Writing begins when something catches your attention.
The story inside the frame...
Zora Neale Hurston once described herself as someone who wrote because she was curious.
I love that.
Because curiosity is not an add-on to writing. It's the beginning of writing.
Before an essay becomes a thesis, before it becomes paragraphs, before it becomes polished sentences, it begins with a moment of attention.
Why did I notice that?
Why does that feel strange?
Why does that detail matter?
What am I trying to understand?
That's the work.
Not just collecting information.
Not just finding quotes.
Not just proving a point you already decided on.
But staying with the thing that made you pause and read again.
This is why I teach students to read differently: not just to understand what a text says, but to practice how to notice - and then ask why.