Writing in Snow

Thoughts of Free Write Exercise

Word count: 631

A free write may be timed or untimed it doesn’t matter. A free write may begin with a subject or the writer can simply sit down at the computer, typewriter or pick up a pen, open a journal and begin to write. A timed free write last for five, ten, fifteen, or thirty minutes. An untimed free write last as long as the writer wants or until the writer has nothing else to write.

A free write can cover any subject; the only requirement is that the writer continues to write for as long as she or he can. The idea of a free write is to write for as long as possible any thought that comes into the writers head. A writer practicing a free write doesn’t need to worry about spelling or grammar or anything like that. The goal of a free write is to write and write and write anything and everything that comes into the writer’s head during that time.

Timed free writes are probably best when a writer has a limited time to write and can’t think of anything to write about. All that is necessary is something, a documenter or journal, in which to put the words. It might be easier to use this type of exercise in a pen and paper journal then in a word processor. The reason for this is that wordprocessors have spell and grammar checks and the green or red underlines in the grammar issues or the misspelled words are distracting when writing a free write. The reason is that during a free write you don’t correct spelling or grammar you just continue to write about anything that comes to mined. Of course, you can always turn off the spelling and grammar check, but then you have to remember to turn it on again when you’re finished with the free write.

A free write is good when you have a subject, but don’t know where the start. You simply sit down at the computer or your desk and start writing. A free write is good when you have a few minutes and want to write but don’t know what to write about. You simply write the first thing that comes to mind.

It doesn’t matter how silly the stuff is because you are writing a free write. Once the free write is finished and you let it lay a couple of day. Or let it rest on the hard drive for a little while then you reread what you wrote and find the core, the meat of the nut, you begin with that and work from there writing a story or poem.

A free write can be fun. A free write can be revealing. Often you don’t want anyone else to see your free write, but sometimes you do. If you want some feed back on it then post it either as is or with a little editing. If you’re going to post it some editing may be a good idea because you want your reader to understand the words and sometimes during a free write some of the misspelled words get extremely creative and unreadable; that is you can’t figure out what you meant by the word. If you can’t figure it out then you’re reader isn’t going to be able to figure the word out.

The best way to approach misspellings in is free write is to learn how to spell a word phonetically. If you spell a word phonetically then you can figure out what you meant latter after the writing is cold. Free writing is like revenge it’s better served cold or edited cold. Emotions get in the way of editing your free writer because sometimes the writing is emotional and sometimes it’s just plain silly.