5 Ways To Let Your Words Run Free

Written by: Joanna Young
June 2, 2008

Funny, isn’t it, how there are times when our words run free. When they skip and soar like children cartwheeling on the sand: light, spirited, carefree.

But then theres’s those other times when writing’s like wading through treacle. When our words feel like they’re stuck in the mud – or set in concrete.

If you ever find yourself stuck in one of those times here are 5 things you can do to set your words free:

Write for one person: No matter if your readership’s going to be one, one thousand or one million, reducing your focus to just one reader can help free up your words. All those other people carry the weight of expectations with them: the baggage of “should”, “have to”, “must”. With just one person you can reduce your focus, and tell it the way that it is.

Get intimate: No I’m not talking racy details here, I mean getting intimate with your reader, and your words. Focus on that one person you’re writing for. Smile as you think of them. Pull your chair up a little closer. Shut out the world. Write for them, and them only, that story you’re itching to tell.

Write here, write now: Sometimes when the words get stuck it’s because we’ve stared too long at the big picture, thought too hard about abstract concepts of purpose or value. Forgotten what’s going on right here, right now, and how full of purpose and value those everyday details can be. So start there. Drop what you’re ‘trying’ to say. Focus back on the specifics, the detail of what’s here, now, and that one person you want to share it with.

Forget the big picture: Human beings love to look for patterns, meaning, the big picture of what we’re writing on, working on, living through. But patterns can easily become labels, and once we’ve labelled our work or our selves it’s easy to get stuck. We try too hard to live up to the labels, to create and re-create them, to maintain our authority and expertise. If your writing’s got pinned down with labels, let them go for a while. Reduce your focus, bring it back to the here and now, and tell it as it is.

Name it: write (privately) what you’re resisting. This idea comes from Natalie Goldberg: it’s as simple as naming what it is you don’t want to write about. Writing about your tiredeness, your boredom, your resistance to those dull old words, that same old same old, until guess what? Something new has broken free.

What are you favourite techniques for liberating words?

What’s helped you to break free when your writing’s got stuck?

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/apranihita/

Joanna Young - Coaching you to write with confidence | http://www.thecalmspace.com/about#joanna

Comments

3 Responses to “5 Ways To Let Your Words Run Free”

  1. AnnieNo Gravatar on June 6th, 2008 9:55 am

    Thank you Joanna - that is so helpful for my current writing project. I must admit you got me thinking about what frees the words up. Then I realised I only write when I’m not exhausted, when I feel relaxed, when I know the words will flow. Lucky I don’t rely on it for a living huh?

  2. Joanna YoungNo Gravatar on June 10th, 2008 5:51 pm

    Hi Annie, I’m glad the piece helped you with your writing project. Knowing what state helps you to write freely should help save a lot of time: less hours wasted trying to ‘make’ ourselves write when our bodies and minds are protesting otherwise :-)

    Joanna

  3. Writing With Purpose In June | Joanna Young On The Web on June 21st, 2008 2:56 am

    [...] the Calm Space this month we were exploring freedom, with my contribution on 5 Ways To Let Your Words Run Free. Get intimate: No I’m not talking racy details here, I mean getting intimate with your reader, [...]

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