Last Saturday, the Rockville Writers' Group proudly hosted a Free Writing workshop at the home of one of its members, Kathy. This event was significant in more ways than one-first, it was the first workshop this group has organized or hosted and second, the event was a great success.
This workshop on Free Writing was led by poet, teacher extraordinaire and an outstanding speaker, Douglas Goestch (www.douglasgoestch.com). Starting from 9 in the morning till about 5 that evening, Doug engaged us, the attendees, in a variety of exercises. They ranged from writing a paragraph about a simple, randomly picked word to complex themes involving 'memory and invention.' They were all interesting and challenging without being oppressive or tiresome. At the end of the day and about 8 exercises later, we came away refreshed, our minds excited and open to new possibilities.
For me, it was a great learning experience. I have written about it on my blog at www.sgbasu.com. To avoid being repetitive, I am posting an excerpt here. A click on the text below will take you to the full post.
"A few months ago, my compatriot Kathy, at the Rockville Writers Group gushed about this wonderful weekend she had spent in New Hampshire, attending a workshop on Free Writing by Douglas Goestch. She had enjoyed it very much. Her excitement was infectious and within 5 mins the rest of our group wanted to know more about this ‘free writing,’ and all of us wanted to attend the workshop the following year."
Doug spoke about the importance of free writing as a training and I agree wholeheartedly. The following (in my own words), is what truly made me a believer in the power of free writing:
A practitioner of any art (or sciences for that matter) takes care of his/her tools and keeps those tools sharp by training and training hard. For writers, that tool is the brain. We need to keep our brains sharp and nimble and flexible. Free writing is a training that we can provide the brain to keep it always at its sharpest.
Happy sharpening to you all!
~ Rupa Basu
