Be Free… Write

Posted by

40

 

You can’t write. The words are gone. Your muse is AWOL.

 

Freewriting - sig

 

I posted about struggling to find the words for a special occasion but this is an ordinary day. In the wicked world of a writer. The weather shifts and… A sudden freeze. Or a prolonged drought. These things can go either way.

However you got here, you’re here.

You’re about to crawl into the corner and cry or have a panic attack. (Again, these things can go either way.)

We all know enough to get up, stretch, breathe, move… But when we sit down again, we must write.

Something silly.

Like haiku.* It’s a fun break. Also, I really think the counting of syllables helps me. Kind of like rubbing a worry stone.

I can’t write a word
Am I sad or pissed? Don’t know!
I’ll write a haiku

Or whatever. You get the idea.

Six words stories are fun, too:

Aliens dissect humans. Discover no heart.

Dieting = refusing pizza, eating chocolate cake

I can’t write a bloody word!

I’m stuck. In the muck. Oh…

But free-writing is the absolute best. You can free-write your way out of just about anything. Like a literary MacGyver. Be Free… Write.

 

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

ThoughtBubble

Free-writing is a powerful force. No thinking, no stopping, no correcting, just writing. May the Force be with you.

Have you ever tried haiku? Six word stories? Free-writing? What works to get you unstuck? Who caught that “Six words stories are fun, too” was 6 words? Smarty pants. 

* No haikus were hurt in the writing of this post. Also, I don’t find haiku humorous (in general) and I’m not downplaying the beauty of a well-written haiku or the poets who write them.

40 thoughts on “Be Free… Write”

  4. “Also, I really think the counting of syllables helps me. Kind of like rubbing a worry stone.” A worry stone! It is like that. I used to make my staff write a cinquain before weekly meetings. It was a constraint, something creative and yes, like rubbing a worry stone it was calming to count syllables. Free writing is my favorite (obviously because you never hear me complain about writing, but I whine loudly over revision).

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • I’m actually not great at math but counting is so soothing. I love that you used cinquain before meetings! What a fantastic idea to calm and focus. Brilliant. Free-writing is my favorite, too. Which is why my posts read like this. 😉

      Like

      Reply

  5. I sometimes try to write Haiku, but the conventional haiku with juxtapositioned elements and seasonal reference and throw in in the 5-7-5 syllables, its serious business and I need a muse for that….

    chiaroscuro
    light and dark origami
    Sunlight peeks at folds

    jilted by the moon
    blades of grass weep dew softly
    smiling sun dries them

    I really like six word stories *not counting*

    I should be sleeping, yet, not ^_^

    Confession I never really get stuck if I sit there long enough words will come (only I dont want to just sit there … long enough)

    ~B

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Yes, well I conveniently forget about the seasonal part, and the first two lines creating one sentence while the second two lines create one sentence. I just stick with the 5-7-5. I never claimed to be a poet. But you! 😍 Look at those haiku. Those are beautiful, B!

      Yes. Six words say so much. *not counting*

      I suppose if you sit long enough you’ll write SOMETHING but what?! O_o And, like you said, how long is long enough?

      Like

      Reply

  7. I’ve thankfully haven’t been to a point where I can’t write. Now, I might not be able to write what I’m supposed to, but I usually can write something. The other day, I wrote a scene for book 4 where my character delivers a proposal to his wife about opening up a hospital/orphanage. It didn’t progress me on book 2, but hey, it’s writing, right? 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Right. It totally counts. And it totally helps. When you can’t write (or can’t write what you’re supposed to be writing), write something else. Exactly.
      I thought you were a pantser… You’re writing parts of book 4 already?!

      Like

      Reply

  9. Revision is so the opposite of free writing and I don’t like it one bit…maybe I’ll try some haiku like Irene, I need a breather…but writing about Ethel & Fred helps, silly though I know it is…but there it is, what works is good… 🙂 ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • No, it doesn’t help with what you’re writing at the time but that works well. I’ve written about not being able to write before and why (in free-writing form). 😉
      I know, sometimes it’s not getting stuck on something as much as being drained of energy or ideas. That’s brutal.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  13. I write a variety of short syllable based poems such as Haiku and Tanka, usually with a prompt, but not as a way to break writer’s block. It isn’t exactly free write, but there is minimal editing (as opposed to longer free verse poem). The other method (which I use also for forms such as Haiku), is to just to think of a recent experience or look out the window or around the room and as if I described it, what would be a good metaphor for.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. Nice. I think of it in terms that it’s okay to write (potential) junk rather than to wrote nothing at all. And sometimes it turns out to be garbage, but other times it doesn’t.

    You can fix it or delete it later. First, just get words on the page.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Yes. Always get those words on the page. Even if it has nothing to do with what you’re working on. For me, it breaks the dam. Also, if it does happen to be what I’m writing on at the time, I can just call it part of my shitty first draft.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a reply to Sarah Brentyn Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.