When I present my journaling and creative expression classes, I always include at least one, and usually several, freewriting sessions with the writing exercises. Why? Because they are so effective at getting to the heart of whatever we are working on for the class.
What is Freewriting?
Freewriting is a writing exercise that focuses on the process of writing rather than the end result. Rather than stopping to think and then write, we keep the pen moving, writing whatever pops into the brain. What we are trying to do is out-write our own internal editor so that we can access the unvarnished, raw thought and ideas that are lurking in our subconscious.
Sound spooky?
It’s not, really. But through this process, people often end up writing things that give them, and others, goosebumps. In a good way.
How Do You Freewrite?
I find it best to start with a timer. Generally, I choose a writing time between 5 and 20 minutes. Shorter than five minutes won’t get you far, even five minutes is a bit short, but I find that more than 20 minutes can be too much. With the longer time, it’s easy to forget what you’re doing and go get a cookie instead of writing.
Set your timer.
Start writing. Don’t let your pen stop moving.
Write about anything that pops into your head. If you think you don’t have anything to write, write “I don’t know what to write” over and over again until different words start coming out of your pen.
Keep writing. Ignore spelling errors and grammar, just shovel words onto the page. They don’t have to make sense. Just keep writing more words, without stopping.
When you hit another wall where you think you can’t come up with any more words, keep writing anyway. Write the words that sound wrong. Write the words that make you want to hesitate. Just get the words out of your head and onto the paper.
Keep writing till the timer stops.
That’s it. It’s that simple, and it’s that challenging.
What are the Benefits of Freewriting?
1. A freewriting practice allows you to separate the editing process from the creating process.
2. Freewriting is a practice that helps you overcome the need for perfection in your earliest drafts.
3. Freewriting can reveal thoughts and ideas that you didn’t realize were percolating under the surface, and get you more in touch with your own thoughts
4. The process of freewriting is often a catalyst for inspiration and increased creativity, especially when done as a regular practice.
5. It is often possible to gain some clarity and perspective on a troubling issue while freewriting.
6. Freewriting can be a form of release, of letting go of bottled-up thoughts and emotions.
This whole process is meaningful and useful for creatives, but also valuable for dealing with everyday life.
If you have a freewriting practice, I’d love to hear how it’s working for you. Share your tips and triumps, and any frustrations you have with the practice as well.
If you’ve never tried it – I dare you. Tell me how it goes.
Once again, I’m offering my RESET workshop so we can kick of the new year right. This workshop has proven to be so much fun, and so effective for figuring out what we really want, and how to move towards making that happen.
We take journaling and planning seriously in this course. Taking pen to paper is a powerful way to figure things out. Like a math problem that gets too complex to figure in your head, our lives are complex, and taking the problem to paper can make it easier to see solutions.
Writing it down also helps us track changes and measure progress. If you really want to change something in your life, write it down. If you know something in your life needs to change, but you don’t know what, or how, write that down, too. And then keep writing.
This class is paced out over four days, and the space between classes is intentional. This allows you the time to process each lesson before we take what we learned and apply it to the next lesson. Thoughts will bubble up as you’re washing the dishes or playing Minecraft or otherwise making your way through the day.
Each day we will start with an 11 am PST Facebook Live in our Facebook group (be sure to join our Facebook group). The live lessons will be around 20 minutes (hopefully, I’m trying to keep them short) and will go over the day’s workbook which you can download from the day’s lesson here in our Courageous Courses school.
Course outline:
Wednesday, December 28, 2021
2021 in review through all areas of our lives
What’s your ideal day?
Thursday, December 29, 2021
What do you really want?
What changes do you want to make in your life?
Friday, December 30, 2021
What words are you choosing to set your intention for the year?
Saturday, December 31, 2021
Putting it all together
From plans to actions
I will keep this course open for new students and available throughout the year until December 1, 2022. You can come back and rewatch the lessons or review the workooks at any time. RESETs don’t have to be confined to the New Year.
I’ll see you Tuesday morning. I can’t wait to get started!!!
Friends are the family we choose. Just like our families, their influence on our lives, and how we perceive and interact with the world is vast. It could even be argued that because we choose each other, who we befriend may influence us and say something about us even more than our families.
I really believe you are the company you keep and you have to surround yourself with people who lift you up because the world knocks you down.
– Maria Shriver
I always learn so much about myself when I write about my friends. What traits do all my friends have in common? Why do I (subconsciously) seek out those traits in my friendships? There is so much self-knowledge to mine in considering friendships. What kind of friend am I?
Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them and it will change your life.
– Amy Poehler
Writing helps us understand concepts and even our own motivations on a deeper level. Prompts help us focus the writing. These journaling and writing prompts about friendship will help you delve deeper into the nature of your friendships, and why those relationships, and those people, are so important to you.
A friend is someone who give you total freedom to be yourself.
– Jim Morrison
15 Journaling / Writing Prompts about Friendship
1. Write about a group of people that leave you feeling happy and at ease after you’ve spend time with them.
2. If you were having a rotten day, who is the first person you would want to talk to? And why?
3. Describe some traditions you’ve had with your friends.
4. Are you comfortable asking your friends for help when you need it? Would they ask you for help?
5. Do you have a friend you haven’t seen in years, but you’re sure if you saw them, you’d pick right up where you left off?
6. What is something nice a friend said to you that meant the world to you?
7. Is there someone you’ve been missing, but you haven’t reached out to contact them? What keeps you from reaching out?
8. How would you like to be described to others by your friends?
9. Have you ever lost a friend? Been unfriended? What happened?
10. Who has always been there for you, no matter what, through thick and thin?
11. Describe in detail someone who means the world to you. Include appearance, mannerisms, personality, quirks… everything that makes them who they are.
12. What do you believe are the most important qualities in a friend?
13. Have you made any new friends in recent years? How does the process of making friends feel different from when you were younger?
14. who are the people in my life with whom I feel the most like myself?
15. Make a list of all the people who have helped you in your life. Keep adding to this list as you think of more.
What other prompts or questions would you add to this list? I’d love to hear your suggestions, and I’m always trying to improve on my lists of prompts.
If you enjoyed this list of journaling / writing prompts, check out my Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter feeds for daily prompts and other inspiration.
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