It occurs to me that my own first few posts are the perfect example of Quiller-Couch’s darlings. They got me rolling. I must cut to the chase and abandon ornament.
The real blog starts here: a nuts and bolts example from a recent MD personal statement, anonymized of course, to show you where and how to cut and find your true beginning:
This was the student’s first attempt at her statement and she captured much of what was needed. Still, the initial draft took too long to arrive at a response to the essay prompt. The writer had to set her scene, find her motivations, uncover why she had an orientation toward medicine in the first place. And she writes us to that place. Once there, we have hit upon a true beginning. Here is how the opening of her final draft appeared:
Et voilà. Write toward your beginning, then go back and murder your darlings.
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