How would you like to be more creative, solve your problems and become a better writer, too?
On our Heart of Success Blogtalk radio show this week, we discussed with writer/consultant Mark Levy about Freewriting. He shared insights from his new book, Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight and Content.
You can use freewriting for articles, books and scripts, and much much more. It’s a way of tapping into your unconscious and the “morphic field” of whatever you focus on in your writing. You need not share your writing, like a jounal or a private brainstormsing. In any event, powerful results can emerge.
Here are some key points about freewriting:
* Time your writing (say 5- 20 minutes)
* Start with a topic, say “success” and just keep writing, non-stop. If you get stuck, keep writing about being stuck. If you digress, continue on. Then when you’re ready, relate back to your original topic, including any insights from your digression.
* Write as fast as possible (or type on computer). Sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury noted, “In quickness, there is truth.” The idea is to bypass your internal editor to free up ideas. Later on, you can edit and evaluate what you wrote.
* Don’t stop writing to review or correct anything. Stick with the timer.
* Just be honest and let whatever you connect with come out.
* You can do a second round of freewriting based on what you wrote.
Writing is different from thinking. Thinking about a subject can be limiting as your thoughts can easily loop back.
Freewriting expands your mind. You never know when original ideas, solutions and creative impulses will emerge. Each sentence is a stepping stone for the next.
To hear more about freewriting with Mark Levy in the blogtalk radio show on The Heart and Soul of Success go to
http://blogtalkradio.com/tapintosuccess
Do you ever journal or do automatic writing? This is similar to freewriting. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks much for having me on your show, Phillip and Jane. One additional point I’d like to make:
Whatever it is you’re writing about — an idea for a new business, ways of giving back to the community, where to take a vacation, etc. — consider writing about any images that flash to mind as you think about the subject.
Images, I find, often bypass our standard ways of thinking, and move us in more unusual and, at times, productive directions.
Thanks again.
Yes, Mark. Images are powerful. Virtually everything we experience has a corresponding image. It’s powerful to tap into it.