This is part of my article on writing the personal essay that will appear in The Writer Magazine next March. 

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Step Four: Rewriting

      Remember: writing is rewriting.

      First, look at the opening paragraph of your essay. Do you pull the reader in right away?  Do the first sentences set up accurate expectations for your reader?  If it’s a serious piece, is that the tone of the opening?  If it’s humorous and light, is that evident immediately? A personal essay is so short that there’s no time to get literary or clever or mysterious. Cut to the chase.

      Often we write our way into our essays – we’re telling ourselves the story, setting it up. And this is fine but the reader doesn’t need a lot of information up front. Try losing your first paragraph and see if the essay still works.

      Cut out all details in the essay that don’t connect directly to the subject and the story you’re telling.  No matter how beautifully written and interesting, there’s no room in a short essay for the non-vital anecdote or description.    

     What’s your essay about? Is there a theme to it? This sounds simple but I’ve read a lot of first draft essays by students that rambled a winding path or waxed nostalgic without getting anywhere. An essay must have a shape, a theme. Some writers start out knowing exactly what that theme is, while others don’t have a clue until they’ve written their way through to the end. 

      What it all means is not a message in neon, it’s a conclusion. You’ve either found meaning in a difficult experience or discovered humor and perspective in a lighter subject. Your essay has a point. There’s a reason you’re telling the reader this story.

      If you get lost at the end and not sure what your point is, go back to your first paragraph and see if you can find seeds for the conclusion.  Often essays are circular;  I discovered that the opening line of my essay for the anthology was also my closing line.