--- title: "Guest Speaker Paula Derrow: Tips to Perfect your Personal Essays" description: "“Editors are always looking for young, new voices\", she said. \"To maximize your chances of getting published, focus on what you know best: yourself.\"" image: https://blog.johncabot.edu/hubfs/P1010361.jpg --- [![JCULogo1](https://blog.johncabot.edu/hs-fs/hubfs/JCULogo1.png?width=300&height=80&name=JCULogo1.png "JCULogo1")](https://blog.johncabot.edu/blog?hsLang=en) [![JCULogo2](https://blog.johncabot.edu/hs-fs/hubfs/JCULogo2.png?width=300&height=82&name=JCULogo2.png "JCULogo2")](https://blog.johncabot.edu/blog?hsLang=en) - [Undergraduate](https://blog.johncabot.edu/tag/undergraduate) - [Graduate](https://blog.johncabot.edu/tag/graduate) - [Study Abroad](https://blog.johncabot.edu/tag/study-abroad) - [Italian](https://blog.johncabot.edu/it/blog) - [Website](https://www.johncabot.edu/) - Filter By Topics - Scegli Il Topic # Guest Speaker Paula Derrow: Tips to Perfect your Personal Essays February 24, 2014 SHARE [mailto:?body=https://blog.johncabot.edu/academics/guest-speaker-paula-derrow-tips-to-perfect-your-personal-essays](mailto:?body=https://blog.johncabot.edu/academics/guest-speaker-paula-derrow-tips-to-perfect-your-personal-essays) ![](https://blog.johncabot.edu/hubfs/P1010361.jpg) SHARE [mailto:?body=https://blog.johncabot.edu/academics/guest-speaker-paula-derrow-tips-to-perfect-your-personal-essays](mailto:?body=https://blog.johncabot.edu/academics/guest-speaker-paula-derrow-tips-to-perfect-your-personal-essays) ![John Cabot University](https://blog.johncabot.edu/hubfs/JCUCrestWhiteonBlue-1.jpg) Written By [John Cabot University](https://blog.johncabot.edu/author/jcuadmissions) Topic [Academics](https://blog.johncabot.edu/tag/academics) How does getting paid to write about your own life sound? Paula Derrow, former editor at *Self* magazine, [visited John Cabot](http://www.johncabot.edu/about_jcu/news_and_events/news_2013_2014/paula-derrow-lecture-summary.aspx) to advise students on how to do just that. Having worked for magazines such as *Glamour, American Health, The New Yorker,* and *Cosmo*, Derrow provided insight and professional advice into what publishers are looking for when considering a potential piece. “Editors are always looking for young, new voices", she said. Derrow also encouraged students to seize the opportunity to write personal essays: "To maximize your chances of getting published, focus on what you know best: yourself." Derrow's tips to perfect your personal essays are as follows: 1) There needs to be a change in the main character. *Derrow compared stories to a movie. No one wants to see a movie where nothing happens to or changes the main character.* 2) You want your reader to come out with a new view. *As a writer, you want the reader to have a new perspective than they did at the beginning of the essay.* 3) Do not squish your entire life into four pages. *People tend to want to recite every detail of their lives in one story. Pick the most prominent memories you have and go from there.* 4) Be able to describe what your story is about in three sentences. *Know what you are writing about and who your subject is.* 5) Do not sum up your essay in the conclusion. *Forget everything you learned in middle school! Conclude your essay with a statement that will kick your reader in the gut and give him or her something to think about.* 6) Begin your essay with action. *The opening is often found several paragraphs down in essays. Editors do not read past the first 2-4 sentences, so capture the reader’s attention immediately.* 7) Pick a publication, and write specifically for that one. *If you are submitting your essay to ten publications, it will most likely not be picked by any of them.* If you are interested in having your words published, start perfecting your essays and find the right magazine for your stories today! Learn more about the [Institute for Creative Writing and Literary Translation](http://www.johncabot.edu/academics/creative-writing-institute/). Learn more about [past and future events for aspiring writers at John Cabot University](http://www.johncabot.edu/academics/creative-writing-institute/events-calendar.aspxhttp://www.johncabot.edu/academics/creative-writing-institute/events-calendar.aspx). Learn more about [Paula Derrow](http://www.pauladerrow.com/). 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