I’ve been going back and forth with friends who are submitting to the writing fellowships this year.

Many have change their submission guidelines. Some are taking specs and others new pilots. So, I hope y’all are working on those NOW.

That said, DO NOT ignore the essays.

I know people have a tendency to rush through the essays or write them last. Those essays are important and should be a window into who you are, why you want to write and work as a professional.

But, the essay should still be engaging... like story.

Search yourself and find something that’s interesting.

It doesn’t have to be ‘woe is me’ or some traumatic incident. It needs to be engaging. One year, I wrote about losing my eyesight and how being a teenager, forced in the house to avoid sunshine made me write angry poetry.

The year I got in, I wrote about my relationship with my father, sexuality and football.

But, I structured it so that you wondered how it would end. Were we going into an argument? Would my father resent me?

I wanted to make the reader to go on the journey with me.

Again, don’t ignore the essays. Figure out your angle and what you want to say. Have fun with it. Be vulnerable. Treat your essay like story.

Yes, the questions are general as hell, so what... be interesting. You want the readers to remember YOU, so that story needs to stick.