Find out about the Paper: This is often the easiest of the steps to writing Zen. Though a feeling of light-headedness or dread may accompany this step, don't panic! Be open to suggestions from a professor before moving on to the next step.

Pick a Topic: This is your first test on your way to Zen masterdom. Can you remember in which subject you recieved the assignment? Do you know what your limitations on a topic are? If you answered "yes" to these questions, congradulations! You are on your way to becoming a Zen Writing Master. If not, you might want to click here. Once you have your limitations, pick a topic for your paper. This is an important decision: you and this topic will be seeing a lot of eachother in the next few _____ (fill in amount of time). Meditate to find a topic, or use the Zen Method of Thinking of Something to find your solution. Make sure you choose something you're interested in!

Begin Researching: Visiting a library before a website is always a good choice when beginning, just in case. When researching online, make sure that your sources are valid! One good way to test the validity of a site is to make sure there is no "~" in the URL, eg "http://www.somesite.com/~name" will, 9 times out of 10, be a personal site that you do not want to use.

Relax! You now have a decent amount of time to live a normal life without even thinking about your paper. Instead of working on it, you could try Bungee Wall Jumping, making some magic toast, or try an Unusual Sport. Whatever you do, enjoy this time you have!

Wait until the Correct Day: EG, the day before the paper is due. Seclude yourself away with a computer, internet source, stockpile of food, and (if you live in rural parts of New England, a paintball gun) Put on a good CD on, and write until you fall asleep. When you fall asleep, the motion of your forhead striking the keyboard should wake you. Delete the extraneous keystrokes created by the fall of your head, save the document, and continue writing. Save the final three sentences for the morning, if it is not yet time to go.

The Day of Reckoning: You have two choices. Either finish up the final sentences, do a spell check, print, and hand the paper in, (and, of course, hibernate for thirty years of so afterward) or, if you haven't finished the paper, I hear Canada is nice this time of year. Check that out.