freeeeewrite
Find the prompt here:
Peel the skin off
One should peel the skin off slowly. What skin? The skin of the brain. The metaphorical skin of the brain. I'm talking about freewrites. Start, but don't feel like it's a race. Just start with the prompt. Type the prompt over and over and over again until something else comes. Type the same word, maybe hum hum hum hum hum, maybe something else more enjoyable to type, like front front front or love love love love love love yes that's nice. Just whatever you need to do to keep your fingers moving. I'm speaking, of course, as if you are typing, but maybe you are writing longhand, and that's ok too. Just write whatever is enjoyable to write over and over again, if nothing else is coming to mind. I read someone's freewrite here the other day, in which they talked about how they saw the prompt and then spent a long time thinking about what they wanted to write, inspired by the prompt. It's not the way I do freewrites. It's not the way I think freewrites are intended. But I don't want to say it's wrong, because what could be wrong about writing, however it happens? And who's to say that "this is the rule" about freewrites? Rules schmools! Do what you want, as long as you're not harming anyone! So just type or write or think and plan away. Keep doing, that's the thing. Just keep doing. Just keep writing. Keep writing every day, even if the freewrite is the only thing you write. I'm reading about composition pedagogy right now. There was a big shift in the 1960s about how we teach writing. Until then, it was mostly about product, but around then, the shift happened where they started talking about process.