Introduction to Free Writing

This is more for me than for you. I have never been very disciplined and feel I need a boot camp instructor to get me motivated enough to make writing a habit. So I’m putting you in charge of my training. I will post a writing exercise daily, and my results. I want you to post your own results in the comments if you like what you’ve come up with. Or you can comment on mine. Writing exercises are good for anyone with the twitch to write anything. These prompts are meant to inspire free-writing, which is writing freely. I don’t know if Natalie Goldberg invented free writing, but she brought it to the creative world in Writing Down the Bones. I generally follow her rules of free writing:
1. Keep your hand moving. (Don’t reread)
2. Don’t cross out (no editing as you go)
3. Don’t worry about spelling and grammer.
4. Lose control
5. Don’t think. Don’t get logical.
6. Go for the jugular. (if something comes up in your writing that is scary or naked, dive right into it.)

Set the timer for the specified time, follow the guidelines for the exercise. Hit start on the time and just write till the timer runs out. If you’re in a grove when the timer beeps, feel free to finish the sentence/paragraph you’re in. Don’t worry too much about the rules, the idea is to get you writing, it doesn’t matter if you suddenly find yourself, writing a letter to your mom, when the instruction was to list 10 things in your kitchen cupboards that you have never used.

I will also sporadically add quotes, tips, and progress reports on my own long term projects.