What is free writing? I demonstrate this writing approach in this article and identified five benefits.
Try it. It just works!
I have been pondering what to write next to bring in traffic to this site. But then I reexamined how I got to creating this blog.
Then it dawned upon me that in reality, I just want to write and express whatever thoughts and ideas I had in mind. Share useful, and even absurd ideas I have the way I view things. Experiences that gave lessons to me. Uncovering things and tread a new path. Those things that I like, and love to write about without the constraints of rules or regard on what should, or should not be.
I just love writing. Even if I have a busy schedule, I have this inner prompt, a nagging desire to write. For me, writing is life itself. I cannot do without it.
Why can’t we write anything in mind? Why do I have to follow rules that make search engines find my articles?
Why won’t I write freely, to express myself? Write whatever comes to mind? Am I optimizing my writing for machines, or for humans?
Of course, I’d like my writing to appeal to humans, not machines. As our words shape the way people think and connect to themselves. We are never the impersonal machines that don’t care about what people really need.
Now I write this piece without due regard to how the machines would read whatever I write here. This approach is referred to as free writing.
Truly, free writing can be an enjoyable exercise if you do it once in a while. You just let your mind flow, follow wherever it takes you.
It may make no sense. But as you go on writing as freely as you can, thoughts and ideas trickle down like bits and pieces of a puzzle.
Then the thought, “Where am I going? What is the point of all these things that I write about? Am I getting somewhere?
The truth is, you need not be answering those questions at all. Just enjoy the process of capturing every thought that comes to mind. It’s like wandering aimlessly in the forest or walking along the beach. Giving time for yourself and trying to compose yourself.
Do we really need to make out whatever we think about?
Nothing should constrain us if we write whatever we want. A writer is free to jot down anything, and everything that pops in his head. Just let it flow.
What I just did is a demonstration of how to write freely. There is no structure, nor logic as we know it, in free writing. Not even a plan. It’s just plain writing, free from the distractions of rules, but able to express what goes on the mind, at the point the ideas occur.
So what are the benefits of free writing? Here are five benefits I gained while doing it:
Five Benefits of Free Writing
Free writing invigorates you
You can see the benefits right away when you practice free writing once in a while. By letting your mind flow freely, your interest in writing returns. It jumpstarts your writing, meaning, it invigorates your desire to write when you are not in the mood to write.
Free writing frees you from rules
While writing what comes to mind, and just letting it be, I feel a release from the bondage of having to write in conformity with whatever rules of writing prescribe. I am free. I need not be conscious of whether my writing would follow any search engine optimization (SEO) rule.
Writing for machines appears to have destroyed creative writing as the writer now writes for robots, not humans. Current online writing follows SEO rules, to capture as many audiences that certain keyword searches can bring. That’s how automation has dampened the free expression of the self.
For once, why not write for humans? Don’t you think we should be doing this? Do we ever need to be read by so many people at all?
Writing freely is about you as a writer. It’s not about those machines that dictate you what to do. You can write whatever you want. Be a rebel writer once in a while.
In fact, I’m using free writing instead of the conventional freewriting form of writing freely here. What is important is the essence, not the form. It’s an unconstrained way to write whatever you want. No one can tell you what’s wrong. Why not be free?
Why do I have to follow such a rule of having freewriting in one word if people are looking for the word free writing in Google Trends? What do I care?
Free writing serves as catharsis
Free writing unloads the thoughts that clutter your mind. It is cathartic. And it feels good.
You write whatever thoughts or ideas that run in your brain. As a result, you felt better being able to put into writing those thoughts that keep on bugging you. It’s there in front of you. It relieves you of the worry that those thoughts might disappear. Which usually happens, when you don’t write whatever good ideas randomly pop in your head.
Free writing is a channel to gather all those thoughts together in one place. It is an unending process that occurs while we live. We need to capture those ideas lest we forget.
Free writing shifts your focus
Now my mind wanders again. If you let your mind wander, it randomly goes somewhere. Thoughts unrelated to what you are writing about. It’s a challenge to pin it down. But that’s how our brain works. We tend to think about so many things in just a matter of seconds.
Thus, free writing relieves you of the pressure of having to focus on a single thing. It unhinges you from the burdens that a thought brings.
Free writing makes you productive
Writing this piece took barely thirty minutes. I never thought I could write this article within that time span.
Thus, an article is born from just letting my mind flow freely. I have become productive.
This exercise reassured me that I can write freely, without constraint. And I did it. And share it with you.
You can be productive as a writer. I realized that if we just let our mind do its bidding, something wonderful happens.
Let it be, let it flow. Then yours be the benefit of free writing.
© P. A. Regoniel 8 July 2021
