Freewrite

I am sitting here at my computer screen trying to come up with a starting point for this post, but I can’t come up with anything for my opener. So why not try his method? Freewrite. Why not try to just write something to get the juices flowing until I can reach something worth posting? I like what he has to say about freewriting, (though, personally, I think he takes it a bit far in the second chapter). I think freewriting is a great way to develop ideas because it gets you thinking about what you’re thinking. It’s a reflection of a reflection—that is to say that you’re writing what’s on your mind and then going back and reflecting on your thoughts. What was good? What was usable? What won’t work? Where can I take this? But while I admire his techniques in the second chapter to some extent, I can’t say I wholly agree with him. I think freewriting could be a big help if you can’t think of anything to say, but I don’t think I could do it for very many assignments. Structure is what I know. It’s what I’m used to. I’m comfortable with it. I would not benefit from writing four separate drafts of a paper only to trash the first three. That seems like a big waste of effort to me. Do it write do it once. Heh, “write,” right. Do it right, do it once. Now I’m distracted. Fantastic. I had it going there for a little while. I’m a bit leery about his proposed scenario where you have three hours to write three pages and you write the paper three times. I couldn’t handle that much pressure. I couldn’t force myself to write that fast. I’d be trying so hard to reach the aimed-for quantity that I would completely loose sight of anything substantial. I’m a slow writer. I always have been. I need that process of stopping, starting, analyzing, and editing as I go because once I get something I like I can use that small success to keep myself going. I can build off of what I’ve written up to that point, and I think it sounds better. It sounds more professional, and I’m more satisfied with what I write. I like his idea of freewriting to practice writing, to minimize the fear of writing, to build confidence, for therapy, to realize your true feelings on a subject, etc., but I don’t think it’s a cure-all. But then again, that’s just my personal feeling. I’ve found a way that I like. That doesn’t mean I’ll never use freewriting. That’s certainly not what I mean. Every writer is different and what works for me might not work for someone else. And in the same way, what works for Elbow might not work for me. That said, though, I think frequent freewriting could be a great thing to incorporate into a classroom. I think the students would enjoy it more, I think they’d get more out of it, and I think they’d feel more relaxed and less apprehensive about writing. Besides, the only way to get better at writing is to practice it, and freewriting is a much less intimidating method of practice. Break down barriers to build bridges.