This book explains how to work with ideas to hone them into words, providing techniques and exercises for brainstorming, choosing the right approach, working with an unknown or boring assigned topic, and selecting the best point of view. It presents 10 steps, noting related problems: (1) "Decide on Size" (no specific length is assigned); (2) "Tackle the Topic" (e.g., how to recognize an idea or to find one's own topic); (3) "Adopt an Approach" (e.g., confusion over what abstract means and wanting to tackle two approaches); (4) "Test the Title" (eg., uncertainty over whether the title covers certain ideas); (5) "Pick a Point of View" (e.g., confusion between approach and point of view and between aspect and point of view); (6) "Chart Your Course" (e.g., going blank when thinking about subtopics and where to put ideas that are not part of the main idea); (7) "Formulate Your First Words" (the introduction has to be extra special); (8) "Build the Body"; (9) "Conclude Concisely"; and (10) "Check for Quality Control" (the paper is not the right size). An appendix presents an edited first draft of a paper. (SM)