It’s simply a web page with a box where you can start freewriting. A timer counts down 5 minutes, as you write. When it hits zero, everything inside the box vanishes, leaving no record of how slovenly and “unlike” you, your 5 minute flow turned out.
Why would you want this? To practice relaxing ego control of the process, that’s why.
Because some new writers find it unsettling (or even pointless) to produce unmediated flows of heedless “garbage.” They keep their freewrites orderly and presentational, like letters to the editor or PTA committee reports.
Warning: THESE SO-CALLED “FREEWRITES” ARE IMPOSTERS.
They are summaries of logical thought, not direct one-on-one realtime interchanges with your unconscious. You’ll know you’re doing it right when you stop summarizing and start rambling, your grammar slips, you leave phrases unfinished and overtaken by new phrases, new ideas, and (as Baretta used to say) that’s the name of that tune.
Don’t worry, you can be sloppy This is a great tool. “>here, and you won’t leave a trace.
I try to sprint through a couple of random fivers whenever I feel like I’ve lost a bit of nerve and find myself steering clear of what Yeats called “the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.”
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Isn’t that something! Thanks! I think I’ll be playing with this. I tend to do this sort of thing everyday in the morning, but in my blog editor.
Probably not the best place for it, since I usually press publish, LOL.
Play is the really the right word. You can’t force your unconscious to work for you. But you can coax it into playing with you. That’s when it delivers.
Oh, and if you start to really REALLY like the material your freewrite is turning up in the 5 minute freewrite box, just put the brakes on with about 30 seconds left, and cut & paste it into your notepad or word processor.
Dude, I love this idea. I have been getting way too attached to my free-writes lately and guess what? They don’t come freely anymore. I’m all constricted and uptight and fidgety. God I hate it. And this used to be such a great tool for me.
Got to go, fiver time.
Thanks.
Elizabeth
Dude, I love this idea. I have been getting way too attached to my free-writes lately and guess what? They don’t come freely anymore. I’m all constricted and uptight and fidgety. God I hate it. And this used to be such a great tool for me.
Got to go, fiver time.
Thanks.
Elizabeth