Joyce Pellino Crane has written a free eBook for rising high school seniors planning to apply for college this fall.

“Writing Your College Essay,” packages the seven prompts from the Common Application with interesting story ideas into one simple eBook. Opening sentences from sample essays are also offered.

The book is designed to help essay writers connect the dots between their every day lives and the compelling story they are hoping to tell about themselves. It tells them how to discover that story and where to begin.

“The college essay should reveal the uniqueness of the writer. This is an opportunity to tell a personal story that no one else could write because each essay is exclusive to that person,” said Crane.

Crane noted that most colleges don’t require face-to-face interviews, so the college essay is considered the equivalent. It can become an admissions officer’s deciding factor regarding a borderline student, she added.

“That’s why the essay is so important and should not be left up to chance,” Crane said. “And never leave it to the last minute. Besides the unnecessary stress, a last minute submission doesn’t allow the writer to give the essay the attention it deserves.”

Crane is known as the College Essay Confidante. She is the News Director at Westford Community Access TV and a former community newspaper editor. She was a Boston Globe correspondent from 2000 to 2010. Between 2011 and 2016, she was the recipient of numerous newswriting and reporting awards from the New England Newspaper and Press Association. In addition, she won an editorial award from the 2015 Best of GateHouse and a first prize NENPA award for commentary writing.