Author, editor, and ghostwriter Kathi Macias first heard of the train-of-thought writing method at a writer’s conference in the ‘80s. In wasn’t until 2005 that she would write the go-to book on the subject, The Train-of-Thought Writing Method. No one is sure who originally developed the idea, but Macias was the first to lay it all out in a book, after teaching the method for years and creating handouts. Aspiring authors use the “practical, user-friendly help for beginning writers,” as well as high schoolers looking for essay help and seniors wanting to write their life story. The method helps writers take multiple ideas and pull them together into cohesive, polished manuscripts.