Alumni Essays
The Online Writing Blog
Learn directly from our students. We’re collaborating with alumni to bring you the best hub for online writing on the Internet. Subscribe below to get new essays in your inbox.
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The Ultimate Guide to Writing Online
The Internet could become your most powerful asset, if only you were using it correctly. In Write of Passage, I teach a proven system to write online that’s built for the 21st century. I’ve distilled the most important principles from the course into this guide.
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Summoning the Muse
Where does inspiration come from? By dissecting the methods of Mary Oliver, Michael Pollan, and Michael Lewis, we see how their routines look more like devotion than discipline. Away from their desk, they have a lifestyle that brings them a flood of ideas. How can we reliably summon the muse?
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IKEA Words: How Not to Furnish Your Digital Home
Why are we drawn to cheap, re-usable, and safe language? The pressure to use modular Swedish furniture is similar to the pressure online writers face. We want quick results, we cushion our words, and we crave to be accepted. How can we break out of our bad habits?
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Pseudonymous Cape
Are pseudonyms a mask to hide behind, or a superpower that unlocks your potential? Around 20% of Write of Passage students write under a pseudonym. It lets them explore personal writing, which can be tough to do under your own name. What happens when you bring confessions, transparency, and authenticity into your writing?
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Our Vision for Write of Passage
Writing online is one of the most undervalued opportunities in the world right now. We are pioneers on the frontier of the Internet, teaching creators, kids, and companies how to write online in the 21st century. Here’s what we’re building.
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How to Make Friends on the Internet
The glaring lights and colorful signs – buzzing with electricity – illuminate a sea of people hurrying down the streets of Shibuya. Vending machines sell ramen, bananas, umbrellas, soup stock – anything you can name, even beer. A deafening dissonance of whoops, wails and whirs emanate from the arcades in Akihabara. My first time inRead More ➔ “How to Make Friends on the Internet”
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From Fear to Thriving: My “Write” of Passage As An Immigrant Creator
“Your English is good enough! You just have all these stories in your head to stop you from creating again!” “You don’t understand! You are a native English speaker born and raised here in the States. You can’t possibly know what it is like for me to be an immigrant in this country!” I yelledRead More ➔ “From Fear to Thriving: My “Write” of Passage As An Immigrant Creator”
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Metaphors: Crafting Language to Shape Culture
As we plunge into the future, we’re at a loss for words to describe it. Metaphors let us make sense of novelty by bridging the present with the past. Writers are in a unique position to shape language that orients and guides our culture. But how can we write metaphors that stick?