear separating myself from my stories.

Sometimes, I needed to write a “less cool” story because it answered the prompt. I was so wrapped up in writing creative, extravagant pieces that I would miss the boat entirely.

It took weeks to un-think this mindset and steer my writing toward what was required for an admissions essay. Better late than never.

I am a Vessel

What inevitably got me over the hump was decoupling from my stories. Around the same time, I started reading The Creative Act by Rick Rubin, a famous music producer.

Hearing his thoughts on creativity was fascinating, especially because I’m embarrassingly bad at this process.

I started nailing my essays when I simplified my writing approach. I made two major changes that got me there.

1. I stopped writing so extravagantly. Unfortunately, these word counts don’t allow for it, nor am I a good enough writer to do so.
2. I envisioned myself more as a vessel than as a writer.

My adventures, and lessons learned existed somewhere in the void. A blank canvas existed right in front of me. It was my job to translate those experiences into stories for the reader–taking what existed and giving it meaning.

It wasn’t my job to flaunt my accomplishments. That's how I started, but it never made for a good story. I'm not a creative writer, nor do I have the most extravagant story to tell.

Nor can you tell an extravagant story in 300 words.

Finding my Voice

Eight weeks after starting my first application, I finished my 16th and final essay. It took three weeks to finalize my first piece, but near the end, I began knocking them out in a few hours.

The last time I'd written anything that was my 100% best work was my Convocation Speech 4 years ago, so it was bound the take longer than I thought. But writer's block is real. Sometimes the ideas just don't translate to paper the way you want.

It can feel like you're pushing against a concrete wall.

I tried strategies like going for a walk, writing when inspiration struck, and changing my writing environment. In the end, the most effective trick was to decouple from my life, approach my writing as if I was a vessel for my experiences, and stop trying so hard to impress everyone.

Therein lay the elusive last 10% of my best work.

:)