Almost 900 people signed up for our free writing workshop this past Sunday – which is crazy. We practiced free timed writing experiments solo and in groups, the essential building block of writing practice. If you joined us, thank you!
Our more intensive workshop Nemesis Writing Protocol takes place next weekend, July 19 and 20. You can currently sign up at the early bird rate (the fee goes up tomorrow, Wednesday 7/16) with code E4RLY. It’s a shorter enrollment period than usual, so make sure to sign up if you’re interested! We would love to see you there.
The video above, taken from last weekend’s Free Writing Workshop, Emily’s discussing our favorite writing practice. In fact, the “free” in Free Writing Workshop name was a bit of a double entendre; the workshop itself was literally free as in no-cost, but more importantly, it referred to the practice we cherish: free writing.
It will literally help your overall thinking and processing but also make you a more confident writer when you experience for yourself there’s always more there. No need to be too precious with your words. You can always produce more.
The idea of the practice is simple: write for ten minutes per day, as quickly as you can, without thinking or editing.
If you’re able to write by hand, write by hand in a notebook, ignoring lines and margins, going as quickly and freely as possible. This will help you outrun your internal censor and get to your freshest, deepest consciousness.
Try to avoid using a precious expensive notebook or anything that will make you feel like what you write needs to be “good”. Feel free to write the worst garbage in the world. If you prefer to type, use a word processing app, or a google doc, or your notes app, and do the same thing, but with typing.
If you’re not sure which way (hand writing or typing) works for you, try both. If you would like to get fancy, you can do ten minutes of completely free writing, and then ten minutes of writing following one of the prompts below. When following a prompt, you are trying to balance thinking of things and writing them down with not really thinking and letting it all flow. If you get way off topic, just write “what I was trying to say is…” and get back to what you’re trying to say.
In the workshop we asked participants to send suggestions for prompts over the chat. The suggestions were unsurprisingly insanely good. Feel free to use the list below, collected from the workshop to kickstart your own free writing practice.
Ps. Here are the workshop SYLLABUS and ARENA CHANNEL.
Clubbing
Walk in the park
Ice cream flavors
new motherhood
Money
Cotton thread count
Obsessions
sauna
Dead pens
Dali
Lying
Grief
Maillard reaction
astrology
Rickety-ass lawn chair
The colour of the floor
flake salt
bad breath
Going to failure
Anxiety
monuments
Foot callous
phone
Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee
wildfire
Stamina
chores
Discourse on matcha
Pets
my hands
crushes
public transport
Light coming over the mountain
Stone fruit
Tears
Strawberry pound cake
Bay windows
striped shirts
frogs
Redemption
scamming
narcissism
The Forest
Wasp nests
cheese wheels
Horizon lines
Gazpacho
Salt
Come of age
Dog gods
Broken mirror
paris
Pool parties
fun
Running late
Pinterest aphorisms
work
Blood
stones
Plants communicating
Minoan civilization
Ex’s
Shopping mall staircases
MY JOB
nicotine
planters
Cats
water bottles
waiting room @ dr
tacos
Letters
Dentist appointment
cherries
First boyfriendf
language
Vacation
fitness
möbius strip
Fading memory
beautiful deaths
Sirens on the rocks
simping
Theory vs Practice
clouds
messy
Grieving
My cat
Focus and attention
Drake
plastic bags
Sailor tattoos
street life
good clothes
kiwi
Swimming
Brain cells
Moving out
ceilings
prom night
Averison
pijiama
Holy cow
Fixing air con
Coworker vibes
roots
exercise
Felt tipped markers
Teenage pregnancy
sunburn
Childhood home
elegance
salt
Feeling Shy
permission
data
Bus stop
wildlife
brutalism
Your cat
Milk tea
potato salad
Vacations in Upper Saxony
Kayaking
Water
ashtray
therapy room
Artist dinner
Clown school
aversion
phone
Depot infinite scroll
magic wand
Twist and shot
The colour green
flowers
skin
tahini
itchyness
mobility
pain
heat
AVERSION
My sister
Fragmented self
Losing keys
allergies
doomscrolling
Queer experiences
ballon
regret
end of times
dyed cotton
Beeing real
blow
Hair transplant
anxiety
being a millionaire
Elbow pain
water bottles
neighbors
Hiking
the last time you saw someone taking a photo of themselves
bricks
horses
identity
Vase design
peanut butter
bad lamps
pasta
First apartment
scalps
blackouts
dust mites
Masturbation
Screen time
Cocktail bars
marbles
Cosmas and damian
Gum
grids
Trinket boxes
Sibling rivalry
Someones else’s cat
Video game
yoga classes in a ballroom
punk rock
Getting old
Miming
Retelling the same storys
broken finger
Saunas
the 1950s hollywood blacklist
marriage
hearts
Heartbreak
failure
Cocaine
Learning a new language
california ethos
work
tight hamstring
Trucker hats
Pencils
forgetting umbrella
beauty
silence
themed parties
Bad smells
Bee stings
litterbox
stones
fatigue
rain worms
Under salted scrambled eggs
Nasty habits
pimples
Antique Music boxes
itchy socks
Dry cleanere
Why dogs are so intuitive
Muse
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