A friend gave me this wonderful tool called freewriting. Thanks Heather! I got an e-mail about writing. It's a very good thing having friends who write who can give tips and hints on what to do and how to do it when writing gets tough.
I had trouble getting my short story for class completed on time (yes, second draft was handed in on time, just ask teacher). It felt like butting heads with a brick wall. You can't possibly win a head butting match with a brick wall unless you're a wrecking ball, so I figured I would try something I read in an e-mail about. Freewriting. I had tried it once before in another writing class but it didn't work for me back then so it doesn't count.
For those who doesn't know what it is, freewriting is when you start with a blank document in Word or whatever your pet word processing program might be or even a blank paper if you want to write by hand, but it seems a bit of a waste of paper to do it that way. One wants to be environmentally friendly and all that right?
I'm getting off the track here. Please don't do that to me. I have a hard time getting on the track from the start as it is.
Anyway, take that blank document or paper and just write anything on it. You can write "I don't know what to write" like 20 times if you like but keep writing! It's the feeling of fingers moving across keyboard, stroking keys or pen rasping across paper forming words that tricks the brain into action. That is my theory and I'm sticking to it. It works!! Lo and behold! It works! I had no idea how to deal with a short story halfway written. By the end of the freewriting I had filled two pages with text. None of it of much use to me, but it was there. I had written it. I had proved that I could write. I could even spell! And it only took about five or ten minutes. I learned several things during those minutes.
I do know how to write.
I do know how to spell.
I do know a thing or two about grammar.
I know how to assemble very long sentences that might or might not make sense in the end. (no news there...)
I do not know how to make proper paragraphs (still haven't learned that Heather despite years of... um... reminding... :) )
And last but not least... I learned that if I put the main storyline or plot into a list I do know where it will end and how to get there. The rest is just stuffing. Important stuffing, but still stuffing. Oh and that's where voice comes in. But that's another post.
Of course, I printed it with my last nine pages of paper, which reminds me that I have to go buy more paper for printer tomorrow, but I managed to forget it at home when it was due. Oh well, I guess I can't be perfect every day. :)
So I will end with this question. Why isn't freewriting taught in every writing class? In every school? At every level?
Ta Ta For Now!
Nina
I had trouble getting my short story for class completed on time (yes, second draft was handed in on time, just ask teacher). It felt like butting heads with a brick wall. You can't possibly win a head butting match with a brick wall unless you're a wrecking ball, so I figured I would try something I read in an e-mail about. Freewriting. I had tried it once before in another writing class but it didn't work for me back then so it doesn't count.
For those who doesn't know what it is, freewriting is when you start with a blank document in Word or whatever your pet word processing program might be or even a blank paper if you want to write by hand, but it seems a bit of a waste of paper to do it that way. One wants to be environmentally friendly and all that right?
I'm getting off the track here. Please don't do that to me. I have a hard time getting on the track from the start as it is.
Anyway, take that blank document or paper and just write anything on it. You can write "I don't know what to write" like 20 times if you like but keep writing! It's the feeling of fingers moving across keyboard, stroking keys or pen rasping across paper forming words that tricks the brain into action. That is my theory and I'm sticking to it. It works!! Lo and behold! It works! I had no idea how to deal with a short story halfway written. By the end of the freewriting I had filled two pages with text. None of it of much use to me, but it was there. I had written it. I had proved that I could write. I could even spell! And it only took about five or ten minutes. I learned several things during those minutes.
I do know how to write.
I do know how to spell.
I do know a thing or two about grammar.
I know how to assemble very long sentences that might or might not make sense in the end. (no news there...)
I do not know how to make proper paragraphs (still haven't learned that Heather despite years of... um... reminding... :) )
And last but not least... I learned that if I put the main storyline or plot into a list I do know where it will end and how to get there. The rest is just stuffing. Important stuffing, but still stuffing. Oh and that's where voice comes in. But that's another post.
Of course, I printed it with my last nine pages of paper, which reminds me that I have to go buy more paper for printer tomorrow, but I managed to forget it at home when it was due. Oh well, I guess I can't be perfect every day. :)
So I will end with this question. Why isn't freewriting taught in every writing class? In every school? At every level?
Ta Ta For Now!
Nina
1 comment:
Glad the freewriting helped, Nina! As for what you learned during the exercise...we knew all that all along. ;)
Post a Comment