Over thinking

[zvezda]

Hey everyone, I need some advice on a little (actually quite large) dilemma that I have, which you may have a little bit of an idea about after reading the subject. I had no clue where to post this, I think this section of the forum is perhaps most appropriate.
Anyway, I tend to over think things A LOT, most notably with english. My writing tends to be extremely convoluted and verbose, and I'm always advised to simplify it. Sometimes I over think so much so that I find myself staring blankly into space, and this happens a lot when I'm writing essays. I am fully aware of this problem but I just cannot seem to address it, so I was hoping someone on this forum (perhaps someone who has had similar issues) could help me out a little bit.

Thanks in advance

[ninwa]

Do you usually write a plan beforehand? That could be a good way of organising your thoughts and arguments and ensuring you don't get off track.

Try giving yourself an hour to write an essay, and just write the first thing that comes to your head. You'll find that the standard of expression in that writing is not that much worse than when you spend hours toiling over the construction of every single phrase. Keep doing this - you need to get yourself used to writing essays "live".

If you want, you could post up some examples of your "convoluted" writing and we could figure out simpler ways of saying what you wanted to say.

[Felicity Wishes]

I wonder if we are talking about the same thing. I over-write because I feel the need to say a lot of things and I'm always told to cut it down. It takes practice. I'm trying to work with my teacher with it. I have to stop and think about what NEEDS to be said and WHAT the assessors are looking for, rather than what I WANT to say.

[zvezda]

Generally I do but when I'm writing something like a language analysis I don't, which I'm trying to get into the swing of. Often when I write quickly I feel as if my expression is too simple and lacks sophistication, even though I've been obtaining pretty good marks.
Yeah similar thing Felicity, I think I have a pretty poor judgement on how much I need to write and how much I end up writing.