You know that colleague who raises their hand at the end of a meeting to “just ask a few questions”?
If you're a personal essayist, that better be you.
Coming December 9, 2025 & available for PREORDER now!
A good personal essay will always be a little bit problematic.
This is because any decent narrative requires tension — and you can’t have tension without a problem.
It’s hard to hold a reader’s interest by being straight and normal and polite and nice. (Though certainly, you can and should be kind and compassionate and just).
A personal essayist is not someone who is eager to please. It’s not a yes-(wo)man. It’s not the person who goes along to get along. It’s that annoying colleague who raises their hand at the end of a meeting to “just ask a few questions.”
Though, to be more precise, a personal essayist is not literally that colleague; a personal essayist is probably the type who bottles that shit up and then explodes with controlled contrariety all over the page.
🌟 Here’s a prompt 🌟
If you (like me) became a writer because you often feel like you’re about to explode, channel that energy into your writing.
When I sit through a meeting where it’s not wise for me to state my opinion, or when I listen to a sermon I disagree with, or when I’m in any situation where I cannot use my voice, I often feel like there is a fire inside of me that desperately needs released.
I could call a friend and scream for two hours. I could run 15 miles to exhaust it out of me. Or I could open up a notebook, think about my latest writing project, and channel that explosive energy into art.
I cannot even count how many of my scenes that feel urgent and interesting and exciting were written because something happened earlier in the day that bothered me, and I had no socially appropriate way to express it.
And this is significant: I’m never writing about the thing that was actually bothering me. I am simply using that energy to light up some other thing.
In other words, make your frustration work for you. You might not be able to change the world — but you can make art.
When I’m trying to find ideas for pitches, one of my favorite places to turn are recent academic journals.
Even before I started writing journalistic essays, I considered health and wellness “my beat.” For almost fifteen years, I taught English in higher education, and whenever I signed up to teach themed research classes, I always requested “writing for health professions.” I’ve also won a half-dozen grants focused on the science of writing (and writing in the sciences).
My husband is in healthcare and subscribes to several medical journals — JAMA, The American Academy of Family Physicians — and when I bring in the mail, I always glance through the headlines.
I’m interested in some of the topics for personal reasons (when I was pregnant, I wanted to read all of the studies about pregnancy, for instance), but I’m also interested in the topics for writing purposes.
If a new study has been published in an academic journal, that study can serve as a timely hook for pitching an essay to the general public on that same topic.
💊There are several types of essays you could write based upon an academic journal article 💊
You could write a reported piece where you cite the academic study and interview other experts about the topic. These pieces are driven by an inquiry, and they offer readers an answer. The author might have a personal angle to demonstrate their authority in writing the piece, but not necessarily. And even if they do, the personal narrative is likely kept to a minimum. Other people’s stories (reporting) are actually more important than your own in these types of pieces. These are the types of essays that outlets like Well - The New York Times publishes.
Another way to take a piece of academic research and then turn it into an essay for the general public would be to write a service essay. A service essay does more than just provide a well-researched answer to a question. It gives readers actionable information that they can implement in their own lives. Often, pieces like this have 2-4 direct takeaways. These pieces are published in outlets like Women's Health & Wellness Advice | SELF
Or you could write a personal essay. These are unique narratives about an individual’s experience, as it relates to the recently published research.
The tricky part about this genre, though, is that you have to make it interesting. You’re not just answering a question. You’re not just giving tips. You’re telling a story — a story that requires tension!
Tension is taking academic research and interrogating its claims with just a few questions
For instance, an academic article that I decided to pick a fight with was on the topic of exercise snacks. Exercise snacks are short bursts of activity throughout the day, and the academic literature was making an argument that it would be wise to incorporate more of these “snacks” throughout the day for your health.
It would be so very boring if I wrote a personal essay about how I was a big fan of exercise snacks, and here’s how I use them throughout my day.
It’s so much more interesting to push up against an idea. This is because strong narratives invoke surprise. They anticipate a readers’ expectations or presuppositions, and they thwart them.
A good personal essay deconstructs: I know you think X is true, but really it is Y.
You’ll see that my essay follows this formula:
You think that exercise snacks are healthy BUT what about flow? What about boundaries? And what about people who are super obsessive (like I am)?
Here’s the personal essay pitch that I sent to Well+Good about exercise snacks.
Dear Jennifer Heimlich,
I hope you're well! Thank you so much for your invitation to consider you for future pitches.
A December 2022 study showed that exercise snacks -- multiple one-minute bursts of activity throughout the day -- can substantially improve health and reduce mortality by up to 40%. For those who struggle to find time or motivation to move throughout the day, this is great news. The concept of exercise snacking, though, can be detrimental to mental health
When I was a new mom, I indulged in exercise snacks. Assuming the schedule of a newborn (one where my day was punctuated by five or more short, dissatisfying naps), I grazed on movement. A core workout during naptime. Some planks paralleling tummy time. A round of lunges with baby wrapped against my chest. At first, I was gratified by my creativity at squeezing in movement throughout the day. Eventually, though, I found that my exercise snacks left me constantly craving. By sneaking in exercise anytime, I was thinking about it all the time.
In a 700-word personal essay with research entitled, "When exercise snacking leaves you full but never satisfied," I will argue that it can be beneficial to put boundaries upon workouts -- in the same way that one may pre-plan a meal. Though scheduling a block of time for exercise isn't always necessary for physical health, it can help achieve the mental benefits of a flow state and aid in resisting compulsive movement.
On a line level, you’ll also see that I invoked the “snack” metaphor both in my headline and in the articulation of my argument. There’s a reason we value meals more than snacks in eating — and I applied that same logic (and language) in my discussion of exercise.
Jennifer wrote back and said the idea resonated with her. She commissioned the piece, and she didn’t require any additional reporting. She offered $200.
Here’s the final piece: The Unexpected Downside of ‘Exercise Snacks’: Always Feeling Like You Need More
Tell me in the comments, how do you get your ideas for personal ideas? And what brings out your own contrariety?
This is part of a monthly series called Path to Publication.
In it, I will unpack the story behind my stories. These reflections are part process, part strategy.
At the beginning of 2022, I had, essentially, zero bylines. Since then (in the span of two years), I’ve published nearly 50 short essays. It’s not like I became particularly prolific. I’ve always been a writer. I just became serious about learning the tips and tricks for placing a piece in a popular outlet. And that’s what I’m looking forward to sharing with you.
Love your approach to writing short pieces, Anna! You’ve already convinced me not to indulge in snacking.
I love the idea of channeling explosive energy into art!