What is freewriting, and how can it help me get ideas?

Like brainstorming, freewriting (a term coined by the writing teacher Peter Elbow) can help you with any writing project. It works particularly well, though, for more free-form types of writing, like stories or poems.

We all have highly critical "editors" in our heads who murmur things like "no good," "can't say that," and "never mind," before we've produced even a single word. In the later stages of writing, the editor can be useful. Right now, however, this character is the enemy of creative thought. Freewriting keeps the editor at bay.

Here's how it works. You can freewrite on a computer or a piece of paper. If you have a general idea of what you want to write about, write that at the top of the page; otherwise, just start with a blank page. Set a time limit-15 to 20 minutes is good-using a kitchen timer or alarm clock if possible. Then start writing, and do not stop until your time is up. That means no lifting your hands from the keyboard, no pausing to think, no erasing-just continuous words.