How to do "Freewriting"

Source: Natalie Goldberg (1986) Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the writer within. Shambala Publications: Boston & London. pp. 8-11.

"The basic unit of writing practice is the timed exercise. You may time yourself for ten minutes, twenty, minutes, or an hour. Its up to you. At the beginning you may want to start small and after a week increase your time, or you may want to dive in for an hour the first time. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that whatever amount of time you choose for that session, you must commit yourself to it and for that full period:

  1. Keep your hand moving. (Don’t pause to reread the line you have just written. That’s stalling and trying to get control of what you’re saying.)
  2. Don’t cross out. (That is editing as you write. Even if you write something you didn’t mean to write, leave it.
  3. Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar. (Don’t even care about staying within the margins and lines on the page.)
  4. Lose control.
  5. Don’t think. Don’t get logical.
  6. Go for the jugular. (If something comes up in your writing that is scary or naked, dive right into it. It probably has lots of energy.)

These are the rules. It is important to adhere to them because the aim is to burn through to first thoughts, to the place where energy is unobstructed by social politeness or the internal censor, to the place where you are writing what your mind actually sees and feels, not what it thinks it should see or feel. It’s a great opportunity to capture the oddities of your mind. Explore the rugged edge of thought. Like grating a carrot, give the paper the colorful cohesiveness of your consciousness.

First thoughts have tremendous energy. It’s the way the mind first flashes on something. The internal censor usually squelches them, so we live in the realm of second or third thoughts, thoughts on thoughts, twice and three times removed from the direct connection of the first fresh flash.

. . . This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it" (Goldberg, 1986, pp. 8-11).

Before the next class:
  1. There is a ten point quiz next Tuesday on Chapters 14 and 43 in the Longman textbook that will take place during the first ten minutes of class. The first four questions on the quiz will come from the online multiple choice practice tests and the interactive exercises and 6 questions will be made up from the readings.
  2. The Listserv Assignment (your e-mail introduction sent to the class listserv) is due by the time class starts on Tuesday.
  3. The FIRST DRAFT of your 3 page Autobiographical Sketch is due next Tuesday at 9:30 am. You must bring 4 copies of the first draft to class. One copy goes to me and three copies are edited in class by your classmates.