DIGGING UP BONES, A WRITER’S QUEST

Okay, so I’ve got Microsoft word ready to go and I’ve set a timer for twenty minutes, now I sit down to write non-stop until the timer goes off, maybe longer than that.  This is called Freewriting, or writing practice as Natalie Goldberg calls it in her book, Writing Down the Bones, and it’s become my salvation, the end of writer’s block, hopefully forever.

The point of Freewriting is to write non-stop for a set period, without editing, and without caring about spelling and punctuation, I will edit before posting however, and to let words flow freely to the page.  I have become addicted to Freewriting and do it at least three times a day, most days it’s closer to six times.  Depending on how I’m feeling, sometimes I’ll set an alarm for twenty minutes, other times just ten, but I am faithful to the process regardless of the time I spend doing it.

When I sit down to write, I never know where my mind is going to go, and that mystery is part of the excitement of Freewriting.  I’ll be honest with you, not everything I write in the allotted time is fit for publication but it always supplies an idea worth developing the next time.  After three or four rounds, I’ve usually developed my idea enough that I can sit down without a timer and start writing a story.  I have a few stories on the go as I write this but I continue to put them on hold to do my Freewriting. 

I have a free writing journal now, and I add the date and time of my writing practice, when I’m stuck for writing ideas, I read through the journal and start freewriting from one of the entries in it and it becomes a fun writing cycle. 

I can’t help but think that it would be a valuable tool for students as well.  Wouldn’t it be great if instead of telling kids to write about their summer holiday, the teacher would encourage the student to write freely for fifteen minutes, unconcerned about spelling, punctuation or subject, and after which, would use the student’s writing in a grammar lesson by encouraging the student to edit their own work.  Call me an idealist but I think this would be an enriching experience for students and would cultivate a love of reading and writing among a younger generation that for now lives for video games.

Thank you, Natalie Goldberg, for getting me started in this.  If you are an aspiring writer or would like to learn to spill your feelings out in a journal, I would definitely recommend, Writing Down The Bones, by Natalie Goldberg, and I would definitely recommend Freewriting/Writing Practice.