We never have conversations where we think constantly about what we say before we say it. How awkward would that be? Instead, we tell people what we think on the fly. Freewriting is simply writing our thinking on the fly the same way we think in conversations. In freewriting, we practice not thinking about what we’re writing because we’re too busy writing it.
Try it! Find a pen and paper and write for five timed minutes without stopping, going back, crossing out or rereading. Leave all your mistakes. Write everything and anything you think as you think it. If you stop long enough to think something, write it! If you can’t think of anything to write, write “I can’t think of anything to write,” or repeat the last word “write write write” or phrase “I can’t think of anything . . . anything to write” until you unstick yourself. After five minutes, stop and admire, reread, or recycle your freewrite which is how you write and think in your own voice.
You can freewrite for 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 or even 15 minutes. You can freewrite just to connect with yourself and your writer’s voice. Or, you can freewrite with a specific purpose in mind: I’m freewriting to think through ideas for my history paper; I’m freewriting to respond to this email before I respond to this email; I’m freewriting to tell the story of when I first got my taste for human meat, for a tasteless example.
If you are more the typer than the by-hand writer, try, instead, “freetyping”:
- Open up a document.
- Turn the text color to white so that what you type is invisible.
- Type without stopping or hitting delete/backspace for five timed minutes (I suggest a gentle slap to the back of the right naughty backspacing hand by the left helpful correcting hand, if you find yourself hitting backspace as a reflex). After five minutes, turn the text back to black as proceed as above to admire, reread, or delete as desired.
Once a practiced freewriter, you will never be that halting, blocked writer again!
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