Writing Heads

✨Reading and writing aren’t the same process.✨

Reading moves you toward decisions. Writing starts with them.

And that’s where a lot of essay woes begin for students. Because - they try to write an essay the same way they read one.

But - the writing process starts with decisions — before the research, before the paragraphs, before the thesis is set in stone.

My tutorial Essay Relief walks you through how to make those decisions so you actually know what you’re looking for when you research.

Link in bio (if you’re interested)

⚠️Neat notes are out! ⚠️

Your notes shouldn’t look like you’ve already figured it all out.They should show you *figuring it out.*

Not answers → questions
Not conclusions → possibilities
Not certainty → curiosity
Not just quotes → your thoughts, patterns, connections and observations

And, while I appreciate neat / legible printing, your notes should reflect the messy middle - the place in between reading & writing where thinking happens.

…because thinking is what eventually gives you something worth saying in your essay.

Want to get better at the thinking behind your writing?

That’s exactly what my tutorials teach. Not how to write perfect sentences. Not formulas to organize a paragraph. And not an acronym to write a one-size-fits-all introduction. They teach you the kind of thinking strong essays are built on and that help you develop a writer’s sensibility.

Link in bio.🔗

Stop thinking of your essay as a stack of paragraphs.
—> Think of it as a stack of *observations.*

Your paragraphs are just where you organize those observations.

When you focus on building paragraphs, you can end up asking:

“What am I supposed to say in this paragraph?”

But when you focus on making observations, the better question becomes:

“What am I noticing—and what does that make me think?”

That shift changes not only how you write - but how you think *as you read.*

And , it sets you up for the kind of thinking that takes you from summarizing what you read to interpreting it. That’s the kind of thinking I’m after in OOPS! Studio.

Doors close today. Check out writingheads.com for info (link in bio) or…

DM me OOPS + your email address and I’ll send you the details.

Active reading doesn’t always *look* active.

Sometimes it looks like staring out the window.
Putting your pencil down.
Reading the same sentence twice.
Sitting with a thought before moving on.

Because reading isn’t just taking in words—it’s making meaning.

That’s exactly what we practice inside OOpS!: slowing down, noticing more, and learning how to think your way to stronger writing.

Doors close tomorrow!.

DM OOPS + your email address and I’ll send you the details.

Most students are taught to prove their thesis.

But, students who write strong essays test their thesis as they work through their research & their thinking.

A working thesis is a hypothesis—not a conclusion. It should change as you read, question, and evaluate the evidence.

That’s the idea behind OOPS! Studio - a 4 week summer course that teaches you how to discover what the text is actually saying—and let your thesis emerge from that conversation.

Because essays don’t begin with certainty. They begin with observations and possibilities.

Doors to the OOPS! Studio close August 8.

DM me “OOPS” + your email address, and I’ll send you all the details.

Reading a text and interpreting it aren’t the same thing.

Reading is how we figure out what an author thinks.
Interpretation is how we figure out why it matters.

So, how do you get better at interpreting a text? You get better at noticing things in it - identifying not just what the author is saying, but the decisions the author is making.

That’s what I teach in OOPS! a 4 week summer course that starts August 9th. Doors close on Saturday (August 8).

Want more info? DM me OOPS + your email address and I’ll send you all the details.

Content + [messy middle] + Form = Interpretation

Most students focus on what an author says or how an author organizes their argument. But interpretation happens when you put these two parts in conversation with one another.

I call that *the messy middle.*

The messy middle is where you make observations, consider possibilities and then write insightful, thoughtful statements.

In my OOPs! Studio, I teach you how to spend time in *the messy middle* so you move beyond summarizing what you’ve read and start interpreting it.

✨Class starts Sunday August 9th and registration closes on August 8th. DM me OOPS + your email address and I’ll send you all the details.

Strong analysis doesn’t stop at what an author says.

It also asks you to notice the decisions the author made to shape and organize their thinking.

That’s where interpretation gets interesting - *and your writing.*

✨ Want to learn how to notice more than just what an author says and add depth and complexity to your essays?

Check out the OOPS! Link in my bio - or DM me OOPS + your email address and I’ll send you the details.

Most students think writing is a set of conventions to follow.

It isn’t.

And, the moment you stop seeing writing as a set of rules and formulas to be applied - and start seeing it as a series of decisions - you open the door to critical analysis and interpretation.

Every paragraph break = a decision.
Every example = a decision.
Every sentence = a decision.
Every choice = a decision.

And noticing decisions is where interpretation begins.

✨ Want to learn the thinking process behind strong analysis?

DM me OOPS + your email address, and I’ll send you all the details about the OOPS! Studio.