Free Writes- Part 1

So a while back I shared with you a piece from my Composition class journal. To be honest it wasn't the most interesting one in there.  In fact, as it so happened, the most passionate journal entries I wrote were about my hatred of Free Writes. The Free Writes would be journal entries that had no prompt, where we could write about anything we pleased. It's actually incredibly ironic how much I hated them.

I really don't know what it was, but I always had such a hard time thinking of something to write. Kind of weird... considering I keep a blog... which is pretty much just a giant free write...

Anyway, I figured I'd share some of my heart-felt hate writing. There are quite a few entries about this, so I'll only post a few and then add more at a later date.

Journal #23: Free Write


I present to you the difficulty that comes with writing a free write journal entry:


You enter a classroom. Sit down. look up. Your eyes search for the journal topic, but all they find are two empty words: "Free Write". They hold so much power, and yet none at all. You sit, stare, and ponder. What really comes with those words? Endless possibilities, endless choices, yet no guidance. Your mind jumps around like a bouncy ball. What can there possibly be to write a page about? You sit uncomfortably, staring at the blankness of your paper and the stillness of your pencil. Minutes tick away and you see others writing, clearly not having as much trouble as you are. Desperate, you open a folder, taking out the list of possible things to write about. It tells you to describe puppies, rainbows, and unicorns. Hell no. Your eyes scan the list once more, but it provides nothing but a desire to incinerate your notebook. What is there to write about?! You think about your day, but nothing special happened. Family, friends, thoughts... nothing. it's too early in the morning. Others have finished writing, and you feel preposterous with an empty paper and a blank mind. You decide all free writes should cease to exist, because the only thing that inhabits your mind is how difficult it is to fill a page on a free write day.


The irony. It hurts.

Needless to say I'll be writing about puppies, rainbows, and unicorns tomorrow just to prove my past self wrong.

Here is another, in poem form.

Journal #32- Free Write: A Poem of Malice


Free writes are nasty, lame, and cruel...
Truly the last thing I'd want to do in school.
For a journal topic just make a decision
Before my head and this desk have a collision.
Instead of working on my essay,
I have to think of rhymes that now look quite mess...ay.
So many essays and tests my brain is fried,
But this free write has made it shriveled and dried.
There really is nothing to write about,
No blizzards or tornados or even a drought.
This free write rhyme started out okay,
But with more space on the paper I'm running out of things to say.
This free write in my honor I did miss.
but who's to say it wasn't on pur...piss.
Just kidding, Mr. B, you know I am,
Because I have to make it up anyway... some plan.
I can write about anything, anything at all.
This hat, those shoes, or even the mall.
Except I would like to see you try,
To write a whole page about a hat without starting to cry.
So with malice I write this free write poem,
Because all I want is to go... hoem.


In case you were wondering, my teacher had been so amused by my free write hatred that he'd assigned one in my honor the day I was absent. Unfortunately I still had to make it up.

So yeah. I'm not really sure how I went from hating writing about anything at all to doing exactly that every Friday... but it's happened, and I don't hate it anymore. Actually, I'm a bit pissed at my last year self for being such a whiner. Then again, later on the free write hate letters get kind of funny... so props to my old self for that... but still. I.. never mind. Just ignore me right now. I'm confused.

Expect a post about rainbows, puppies, unicorns, hats, the mall, and "those shoes".