When I think about my writing process the first thing that comes to mind is spontaneity. If you knew anything about me, this may surprise you. I am a planner through and through. My agenda is perfectly color-coded with all of my assignments for the semester, the desk in my dorm room is meticulously organized with not one pen out of place, and I make my bed every morning without fail. For some reason, writing has always been different for me.

I have always been jealous of those who are able to just sit down and bang out a paper in an hour tops. If I want any of my writing to be good, I need to wait for inspiration to hit me. The reason I associate writing with spontaneity is because I never quite know when that inspiration will come. I could be sitting in my dorm lounge, shampooing my hair in the shower, or waiting for class to start and all of a sudden I will come up with a topic for my next article, feel the urge to journal, or think of a thesis for my rhetoric paper. Maybe that is the reason I have come to enjoy writing so much. It is one of the only aspects of my life that is unplanned. There is no set time of day, place, or mindset.

I’m sure by now you are wondering how I get any of my assignments done on time if my writing philosophy is based around random moments of inspiration. For days when I have a paper due in three hours and I just can’t seem to find the innovation I need, I have tricks for inducing it myself. My favorite way to get inspired is to scroll through social media. I tend to follow accounts that post a lot of quotes and usually one of these will catch my attention and give me something to think about. In true Type A fashion, I also have a study blog that I use to motivate myself to finish even the hardest of statistics problems. Looking through pages of colorful stationary and flawless notes never fails to get me in the writing mood.

Although I may be slightly bitter that I will never be one of those people who can write a paper from start to finish without any outside inspiration or motivation, I wouldn’t change my writing process even if I could. My process is organic and I feel as though I get my best ideas, and therefore best results, when those little moments of inspiration hit me. I don’t think writing is something you can force. Writing, in my opinion, should be exciting, interesting and spontaneous.