Pre-writing: My Process

There are a lot of things that come to mind when someone says pre-writing. I have used webs, boxes, brainstorming, etc. the list goes on. In early years, I distinctly remember all the webbing we would do. It was my bread and butter for writing in my youth. I always did my best to make mine neat and perfect. It had to have well rounded shapes and be symmetrical. Only then could it properly organize my thoughts. We also used this box method where you would start with one box, it would be our main idea. Then the number of boxes would multiply in descending order and the details within those boxes would become more and more distinct. That was a method that I was taught later on after the web lost its effectiveness. The drop down boxes gave me many years of help in organizing my thoughts, but just as the web they eventually lost their touch with me. At this point in my life I rarely ever organize my thoughts beforehand. I use free writing a lot. Just flip on a deep song and let my thoughts flow onto paper then I can organize them later. It works really well for me. I think about all sorts of things throughout the day. The smallest of things can set off my thoughts and that is why free writing works wonders for me. It was hard to get into at first because it is hard to just right everything you are thinking, but once you get it down, it is a very useful technique.