Freewriting Friday: Connecting the Dots

In the search for a full circle connection

On Tuesday, I announced Flint & Steel’s latest writing challenge where one winner will receive $50. The prompt is “Full Circle,” which was inspired by the one-year anniversary of starting F&S.

I love writing circular, whether in fiction or creative nonfiction. Connecting the dots, seeing the change (good or bad) on a journey. There is something satisfying as a reader and a writer going full circle in a story. When I finish reading a book or a short story, I’ll go back and reread the first line to see if it completes a circle to the last line.

So this month’s Freewriting Friday exercises are to help you connect those dots. To hopefully inspire your full-circle piece.

Let’s get writing!

Set the Mood for Your Writing

Instructions

Use this time to write something personal or write from the perspective of a character from a fictional story you are working on. Or write a poem.

Allow your mind to wander, not worrying about the final product.

• Allow yourself at least 15 minutes for a freewriting session.
• Write in a place with no distractions.
• Only allow yourself to write and use this exercise as a guide.
• Only use your phone for the timer and turn off notifications.
• Move from one prompt to the next or focus on one.
• Don’t stop writing for the time allowed.
• Don’t edit yourself.

Let the timer be your guide, but don’t limit your writing by the ding. Keep writing if you’re in the flow.

The timer is an aid when you’re feeling like you have nothing to write. “I’m only writing for five minutes. No big deal.” But keep going if the words are there.

Freewrite in response to all the prompts or focus on one. Whichever calls out to you. Use these prompts as a springboard to your next article, flash fiction, or short story. You can also write these as satire or rant pieces.

There is no right or wrong.

As a fiction writer, you can use any of these prompts from your character’s perspective to get to know them better; maybe a story will form through your freewriting exercise.

First Prompt

The reason I picked the music selection above of crickets and cicadas is the memories it evokes when I hear those sounds.

The other night I was sitting on the deck as the sun was setting with a notebook and pen in hand. I had no expectation of what I was going to write or even if I was going to at that moment, but I’ve learned to bring a notebook anywhere I go when I allow my mind to wander.

Suddenly, the sounds of cicadas danced around me. Every time I hear them, I think of my earliest memories as a child, wandering the trailer park. My mother and I lived at in those first few years of my life. That was when I started writing.

Now I want you to do the same. Find a space where you can be alone, uninterrupted. Go outside. To a bench in the middle of town. Somewhere.

Close your eyes. Listen. Do the sounds remind you of another time? Take in a deep breath and smell the air. Feel around you. The blades of grass. Cracks in the concrete. Look around. How has this view changed or stayed the same? How have you changed or stayed the same?

Set a timer for five minutes and write. Don’t stop. Keep writing past the timer, if you wish. Don’t edit yourself. See where the writing takes you.

Second Prompt

Full circle. Start writing what comes to mind when you read the prompt, “full circle.”

For me, I started to write about being a writer. My dream of being a writer as a child. The unattainable in my mind. Now as a nearly 50-year-old woman writing every day, going to graduate school for creative writing, now seeing the attainable. What was unattainable to you once?

Set a timer for five minutes and write.

Third Prompt

Think of an important milestone. Wedding anniversary. 50th birthday. Graduation. Divorce. Start writing the feelings associated with these big events in your life. Expectations. From family, friends, society and how reality smashed those expectations, in a good way or in bad ways. Dig under the surface and think about your feelings then, on the hard days, on the days you wanted to give up but you didn’t. Or maybe you did. Write about it.

Set a timer for five minutes and write.

Revision

When you freewrite, always allow your words to simmer before putting your editor hat on. When I write, I either only freewrite, with no editing or stopping. Or I edit and revise. Never at the same time.

After some time, go back over your words and add structure. Take away, add. Polish it up! Then enter the Flint & Steel Writing Challenge!

Submit your work to Flint & Steel

You can submit your writing to any of the freewriting exercises found at Flint & Steel anytime. There are no deadlines for these prompts.

If you publish your article with another publication, tag me so I can stop by and comment on your piece.

Visit the submission guideline page to sign up to be a writer at Flint & Steel.

Invitation to Flint & Steel writers

Sahil Patel, Shirley Jones Luke, Samantha Jensen, MA, MAEd, Trista Signe Ainsworth, MIGHTY MISCELLANY, L Burton, Heathere CW, Kaori Mitsui, Penelope Mayfield, Pierce McIntyre, Pene Hodge, Yean Foong (M.Ed.), Elin Melaas, Sarah Minnis, Mindy Morgan Avitia, JM Heatherly, Nikki, Andria Kennedy, pockett dessert, Dennett, Diana Lotti, Ronald C. Flores-Gunkle, Mulan, Amanda Laughtland, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Penny Grubb, Sorina Raluca Babau, Prashansa Chandekar, Will Hull, Ravyne Hawke, Jane Grows Garden Rooms (Jane Frost), Mimi Bordeaux, Adrienne Beaumont, Karen Schwartz, Divina Grey, Sangeetha Shankar, Ellen Andaya, Barb Dalton, Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她), Beverly Annette Little, Aabye-Gayle F., AliciaMarie Belchak | Master Life, Build Dreams, Danielle Hestand, Rick Allen, Jennifer Pierce, Tamil, Amy Rosie, Jennifer McDougall, Susan Poole, Adrienne Parkhurst, Chelsea Marie — Charlie Cole — Katie Michaelson — Sandra B — Buse ermen — E. Katherine Kottaras — Bingz Huang — Winston — Stephanie Stephenson — Marilyn Flower — Kris Bedenian — Kathy K — Nick Stockton — VerityAlways — Makena Darya — Umme Salma — Călina Mureșan — Anne Bonfert — Jennifer Dunne, K-kun Writes!, M Cher, CARMEN F MICSA, Annette Liron, Sam Finlayson, Ian Hanson, LM, Elizabeth Kasujja, Sandi Parsons, Veronica Haunani Fitzhugh, BichoDoMato, Jules Starley, Jordan Richardson, Angie Mangino, Obinna Uruakpa, Shanice Lawton, Barbara Radisavljevic, Gaurav Jain, Terry Barr, Christine Graves, Randy Runtsch, Susan Alison, Indra Raj Pathak, Ash Moonlight, Jesse M Hawthorne, Denise Darby, Laura Jevtich, Eira Braun-Labossiere 🌻, Donna J. Allen, Sarah-Jane W., Ginger Bangs, Rebecca Frailich, James Jordan, David L. Davis, Nicholas Tarleton, Courtney Capone, Agnes, Kunal Mehra, Gauri Sirur, Nancy Blackman, Dr. Preeti Singh, Rosy Gee, Lisa M. Gott, Jillian Amatt — Artistic Voyages, Mridul Vijay, Patrick OConnell, Beth Peterson

More Freewriting Friday exercises

About the Writer

Ellie is a freelance writer and editor from Minnesota. She is writing her first novel, a psychological suspense novel, while finishing her MFA at SNHU.

Need writing inspiration? Check out Sparks, Ellie’s newsletter filled with Medium writing prompts to spark your creativity.

Want to read more? Or even join Medium as a writer? Join Medium and have unlimited access to so many excellent writers & get started on your own Medium writing journey.

Let’s connect: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook Writing Group

✍ Written by Ellie Jacobson, @2022 all rights reserved.