Writing for Me

I ventured onto my blog today to answer a comment a reader left and realized it's been nearly a month since I've updated. I seem to have fallen into a pattern of ignoring my blog and pouring all my time into my my novel and the several short stories I've been working on. So today I've decided to do a update about my writing and why I've been ignoring my blog.

Since I began the journey of writing with the goal of writing for myself instead of trying to be a published author (late last year), writing has become much more fun and exciting! The ideas flow much easier and I'm just a happier person all around. It doesn't mean I won't pursue publication, but I'm no longer writing to fit a certain niche or what I think people want to read. I write what I want to read, and it makes a big different.

The Amazing Benefits of Freewriting

There are many tools in a writer's toolbox, but none is as helpful as the simple practice of freewriting. It's something that I picked up in my writing journey, which I used- but never fully appreciated- until I learned how powerful it could really be. This happened after reading the book How to Be a Writer by Barbara Baig. Nearly all her exercises, in the 265 page book, uses different variations of simple freewrite and focused freewriting. After doing several of the exercises, I found that all the freewriting I’d done up to that point was really just a warm-up. I never took it to the next level, because I hadn’t realized I wasn’t doing freewriting nearly enough (it should be done everyday), or even asking the right questions to do focused freewriting.