"Free Writing Exercises" by Peter Elbow

My blog post today is on Peter Elbow's "Free Writing Exercise."  Elbow's essay offers us one main tip-to freewrite. He says it is the only way to write a powerful piece. "Freewritings help you by providing no feedback at all," he says. Elbow compares the concept of freewriting to writing something and putting it in a bottle in the sea. You are never getting that bottle back from anyone. Likewise, in freewriting, one can write knowing no one has to read the 10 minute rambling of the same words.

He continues to expatiate the difference between writing and freewriting when he says, "Writing....[permits] more editing. But that's its downfall too." Elbow says that when writing we are inherently focused on the grammar and the spelling of our words. However, that constant need to edit when writing is what makes writing not not only hard but as Elbow says, "dead." For us to write great pieces we have to to freewrite. When we develop the habit of freewriting, we will produce writing that is not forced but reflects our voice. A voice that speaks to us when we are writing-"our source of power."

Moreover, by freewriting our minds to not become blocked as we try hard to write our first paragraph and get it right. Elbow says that is the "formula for faluire." Write anything that comes to mind and after that you can correct them and come up with new ones. The idea that you willl get everything right the first time is unlikely and "a secret way to give up writing."

I find Elbow's essay more like Lamott's essay which we read last week. Both essays have the idea of not getting it right the first time, not even great writers do. However, there is a contrast between what Lamott says in his essay about the voice in our heads. He gives us a formula - a writing process. However, Elbow tells us to freewrite. This is a habit we have been practicing in class-not as freely as Elbow tells us to since we are given prompts to write about, yet it is a great way to start the morning. I plan to start freewriting especially for my essays. I have noticed that there is always a great line in the rambling I make on a page.