The Benefits of Breaking Rules

By Lynn Goodwin

You have to know the rules before you can break them, right? NaNoWriMo’s rules expect you to write 50,000 words of a novel during November. I bent that rule and wrote a 50K free write.

After reading Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones and Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, I realized that journaling and free writing are the same—at least for me. According to Amber Lee Starfire’s website, Writing Through Life, https://writingthroughlife.com/journal-writing-tips-the-benefits-of-freewriting/,

• “FREEWRITINGis one of the most effective and easy forms of journaling….
• The main benefit to freewriting as a journal writing method,is that you learn not to edit your words — or your thoughts….
• When we freewrite,things are allowed to tumble out uncensored.”

Since my daily goal was 1667-2000 words, I dug deeply into my thoughts and feelings. I found answer questions to personal and universal puzzles. My philosophy became write now: edit later. Bottom line? I wrote more in my journal because I had a specific word count. It was great to let the words flow.

If you’re writing to get published and paid, write articles and blogs. If you’re writing to express yourself, problem solve, entertain or enlighten and you need to dig deeply, free write. What have you got to lose?

• Write about your stuck places.
• Brainstorm—make a list.
• Write a journal entry in the voice of a character.
• Write a dialogue between characters.
• Make a to-do list for your current project.
• Make a list and prioritize what you’re writing. It’s great fun to cross things off.
• Experiment with scenes.
• Experiment with form.
• Free writing is a place where there are no mistakes—only new material.

NaNoWriMo is great but it rewards word count only–not quality of thought, structure, cohesion, plot advancement, character development, theme, tone, imagination, or discovery. If you make a mistake in your tallies, like adding an extra digit and typing 22000 instead of 2200, you could finish out the month early with all kinds of congratulatory, unearned pop up banners. True story.

NaNoWriMo is controlled by artificial intelligence. You have a human brain composed of a unique set of experiences, actions, reactions, rewards, and consequences.

Reminder: Nobody can tell your story but you. Goals like a word count are a great motivational tool. If motivation doesn’t kick in, though, stimulate your brain by doing something different.

• Walk the dog.
• Clean the kitchen.
• Go to the grocery store.

Then get back in the chair, refreshed and ready to write. Or free write about the place where you’re stuck.

• Write a dialogue with your characters about how to solve the problem.
• Make a list of possible solutions.

Writing can be its own reward with or without rules. What are you writing and how is it going?

Writer and editor B. Lynn Goodwin owns Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com. She’s the author of two award winning books Talent (YA), and Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62 (memoir) and You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers (self-help). She’s also written a collection of journaling prompts, flash pieces, and short articles.  Her flash fiction is published in Flashquake, Nebo, Cabinet of Heed, Murmur of Words, 100-Word Stories, Ariel’s Dream, and Writing in a Woman’s Voice. Her new YA, Disrupted, is forthcoming.

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