The time arrives. You spread out paper and pick up..........you will have time to revise, edit and polish your work.

The time arrives. You spread out paper and pick up a pen. There is no escape - you have to face the single most difficult part of the writing process: writing an essay.

One misunderstanding about writing involves the fear of failure. We must get rid of that fear at the beginning. Failure is a normal part of the process. Indeed, without failure, most of us would never be able to express what we wanted to. We would never know what we truly think without first articulating the ideas that come into our mind. As you do so, you may need to make a few false starts. But that should not matter. As you work through some awkward, inaccurate and misleading sentences you will finally arrive at one that expresses your ideas exactly and seems right. Do not expect each sentence to form easily on the page. Even with practice, this does not happen. Instead, work through the failures to arrive at success.

Some preparation, as well as your attitude, can make your writing more productive if not easier. If writing is an occasional thing, it will seem strange, even threatening. If however, you do it regularly you will find writing easier. If you practice the piano a little every day, it becomes a familiar instrument; you will feel comfortable with it. Familiarity in any situation helps you relax. Therefore, set aside some time to write every day.

In addition, try to write at approximately the same time each day. We are creatures of regularity. Football coaches know how important it is for a team to practice at the same hour, five days a week. The body - and the mind - has its rhythm. Whether you write best in the early morning or at midnight makes little difference. What is important for you is to find the tide of your personal rhythm and flow with it every day.

Writers claim they need a special place in which to work. Some prefer absolute silence; others write well in noisy surroundings. Find what works for you and stick to it. Create your own nest - whatever makes you comfortable. The German writer, Schiller, claimed to work well only when he could smell rotten apples. Most of us are not that eccentric, but having a special place helps establish a pattern for writing that almost all of us need.

Finally, the best preparation is a warm-up where you write for ten minutes. Of course, a warm-up can never substitute for honest effort on the main essay. Write about anything that comes into your head. If nothing else comes to mind write a nursery rhyme or the words of a song. But start writing fast. Time yourself and do not stop writing for at least ten minutes.

But, a word of warning - do not postpone writing until the night before the essay is due. Remember the act of writing itself is more productive than merely worrying about what to write. Once you begin work on your essay topic, write with as much intensity and speed as possible. The mind usually moves faster than the hand, so work fast. The more words you write, the more you will activate your mind. Words call up words. Images call up images. Slow writing, on the other hand, makes you critical. You may begin to challenge the sentence you have just completed. Once this sort of self-criticism begins, you are no longer writing. You are editing. Writing and editing are different stages in the writing process. During the first draft, fast intensive writing focuses your mind on the subject. Ideas will grow only out of an encounter with the subject, not out of concern for grammar and spelling. After you have finished a rough working copy, you will have time to revise, edit and polish your work.

Summary: Many of us find writing difficult because we fear failure but we need to get rid of this fear. False starts are to be expected as we articulate our ideas. We need to work through them until we arrive at what we want. We should not expect sentences to form easily. By working through the failures we will arrive at success. But preparation and attitude are important. We need to establish a pattern for writing. Writing regularly every day at the same time and in a special place will make writing less strange and less threatening. A ten-minute warm-up, when we write intensely about whatever comes to mind, also helps prepare us for the actual task. Finally, it is important not to postpone writing until the last minute.