I’ve started an exploratory writing process; a timed exercise as it’s called in Natalie Goldberg’s book, Writing Down the Bones. I bought this book after it received high praise in the latest post on Rands In Repose. Rands mentioned that he’s on his third copy, mainly due to over use. After finishing it, and agreeing with Rands opinion of the book, I’ve permanently allocated a spot for it on my Kindle - to avoid the unneeded deforestation.

Every morning, for about 10 to 20 minutes, I just write. Punctuation doesn’t matter. Grammar, spelling, it all goes out the window as the task requires you to keep writing no matter what. The goal of this process is to reach what is described in Writing Down the Bones as “First Thoughts”. First thoughts are raw material spouted by your brain. Usually these thoughts are polished up and censored before being released from the shackles of your mind, if released at all. An internal editor handles the polishing. The editor must be overthrown during this process; keeping the output flowing renders it incapable of locking things down. Any hiccups in that flow - fixing punctuation, typos, grammar - will allow the editor to jump in and shut down the first thoughts jail break. At least that’s how I understand the reasoning for the process.

I’ve been doing this for only a couple days now. I haven’t been doing it long enough to see the benefits of the process. But common sense tells me that of course this process will be beneficial to my writing. There’s no doubt. If you want stronger muscles, lift some weights. If you want to be good at Super Meat Boy, then play the damn game until your thumbs bleed. And if you want to be a better writer, then write. Simple.

One thing I have noticed so far during the exercise is that my fingers aren’t comfortable with it at all, at least not at this point. I think it makes them nervous. Being a software developer, I type a lot. Whether it’s writing code, emails, technical specs; it’s never ending. And with all that typing, there’s a certain level of accuracy I’ve come to expect from my fingers. They know what’s expected from them and they’re very good at producing at that level. Without the safety net of editing in place though, and being required to keep writing no matter what, that accuracy level has gone to shit. I stumble through my thoughts, becoming preoccupied with the train wreck taking place just beneath my nose. My fingers plead with my brain to allow them to just fix one typo. Just one little typo. The right pinkie starts his sneaky ascent up to the back space. “It won’t hurt anyone, just one little correction.” the fingers explain, “It’ll make us all feel better.” The brain does its best to keep everything flowing, but those ten little digits are persistent. The battle rages on. The typos pile up.

I’m interested to see what I can produce once editing and finger nerves take a back seat to first thought production. I recommend you give it a shot yourself. See what uncensored thoughts flow out of you…if you dare.