I love mentoring young writers. As a home educator and published writer, I've had several opportunities to read and teach young people through classes and one-on-one. But, sometimes in the course of lending my expertise, I learn about a new technique.

Such was the case last week while I was providing a critique for one of my young writer friends. I discovered a term unknown to me. I deduced most of the concept by the name itself. But, I had never encountered it by definition in my years of schooling, through my own or through home education.

Intrigued, I researched the term "braided essay." I found this blog post from The Writing Addict to be helpful in explaining the method. I like this definition.

A braided essay is an essay that uses 2-3 events or topics to create an essay surrounding an event or question. Writers “weave” the “strands” (events or topics) together to form a “braid.”

http://www.thewritingaddict.org/2018/01/how-to-write-braided-essay.html

In understanding this basic idea, I realize I have done something similar in my poetry. Here is an example. This sestina represents three strands based on Moses' mountaintop encounter with God, Jesus' vineyard visit with his disciples, and my own mountaintop and valley moments. I am anticipating using a braided format in future poems and maybe even an essay.