It's 2 am and you're sitting at your desk, no ideas and no thoughts. The cup of coffee to your side is the sixth. But still, the same blank sheet of paper from an hour ago taunts you, there is nothing to show for your effort but a back cramp and a feeling of inferiority.
We've all faced it. The loss of ideas and the lack of drive. When we are left wondering why we can't seem to find the right words.
Perhaps what you need is to simply forget about structure and finding the right words.
Why not take a break from the tedium and freewrite?
The Benefits of Freewriting.
"If writing was dinner, then freewriting would have to be dessert."
It only takes a few minutes a day, but there are many benefits to be gleaned from freewriting exercises.
Freewriting promotes activity. It keeps the writer sharp and in control of his writings. Practicing freewriting everyday is one of the best preventions against writer's block and boredom in the writing process.
Freewriting allows you to stop thinking and make mistakes without judgement. When you freewrite, you allow yourself to be a little kid, able to misspell and be imperfect.
Freewriting gives us the freedom to be ourselves with all our faults.
As authors, above all else we need freedom. Freedom to write as we please. Sometimes we even need freedom from ourselves. Freewriting allows us to gain that. It allows us to detach from our worries and our mistakes, from our problems and from our concerns. All that is left is the words, with all their imperfections.
Freewriting is a good form of brainstorming. When you freewrite, you are actually performing a type of brainstorming. Freewriting can kickstart the mental process and bring new ideas and new concepts to the forefront. It brings new life to a tired mind that has focused so much on a topic that it clams up and can no longer create new ideas on that topic.
Freewriting in Practice.
Freewriting is one of the easiest ways to write. No prose, no context, just us and the words. It doesn't matter how they are arranged, it doesn't matter if they even make sense. All we have to do is write.
For this exercise, let's buy ourselves a spiral bound notebook, I personally use OMNI.
Write in it everyday. Just one page and one side per day. It doesn't matter if you can't think of anything to write, just write what comes to you, even if you feel it is subpar or not worth the effort.
It doesn't have to be neat or perfectly spelled. This exercise isn't about spelling, structure or neatness. Instead, it's meant to promote plain and simple activity. If you write more often, even if you feel it's bad, you will improve. The key to improvement in any activity is to practice often, and writing is no exception.
Keep on freewriting everyday, one page and one side at a time. By the time you have reached the end of the book, I can promise you will be more skilled than you were before you started. Once you get into the habit of writing everyday, writing will become easier and more natural.
This exercise also promotes mental clairity. We all have stress and other issues on our mind. By freewriting everyday, we allow our minds to be cleansed of this muck and allow the mind to be freed of that so it can think clearer and create more precise and interesting ideas.
Closing Arguments on Freewriting.
To truly be a creative author, it doesn't take knowing the magic words, it takes the patience and persistence to write the wrong ones often and the willingness to mold and shape them into the right ones. Freewriting will help to keep your mind fresh and your heart in the right place, not to mention, it's very fun too.
Sources.
"Anybody Can Write" by Roberta Jean Bryant.
