Sunday, January 1, 2012

Write away with Free-Writing

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FREE WRITING!

Writers block anyone...It happens to each one of us so I think the answer would YEAH! But, there are ways to get through the hurdles. So let nothing stop you from expressing yourself, this New Year.


One of the ways to get the thoughts flowing is FREE WRITING! Free writing is where you start and write non-stop until you exhaust your ideas for the moment. But, to be really Free and let the thoughts spill and pour out you need a small stopper!

Time yourself.

Put a stopwatch, alarm or whatever but if it is 5 minutes then stop writing as it rings - don’t even try to finish the word!

Write away

Open your notebook and just start writing whatever comes to your mind, however disconnected they are. Don’t think! Do not let thoughts to interfere just ignore them. soon it will become a habit. Just write…or should i say  - just Free Write. You could also use prompts.

One word prompts

Or you could use a cue or prompt.The cue or prompt is to take any word that comes to you any word you think of on the spot and start writing without pausing to think of grammar, spelling…

Other Prompts

Alternatively, open a page from the dictionary and close your eyes – point to a word. Open your eyes and use that word. Leave aside what you have written for a while if you do not want to read it right now, for this is our brain warming exercise. If you wnat just delete or tear up the paper. But, if you can - just file it away and come back to it later.

Later, you might be inspired to write more on a different track or actually find a poem, a story idea hidden or a non-fiction piece within. But, don’t write with any expectations of these. Write to express yourself, to relieve some emotions hanging over.

Don’t be a hard on yourself
When you read, you will find that in a hurry you have overlapped words or cannot decipher what you have written but mostly you will find you have expressed yourself from the heart a feeling of taking that first step and that's all that counts...for now. No one to stop you, no one to ask you to correct it! So keep it or crumple it – the important thing is the brain has that one thing it probably never had in school, college and later – The Freedom to express!

Start your diary
You could also start writing your diary in short sms language, to get across your thoughts; others take their time and write it very neatly. Lock it if you must. If you are using a computer keep it in your folder name uh – ‘free writing’ (too obvious, then choose anything as long as only you know where it is!). Until you get confident, you might not want anyone to read, and your secrets should be safe with you!

Make your Free writing sessions fun and playful rather than a serious, tense moment. Have Fun!

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