The Best Technique to Get "Great Ideas" is to Have Lots of Ideas

Just write. Freely. For at least 10 minutes.

Whatever comes to mind, whatever's on your mind, whether you "are in the mood" or not, whether you're prepared or not; write.

Start every day's writing with freenoting. Just write whatever comes — without any editing — none! No stopping to add words, make sense, correct spelling, or add punctuation.

Write free of any need to edit and/or need to write to an audience.

Just like we rarely plan what words the next sentence we speak will contain, the best writing "writes itself". Ideally, writing and speaking are both mostly an unconscious process.

We've learned (or been trained) to multitask while writing. And this is the biggest block to unbridled, abundant and rampant creativity. We write, edit, rewrite and revise — all at once! Freenoting solves this!

The steady practice of this will begin to erode the tyranny of your internal editor. That editor continually makes you multitask by imposing the "write, revise and rewrite task" — all at once — a dictatorship on all your efforts.

This is a key step. One that is especially foreign to most struggling writers. This is born from training, or the need to be perfect, or the desire to produce something that other people "like".

It's meaningless what the reason is however, as the road to great writing starts with Step 1 - write! Step 2 - edit. "Ya canna do both at once!"

You get slow, even stuck when you try to edit and write at the same time. These are different actions, and they require different feedback and even different sections of your brain in order to function efficiently.

Freenoting may be focused or unfocused. There are no rules to follow. You may change direction or subjects at the direction and impulse of your unconscious mind.

Unfocused freenoting is a stream of consciousness expression of what's running through your mind at any given moment. Focused freenoting involves writing with an intent or goal, about a topic as a means of expressing what you already know about it.

There is no "correct" way to do this for every person, so try these actions…

Start with a blank document page and some countdown timing software (I use Tea Timer ) or the clock on the computer. If you prefer to handwrite, you can use a pad or notebook instead. Freenoting is all about generating words, not correcting spelling or getting the "right" word.

Set the time for ten or more minutes. It's important to note that longer times can be more productive since freenoting opens some powerful access points to your unconscious mind.

Begin to type or write about anything that appears in your mind's eye. And don't stop until the time is up. You might find it's easier if you just look at the keys while you type or do a "Stevie Wonder" and stare at the ceiling. Your outcome is to concentrate on the ideas rather than getting caught up in the editing, spelling and revising dance.

Then review what you have written at another time. Any ideas in there that might work for a project you are doing?

Focused freenoting follows the same process but begins with an intent, a topic…

At the top of a blank page, put the topic. Begin freenoting for the same 10 minutes or longer. Still follow the same procedure - write everything and anything that comes to mind, trusting that your unconscious mind will organize and bring useful written expression forward. No editing. Whatever order of ideas and digressions or grammatical and spelling creativity is fine. Write fast!

Look over what you have written at another time. Sift for ideas and phrases you can use.

There are four guidelines to Freenoting:

1. Write for 10 minutes (or more, especially if you fall into a flow state and are enjoying yourself.) The key to freenoting is to not judge any thoughts while writing them.

2. Write. Write as fast as you can. Don't stop writing until the time is up. Never stop or even slow down for the "right" word. Write what you get and if more occurs to you a sentence or two later, just write it down right there! If you run out of things to say, just keep writing the last word, or your name, or "Being stuck, leads to better and better ideas" over and over again. Intend that more words will come and they will.

3. Turn off the "squelcher", that editor who tells you to go back and move that "i" or cross that "t," tells you that this or that idea is not well formed, or tells you that you've just written a run-on sentence or fragment. Mentally see the squelcher button. Reach out and turn it off!

4. When the time is up, start writing on other things. Later go back over the text and begin to edit by pulling out the surprises: identify interesting passages, ideas and phrases. Or chuck it away!

Freenoting's value is in the doing of it, and it may just take a week or up to a month until you are producing things of value most of the time. This is a training exercise and it will take your unconscious mind a little while to catch up to what you are doing. It's called learning!

Always follow what's in your mind's eye; find out what you have to say by just expressing it (on paper). Feel free to change subjects or point of view.

Trust yourself, your unconscious mind and your writing.

Freenoting is a both a information organizer and a memory stimulator. Your unconscious mind is a huge storehouse of information and it is constantly reorganizing and reordering that knowledge to meet the latest goals and intents of your conscious self.

Freenoting, especially with practice, makes available what you already know about anything and allows you to make connections you might not otherwise make. It moves you past the obvious, instant, surface responses so that you can dig deep to the insightful and valuable ideas of what you really want to say.

When you freenote you don't worry about correct punctuation, grammar or spelling. The point of this exercise is production, getting what's in your unconscious out, and written.

It take some focused discipline to never re-read what you've written until after you've finished; the value is in getting your ideas spilling out of you at a breakneck pace. If you worry about if they're written down "right" then you are not letting them flow.

I'm not "dissing" the edit function. It is a very important step to produce powerful and useful writing. I am decrying the tyranny of it when you are in the throes of creation, however. You must write and create unfettered, unshackled, and totally free.

Words are inexhaustible. Your words are plentiful. There isn't a limit on what you will produce in this lifetime… really! So being careful to only produce great or the right words just limits your output and paradoxically, limits your quality.

Every brainstorming/ creativity expert on earth will stress that the best way to get to great ideas is to get lots of ideas. And what's more creative than writing? Plus, this has been proven by hundreds of writers, including me.

Write! Blast away for 10 minutes on what's in your stream of consciousness. Let it Out! And watch your writing explode in quantity and then quality!

Outlining, shmoutlining. A pox on planning.

Freenoting will allow more of your "voice" into all your writing. It's impossible while truly freenoting to not use your own voice. That's exactly what you are expressing! This voice, this viewpoint is what is unique and valuable. Once it's edited, it's what readers are going to love and pay you the big bucks for!

It's also a fine technique to get the garbage out of your head. Once it's out on paper or screen it can be thrown in the trash, something that you are less able to do if it's still in your head!

Be courageous and step boldly into the chaos. Creativity lives there! Many writers find that their best writing comes out right next to garbage. Court it. Just let it rip, baby. The source of great writing is to simply write a lot. A source of ending writer's block is to write, a lot.

I'll talk about editing in the next article!

Freenoting's close cousin, freewriting was offered in the excellent book Writing Without Teachers (Peter Elbow, Oxford University Press, 1975). Elbow's freewriting is the same as what I've outlined here. However, the term has been hijacked and the technique turned into a light weight, warm-up technique.

Freenoting is different from the freewriting practice encouraged in most undergraduate and creative writing programs: freenoting encourages you to be aware of your thoughts throughout, and may be an end in itself — as well as a means to produce a more polished piece later.

Most writing programs will offer freewriting as a warmup tool that is abandoned once you move to "more purposeful" writing.

Freenoting is non-stop writing whose focus is to express all the "now" ideas from your unconscious mind. Freenoting is writing with your internal editor/planner disengaged, and this is it's main benefit.