I’m going to talk to you about free writing. Now I don’t know who came up with this term. I didn’t. It’s not my thing. I learned it from my sister Shelly in a creative writing class she taught. Some people call it stream of consciousness writing. For some it is a writing tool to help authors or writers get started on their book or academic writing. That is not the purpose I’m talking about here. I use it for personal growth, stress management, creative expression. I’ve used it with so many clients and I’ve used it myself. And it is A.MAZ.ING.
Write and don’t stop
So free writing is about writing without stopping – just write, write, write. Commit to keep writing for a period of time. 15 minutes is good but if you can only commit to seven or eight or ten then that’s okay. I’m gonna give you the steps in a minute. But for now it’s about just writing everything that comes to your mind.
Here’s a clue about how to keep writing and not stopping. If you run out of things to say then you write something like – I don’t know what to say – um – aah – oh dear this is so stupid – I will keep writing until I have another idea – keep writing until something else comes to mind. And then write that.
Your hand is going to get sore, that’s part of the process. Don’t let that stop you.
People I’ve introduced it to and other people I’ve have heard of find it amazing! Really helpful! As your mind is distracted by your sore hand, and you focus on just keeping writing, your subconscious starts to come up with content and it gets down on paper. It’s very powerful.
Better out than in
For the purposes of counselling and personal growth it might be the content that you discover that is really helpful. But for lots of people just the act of doing it is so powerful and helpful. It can help get stuff off your chest. It can help get stuff out of your head. Trust me, those things are way better out than in your head going round and round in a big ball of mess.
Step 1 Choose time limit
Okay so the steps. The steps are set a timer, so you don’t think about the time and you don’t have to look at a clock.
Step 2 Get supplies
Get paper and pen or pencil, doesn’t matter, whatever.
Step 3 Let go of worry
This is not about full sentences, proper spelling or making sense. Even having full sentences. that’s not the point of this, so you don’t worry about any of that. You put all that aside. Nobody else is going to read it, unless you want them to, so you don’t have to worry about what anyone else might think. It’s just for you.
Step 4 Write without stopping
Then start your timer and start writing and don’t stop until the timer goes off. Just keep your pen there near the paper and keep writing, don’t stop. Even if it starts really hurt your hand keep going.
Those are the only rules! Really there’s no rules!
What do you do with your free writing?
When you’re finished you could read it again – you don’t have to. You could keep it – you don’t have to. You could rip it up, burn it, roll it in a ball, throw it in the bin, anything you want. You don’t have to do anything. You get to decide what to do with it, it’s totally up to you.
And if you hated doing the free writing – fine! You can choose to never do it again. If you liked it or you thought it was helpful maybe it’s something you need to put into your calendar to do more often.
I find it really useful when I’m kind of stuck or when I’ve got lots of things in my head that I’m trying to – that aren’t clear. That’s when I do it.
Can I type instead of write?
I’ve had people ask if can I type and that’s up to you but you’d have to be a pretty good typist to be able to not be distracted by the typing and actually get into the ‘writing’ part. You could give it a try but I would recommend trying it with hand writing first.
Of course some people can’t hold a pen or write well enough and so typing has been their thing. I’ve had other people who’ve said I just really enjoy the typing part.
Whichever way, I challenge you to give it a try. Writing is something very creative and something that I really encourage. There are so many creative things that we can do using writing and free writing is just one of them.
Message me I’d love to hear how your writing went. I’m gonna do some soon too.
