By: Taylor Kondel, Graduate Writing Consultant
As a former collegiate student-athlete, I know quickly a week’s schedule can fill up. Between classes, practices, games/tournaments, lifts, traveling, studying, and trying to have some social life outside of it all, finding time to write a long paper can feel almost impossible. Sometimes it seems like the only option is to wait until the night before it is due, sit down with your laptop, and hope the words somehow appear.
Unfortunately, writing a 10-page paper doesn’t quite work like that.
One thing being a student-athlete has taught me is that you can’t prepare for everything all at once. You have to break bigger goals into smaller pieces. The same idea can make writing a long paper much less overwhelming.
Taylor Kondel competing at a tournament against CMU. Photo courtesy of Titan Athletics.
Think of writing a paper like preparing for a competition. You probably wouldn’t wait until the night before a game and try to complete your entire season’s worth of practice or fitness. Instead, you practice a little at a time every day to progress. Writing can work the same way.
When I have a longer paper to write, I start by looking at the assignment as a whole, then breaking it into smaller tasks or chunks. Instead of thinking, “I have to write a whole ten-page paper,” I might think, “Today I am going to find my sources.”
-Taylor Kondel
When I have a longer paper to write, I start by looking at the assignment as a whole, then breaking it into smaller tasks or chunks. Instead of thinking, “I have to write a whole ten-page paper,” I might think, “Today I am going to find my sources,” “Tomorrow I will work on my introduction,” or “Tonight I will write one or two body paragraphs.” Suddenly, the assignment will feel much more manageable.
Another thing that helped me was taking advantage of the small amounts of free time I had as a student-athlete. As a student-athlete, you may not have 2-3 uninterrupted hours to sit down and just write. However, you might have thirty minutes before practice in the locker room, an hour between classes to hit the library, or even some time on the team bus on the road to your next game. These smaller blocks of time can add up fast. Even if you only write a paragraph or organize a few ideas as an outline, you have made progress in your paper.
Most importantly, I have learned that the first draft does not have to be perfect. In sports, mistakes are part of the game. You make a mistake, figure out what’s not working, learn from it, and try again. Writing is very similar. Sometimes the hardest part is getting something onto the page. Once the ideas are there, you can always go back and revise them. A rough paragraph is much easier to improve than a blank page.
So, the next time you have a big writing assignment and a schedule that already feels packed to the brim, try thinking about it like training or practice. You don’t need to accomplish everything in one session. Break the assignment into smaller goals, use the time you have available, and give yourself opportunities to revise and improve your writing.
You might not be able to write the entire 10-page paper in one day, and honestly, you probably shouldn’t. Just like sports, writing is a process. A little practice and preparation along the way can make the final result feel more manageable and less stressful.