A free write is like dreaming. Even as we move our pen across paper, we’re observers, watching as the subconscious sorts and tags and integrates the stuff of our lives. We awake from the page refreshed.
But there is another way to dream on the page. We can LUCID dream. Just like when, in a dream, we realize we’re dreaming and choose to do all kinds of crazy things we’d never do in real life, so, when we’re free writing, can we recognize that we’re in a NO STAKES ENVIRONMENT. We can try things we’d never really do. We can report on things that didn’t actually happen to us. We can create ourselves, word by word, not ONLY from reality, but from the far reaches of our imagination.
So yes, open your notebooks and dream. But also, from time to time, open your notebooks and LUCID dream, and find out exactly how much you’re capable of.