Skip to main content

Freewriting


This morning I've been freewriting – a method I was taught at uni and one that seems to be a random process but has always worked for me.  You basically sit and write.  No punctuation or spelling issues.  Even gibberish is better than stopping and though I used to get cramp and stop for a break I can now get through it.  I think when you’re typing and slightly in pain the interesting stuff comes out.  The little finger on my right hand clicks out of joint when I’m writing something good.

But it hasnt clicked out in a while and I’m trying to create a bigger project than I’m used to.  Short stories, short plays and even blogs all restrict you to a minimal amount of ideas, shorter communication and I’ve finished sooner than I’ve started.

So to freewrite you need a pen, pencil, crayon or keyboard and a new page to unleash all over.  Just start writing.  Absolutely anything.  When you get stuck start repeating’ my name is [insert your name!] my name is…my name is…and Im…’

Remember your first kiss with the person you’ll wake up next to every morning.  Remember the pain you get when you bite into vanilla ice cream.  Remember being lost in Woolworths when you were five…

Remember anything and start writing.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Moving Goalposts

Some days you can feel as though you're on top of everything and it all makes completes sense.  The goalposts to a job being completed are clearly signposted and you can tick them off as you progress. Other days you can feel as though you're sinking and no matter how many goals you tick off a few more appear on the horizon and nobody warned you they'd be there. I set myself goals and these are added to what everyone else has decided I need to do.  So they multiply and the list gets longer and falls off one page onto two and suddenly you're staring at a tunnel of objectives and no light to shine on them for clarity. It's deeply frustrating and I'm the sort of person who needs set targets to reach.  If you change the targets it's like you've personally attacked me and ruined my day for fun.  I know that's not what actually happens but it definitely feels personal sometimes. I have 2 new pieces of work to hand in on Monday that weren't menti...

Crystal Clear Views

It's frustrating when all you can see are the problems in a situation.  No matter how hard you try, the short term worries and panic end up clouding the view... (Photo by me, 2009) But if you risk a few crows feet and squint the bigger picture can appear.  A more positive longer term.  You breathe deeply, reassure yourself that eventually the problem will make sense and hunker down to make it all work out okay.  (Photo by me, 2009)

Disconnect

There is a feeling of being lost which has been creeping up on me more and more over the past few weeks. It makes me feel as though I am a different person to the one I was a month ago. Different thoughts, different priorities. Even so far as saying different voice, different body, different face I see in the mirror. I do not feel like I am me and the more I try to reach myself or sift back over old conversations and emotions to find myself the less graspable 'I' am. I can hear my voice talking at people. Sense me ears listening and my brain nodding along happily inside my skull. But there is a disconnect. And in that gap I do not like the situation. I don't feel comfortable and I don't know how to get up and be even remotely okay about where I might end up. It may simply be a bad Monday or a bad week about to start. When the disconnected fog descends, as it certainly will again and again and tomorrow and the next day again and again, I will try to be ready to ...