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more than once, probably over several weeks. It is up to the individual to construct a purpose for freewriting, and any other practices, for that matter. After such a trial period, what kinds of changes would we see? Freewriting isn’t just therapeutic garbage. It’s also a way to produce bits of writing that are genuinely better than usual: less random, more coherent, more highly organized. (Elbow 1973: 8) Note the language: ‘bits of writing’. Not ‘chapters’. Not ‘drafts’. Not ‘fine sentences’. Not ‘writing that we are satisfied with’. This may be a helpful shift: from the goal of immediately producing features of ‘finished’ writing to using writing to start. This is using writing differently: using it to scribble down a whole idea in one short burst, rather than working at several sentences about that idea and polishing them till we feel they work as a series. Using this strategy does not mean we have to throw out all our other strategies, but it may mean that we use them for other purposes. Perhaps we ought to be clearer about what the purpose of writing – i.e. the writing activity – is, when we start to write. Freewriting may help us not to aim for all our writing goals at once. Why do we think we can produce sensible, coherent and integrated writing all in one go, all in one writing session? How does freewriting help us to become better writers? It silences the internal editor. As Elbow argues, there is nothing wrong with editing our writing, but ‘The problem is that editing goes on at the same time as producing’ (Elbow 1973: 5), and this damages concentration and coherence. How can it help us write a thesis? The potential for effect can be seen in this student’s representative reaction to being introduced to freewriting in a postgraduate writers’ group and then following it up with a session on her own. To clarify, this student is ‘representative’ of those who find freewriting initially interesting and rapidly – acting on that interest – discover other outcomes. This is the student’s unsolicited report, by email, to the member of staff running the group:
Freewriting frees thinking I realise you are busy but wanted to let you know of my own personal success story resulting from what was discussed in the postgrad writing group this afternoon. I came back to the library and spent seven minutes writing for myself about what I wanted to achieve with this current task which has been INCREDIBLY frustrating. Writing in such an informal and personal style suddenly seemed to free me in the way I was thinking about writing for this task and indeed made me realise I had to look at the whole project in a much more personal light.
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