Freewriting

What we learn from facing the page

Yes, I did read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I even got several weeks into it before I got distracted. For those of you unfamiliar with the text, if you don’t get anything from it, chances are you know about morning pages. These are three pages that you write a day that are completely unfiltered. It’s journaling, it’s therapy. It’s *manifesting*.

This writing style can seem vague and self-help-y. And it can be both of those things. But a freewrite remains my go-to; the one consistent in all of my lesson plans. When I was 12 I had an English teacher who believed in me. Lord knows, I never once used an outline. I truly don’t think anyone taught me that writing was supposed to be ‘organized’ in any particular way. My writing was completely disorganized and went against every grammar lesson in the book.

But Mrs. Hetterich thought I was alright. She was a no-bullshit kind of teacher with a soft side. The best teachers are the ones that won’t let you get away with it – but you know they care. She is the reason I decided that writing and stories would be my career. I didn’t know how but I wanted to “freewrite” every day all day.

Mrs. Hetterich’s rules: Write for seven minutes without stopping. These pieces will not be read or graded.

She would say “if you don’t know what to write, write ‘I don’t know what to write’ until you do.”

I have come to the conclusion that “not knowing what to write” isn’t usually the problem. The problem is wanting to make sense, the problem is that you don’t want to sound stupid. What a huge issue with writing: being afraid to sound like a dolt. Freewriting trains us to have confidence in our ideas. It won’t be read if you don’t want it to. It won’t be graded or judged. In the end, ideas are the whole reason why we write.

I love the image Philip Pullman illustrates in ‘Daemon Voices’, an incredible collection of writings and speeches by the author, in so many words, he states that writing should be as clear as a stream over pebbles. The ideas should be crystal clear, and the writing should become invisible over them. Quite often we, as writers, discover what we are writing as we are writing it, thus, the words become the clay that we mould.

We must teach our students about words, grammar, syntax, language, and overall structure. And, just as importantly, we must teach them that their perspective matters, which means they can’t be afraid of a blank page. A student will need to know how to write spontaneously in their educational careers, often in tests as essays or short answers. A freewriting practice allows them to write a complete thought in a time limit as writing voice becomes familiar to them.

Their ideas will become honed as they continue to return to the page, returning to their thoughts, questions, and observations.

And, hey, maybe Julia Cameron and all those self help writers were right. Maybe they’ll be more in touch with their goals and emotions, and the self help that will be alchemized through regular freewriting will lead to legions of emotionally regulated geniuses. It couldn’t help to try.

So I approach a freewriting with my students in the following ways:

• Sometimes I do give them a prompt, but sometimes I won’t.

• I may encourage students to “complete” the idea, but not always.

• I may ask if they want to continue a previous freewrite.

• Use the freewrites as material: I ask students if they want to return to a freewrite as they develop an essay or short story.