Freewriting is an entry point into the flow state
Sounds mystical, magical, amazing.
It is!
It’s also really simple.
Is it bad that the technique is simple?
Well, I would argue that only the simple techniques are going to prove accessible and reliable when you really need something to turn to. Simplicity is a huge asset for real-world applicability.
In short, what can flow do for you?
It can help challenge you to reveal more of yourself on the page and in the world.
Freewriting is about being intentional. Holding your main objective in mind and then being totally free about it, letting whatever happens to come emerge on the page.
Sometimes people ask about the difference between freewriting and automatic writing. My understanding of automatic writing is that you enter a flow state where you do not hold any of your own intentionality. You let some other intentionality take over.
That’s fine, but it’s not this way. Personally, I am not interested in channeling anything or being a medium. I’m interested in being a conduit for the imagination, but not in such a way that I myself am not also present. My own presence means I work to be authentic.
Depth freewriting is for people who love to hold in mind a big project and then trust the wildness of the process. The flow that happens does not always line up with the flow of comprehension.
The driving force is vitality of language and freedom of vision.
We want crisp, authentic, direct, clean writing. That doesn’t mean it can’t emerge as total chaos. At times, that is exactly what is called for. Whether it’s cathartic or whether it’s ideas coming out of order or in an intense and unraveled packet, whatever happens to be in the flow should be honored. When appropriate, the writer gently steers towards relevance.
In this way, freewriting offers the writer a shift of identity away from being a fixed thing and more as a fluid concept.
When I freewrite, I am the flow. I engage a pointed receptivity.
What comes to me emerges both from my own uniqueness and also the boundless potential of the imagination.