You as a writer - who are you? Some exercises to try

A lot of us are drawn to writing - we enjoy it.  We use it as a means to express ourselves, make money etc. but what I discovered in a writing class I took this last semester is that a lot of us do not fully understand who WE are as a writer - in other words how did we come to be writers? How did that evolve? What do we aspire to be as future writers? 

In this course we did a collage - a written word collage of ourselves as writers and it was very eye-opening to me.  I thought I had a pretty good grasp on who I am and why I write - but it was still so revealing.  The purpose of the exercise was of course to allow others to get to know us as a writer - but many of us found in the process that we learned a little something more about ourselves as well. 

I'll share mine with you on my next post - 

My hope is that in the meantime you will do some free writing - where you just sit down and type or write whatever comes into your head without concern of typos, grammar, etc.  Do this for 10 to 15 minutes a day and you WILL become a better writer with a clearer voice.  Out of the "chaos" that is a freewrite - you can pull tidbits and pieces of information and thoughts that would have been cast aside had you sat down with the intention of writing for an audience - or with a set subject for that matter. Free write and even if you can't think of what the heck to say - write about that! 

Free writing is a great technique for opening the flood gates, exploring your inner thought processes, and then after releasing all the pent up emotions/thoughts/ideas etc. It is a great way to get your house in order.  

Try this free writing for a few days - after that I'll show you how your free writing will help you develop your collage.  You'll love this exercise - it's therapeutic and it's fun!