Many writers - both beginners and experienced - can benefit from freewriting, sometimes called autowriting, to get their story out.

In these exercises, the point is to write quickly without taking pen off paper, without editing, without judgement, and just getting it down in your own voice.

Oftentimes a freewriting exercise will begin with a prompt.

Autowriting is automatic writing, formally called psychography. This is a supposed psychic ability where the writing is channeled from an entity through the writers hand.

In my own experience (and that of many writers), freewriting has allowed me to channel my own unconscious on the page.

Freewriting can be a healing journey, a warmup exercise, or fodder for a story you're stuck with. The point is to write with the intention of writing badly so you don't self-judge. This frees the creative mind and though a lot of nonsense may come out I guarantee there will be nuggets of gold in there.

My colleague Laurie Wagner runs "Wild Writing" group workshops. Some people like the workshops as a healing journey. Others value them for the creative boost and insights. For me, it's both.

Here is a January 14, 2021 video that guides you through the process. Do it! The video is about 45 minutes but the freewriting exercise is short, about 15 minutes.

I think you'll be surprised at how powerful this exercise is. Please let me know in the discussion area below.

Sign up to get the entire free 7-day series here. Replays are available on YouTube. Here's the first one.