Freewriting

"Most thinkers write badly because they tell us not only their thoughts but also the thinking of the thoughts". Nietzsche

In the Writing Centre, we love to freewrite! Allowing the thoughts to come straight onto the page, turning off the internal critic, just writing without hesitating - how often do we do anything in life with no hesitation? Throwing ourselves into our writing. Writing writing writing. Never stopping. When you are tired or have nothing to say, you just keep going. Going forward. After all, where else is there to go? We go forward and going forward we move on from where we were. Going forward may not take us very far, but it takes us away from where we were. And we force ourselves to keep going. Perhaps 10 minutes, perhaps 15 minutes. When we start and we have nothing to say, it may seem much longer and we may resist and want this to end. Why would we want it to end? What can be so bad about just writing? Why should we not want to write? What else do we think we should be doing? Who are we that we should get so indignant just because we are being forced to write? So indignant just because we are not being allowed to do what we want! But who is the best judge of what we want? Sometimes we want things that we clearly don't want. Will freewriting help us find what we want? Onward onward. Why am I writing in the third person plural? There is safety in the we. That I is a bit too revealing. But this is a blog - you are going to reveal yourself. And if you freewrite like this, you will certainly reveal yourself. Because after a while those initial thoughts that told you that you had nothing to say may disappear. And perhaps other thoughts will take their place - more beautiful thoughts. Thoughts that don't say no - thoughts that say yes. And perhaps then you will really start writing. You won't mind the time then - you won't notice the time. You just want to keep going. Because even if you still are not saying very much, you are now writing as yourself. You know that because things have changed. This is not how you were when you started. Now writing is the most natural thing in the world. Freewriting takes you to the place where you want to be but only if you keep going - only if you don't stop. Only if you don't let those negative thoughts win. Yes, I know this piece of freewriting is not my best - I am tempted to stop. After all, perhaps tomorrow I will have more to say, when I am less tired, when I am more inspired. But keep going keep going forward with the dribbling pen dribbling on forwards dribbling drivel. What was I saying - writing myself writing as myself. Now I'm pausing. Forward forward. Time comes back - how long have I been writing? Is it ten minutes yet? Can I stop? I want to stop. No - keep going. Try to get back to that feeling that you had a few minutes ago. But the feeling is gone and it ain't coming back - not tonight. Tomorrow's another day and tomorrow I can forget about today and get back to where I need to be - to where I just am. Enough. That must have been a good ten minutes, surely?