Hi Folks, just one week to go before InkWell’s inaugural session. Here’s what to expect:
The first session I suspect will see us getting to know each other and getting to grips with people’s expectations and desires. We will refresh you with regard to our expectations of you too. We will discuss objectives and the benefits of writing. We will explain the process of free writing, if necessary, but I will enlighten you below. I think the first hour may be solely dedicated to the social aspects and your personal writing desires/practices. We will take a break for coffee etc. at about 12:50 and resume at about 1:10 for some free writing and potential sharing of writing and/or experience.
What is freewriting and what are the benefits?
Freewriting is a technique in which the author writes their thoughts quickly and continuously, without worrying about form, style, or even grammar. Alongside brainstorming, freewriting is typically used early in the writing process to collect and manifest one’s thoughts. The resulting writing is usually not intended for the final draft.
When we write, we never just focus on the writing itself. We’re focusing on what the reader will think, whether they’ll understand it, and how certain parts fit into the big picture, all while avoiding spelling and grammar mistakes. The goal of freewriting is to wipe away all those secondary concerns and return to a focus solely on the writing.
Freewriting can be a liberating, albeit intimidating approach especially in creative writing, journalism, and academic writing. It means to write at your best, you first have to write at your worst!
Of course, the final product won’t be “publication ready.” The point is to reveal your writing’s pure and distilled essence without worrying about those distractions.
The benefits of freewriting revolve around organization, brainstorming, and inspiration, as well as beating writer’s block and relieving certain anxieties. Just getting anything written, even if it is imperfect, can jump-start creativity.
Freewriting can also defuse some of the writer’s own internal obstacles: self-criticism, apathy, fear of failure, maladaptive perfectionism, or even deadline dread.
Just like brainstorming, freewriting produces a handful of ideas that you can later rearrange and develop further. However, unlike brainstorming, freewriting also adds insight into the optimal order of your topics and structure as a whole. It can also help cultivate your unique writing voice. Not to mention, it can inspire some ideas you may not have thought of otherwise.
Furthermore, because you’re actually writing, you may generate some words, phrases, or sentences that you can carry over to first draft—after a proper polish, that is.
Here’s why you should do it, and regularly:
· It helps you develop your abilities as a writer
· It builds confidence
· It drives inspiration
· It helps excavate emotional themes and barriers
· It promotes process and not outcome
· It develops muscle memory and good habits
· It helps you discover just how committed you are as a writer
· It generates honesty in your writing
We implore you try to free write daily, or at least whenever you plan to write, and to do so away from technology. Find a notepad and pen and get to it, it’ll change everything about the current way you write.
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