Free Writing??

To be honest, I’m not a fan of the whole free writing idea. Maybe it’s because, in high school, I was involved in literature club and poetry club, and even now I enjoy writing poetry and songs in my spare time just to get thoughts off of my chest; so, I guess maybe I lied, then – I do enjoy free writing.

I guess what I mean is that free writing is a bit of a sacred practice for me. I believe that there is a place for free writing, and there is a place for writing for academic purposes. I don’t agree with the two converging. I just see that to be a waste of time and energy. I understand that through the process of free writing you might come up with some really interesting ideas to write about, but I think that is what a first draft is for.

I think a person is better off treating the first draft as a free write, and just going for it. Get your idea, go over your research and go for it. Then get a buddy to read it and mark it up. And, by the time of your second draft/ revision, I believe that is when a person should start to worry about structure and detail. So, I wouldn’t necessarily say that free writing is essential in the process of writing a good paper. I’d, more so, agree that a person should bypass trying to pick good ideas out of a free write, and just try to put it all together in the form of your actual draft first. You can worry about structure and placement later. There is always the second draft. Or, at least, there should be.