Free Writing! // An Underrated Blessing From Above

Hey y’all!

Let’s be very clear.

This post WAS. NOT. free writing. It WAS. NOT. something that came out of my having no clue what to write about. It most definitely WAS. NOT. written in a moment of panic because I had no idea what to write. Additionally, it WAS. MOST. CERTAINLY. written without any tears involved.

(Who am I kidding? It totally all of those things. 😉 )

(I hope you appreciate my honesty…)

Great.

Now that is out of the way, we can talk about today’s topic!

What does a writer do when the deep spring of fresh ideas are running dry? How are you supposed to pull to life stories and posts and every word you need on a page? How does one do that in a timely fashion and even at a more hurried pace when deadlines are involved?

I have an answer for you, my dear writer friends. Or anyone really. Any of you sweet followers who have had to use words before, I got a secret for you.

(Actually, you’ve probably already heard of it, but let me have my fun. XD )

*excessive trumpeting and fanfare*

FREE WRITING!!!

*confetti cannons*

If you haven’t ever free written before, number one, what is wrong with you? And number two, you’re a liar. 😉

Tell me I’m not the only one who has gotten bored with the essay or something that you’re working on, so you just start writing random things that you know you should never include in the finished product. Like once, I was writing a summary for a science class, and I got really bored with it. So I started writing it from the perspective of a llama… I’m not kidding.

Free writing is amazing. XD

There are many reasons why it’s so great.

For instance, one of them is you can just start writing without having to focus on making everything perfect. You can just spew it all out and worry about editing later. Self-editing is one of my greatest distractions. I’ve noticed that I constantly go back and check everything. That’s not good for you if you are on a time crunch. Just write it all out and let it be separate from your mind. One of my favorite little Jomny Sun tweets is this:

“write it. the sooner u write it the sooner it will exist apart from u. the sooner u can spend days thinking it’s no good then come back to it realizing it’s better than u thought. the sooner u can convince urself some past version of u wrote it and now u can get to work updating it.”

Isn’t that just the truth? Sometimes we all just need to hear that. Just write it! Let it breathe outside of your head! Don’t worry about the mistakes, just get it all out!

Another reason I think free writing is one of the coolest things is this: Y’all. Have you seen the random crappy stuff you write when you honestly don’t care about getting the grammar perfect? It’s so awesome. Sometimes it’s weird, but it’s absolutely hilarious. The stuff your brain is capable of making up is amazing and if your brain is as wacky as mine, (remember the llama?) you’re gonna have a great time as well.

Yet another reason to free write is that it is a heck lot of less stress. You know that feeling when you are trying to make everything perfect and OH NO you forgot the punctuation and crap you gotta get this turned in on time! The world is cRuMbLiNg and you haven’t finished your paperrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr………….

*falls off cliff dramatically*

You know that stress?

GUESS WHAT! YOU CAN GET RID OF IT. JUST FREE WRITE. WHO CARES ABOUT IF YOU MISSPELL A WORD. That’s what editing’s for! Just take care of yourself, guys. If you’re stressing about writing, it’s a sign that probably you are placing too much of your worth in that thing. Sure, it’s important, but your mental health is even more important. Take little breaks. Eat some snacks. Walk around. While it’s important to get stuff done, don’t hurt yourself. 🙂

Okay well so that’s all I got today!!! Gosh I love y’all so much. You guys are the best. ❤

Real quick before we go, here is a Lin tweet just because it’s a good one. These make me happy.

That’s all folks! I hope you have had a little heart fill up here! Y’all are too sweet. Take care, loves!

Now go forth, mis amigos and amigas, and smile. Your day is just beginning. Make the best of it. Don’t procrastinate. Work hard. Make me proud. 🙂

Love you all,

Madeleine