My personal writing process

When it comes to start writing an essay of any type I get very nervous then very overwhelmed. I can write and write and write and end up with nothing I actually want to use on the final draft. First I write my own ideas and the knowledge I have on the topic. After this I start doing the research on the ideas I came up with. Sometimes I don't have any knowledge on the subject like right now with the paper for this class. So it has been very informative learning about the effects on babies with fetal alcohol syndrome. After I gather about 6-8 good resources I started getting the best information on each one and start forming sort of like a outlining where I can move around my ideas until they sound just right. Sometimes I look at it like if I was baking something and I love cooking too. Getting all the ingredients together to come up with one perfect dish or cake, depends on what I'm cooking. I enjoy the writing after the research is done because its faster and I could see the shape my essay is taking. I still have some trouble with the citations but feel comfortable that I will get the hang of it by the end of this term.