If there’s one thing that will rob you of your writing voice before you even get started it’s your teacher voice.
You know the one – the voice that complains about how that sentence structure is off, or that comma is in the wrong place or that metaphor is way off base.
The voice that wants you to edit every single sentence before you get through even a single paragraph.
Today, you get to quiet that voice up.
No one can write with that voice editorializing in her ear.
Today, you get to take out all the paints and dip fingers, hands, elbows into them.
Today you get to just write without worrying if it’s just write or not.
Today throw caution to the winds and write like you used to run – all fast and awkward and desperately enthusiastic. Ignore the back space. Forget the rules of MLA. Silence the self-critic.
Just write for the fun and the joy and the freedom of telling a story that must come out.
And if you want to – come and join a huge crowd of us who do just that every Friday. I call it Five Minute Friday. We write for five minutes flat all on the same topic that is posted here at midnight.
Need encouragement? There’s the most welcoming, enthusiastic group who meet up on Thursday nights on Twitter using the hashtag #FMFParty to encourage each other and cheer you through your writer’s doubt.
Some of my favorite writing is raw, unedited and fast flowing for want of an editor. Highly recommended.
Have you ever participated in Five Minute Friday? What’s your favorite part about it?
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I have a love/hate relationship with FMF;) I am a slow writer, prone to fits of editorial madness. FMF forces me to throw something out there and silence my inner editor. Most of the time, I’m not happy with the results, but a few times I’ve been pleasantly surprised at what has shown up on the page. A few weeks ago, an editor friend (a real one, not the one in my head), read one of my FMF’s on ‘Graceful’ and asked me to spend some time with the topic and pitch her an idea for an article. I love the direction it took, and the article is set to be published in a few weeks!
By the way, I love this series:) Thank you for offering a safe place for us writers to come out of hiding.
I LOVE 5 minute friday! Having just one word to jump off of AND the time limit is very freeing to me. It always amazes me how that one word will trigger almost immediately a start and I just roll with it from there. So thanks to you for a great idea!
Here’s my Day 4 — http://musingsandmeanderings-mlp.blogspot.com/2012/10/day-4-of-31.html
How do you even begin to turn of your inner critic? Mine has her “outside voice” on.
I love FMF! Was nervous to try it because my teacher voice is really loud and obnoxious (“You aren’t a writer, you studied psychology. Your friend, she’s the writer.”) But when I decided to try it, the vulnerability was exciting, and I was proud of what I knocked out in (about) five minutes.
I am new here, but I love the concept of Five Minute Fridays! What a useful tool to combat the Teacher voice. That voice has a strong hold on me – one slightly off sentence can paralyze me from making any progress in a piece. I will certainly be joining you all tomorrow to try this out!
I’ve participated in Five Minute Fridays a few times now and I enjoy it immensely! The prompts challenge me to think creatively, and the time limit is so doable that I have no excuse but to sit down and WRITE! I definitely appreciate the proverbial “kick in the pants”!
Hi Lisa-Jo, I really enjoy your posts, and I think that Five-Minute Fridays are a freewheeling wordfest–a fun, festive frolicking across the page! I don’t have a blogsite, but I love taking your challenge, nonetheless, because it helps me to throw caution to the wind, push through the fear of thinking I have nothing to say, enjoy the pure pleasure of writing, and to join in the camaraderie of other freespirited word-wenders. What I particularly love is to see how Creator God can take your one-word prompt and help each author shape something unique–an individual facet of His creativity in each of us. When I teach journaling classes, often participants balk at five-minute “writes,” until they push through and participate in the genius of it. It is sometimes just the “umph” a writer needs to get off the sidelines of silence. Thanks for your charming cheerleading that encourages writers to enter the race–a five-minute sprint at a time! You’re wonderful, Lisa-Jo.
I literally scheduled my school-year routine around FMF. I start looking forward to it sometime on Wednesday (generally right after I push the “post” button). I’m always amazed at how different those posts are than the rest of what I write and how GOOD some of them are.
Something about declaring up front that I only wrote for five minutes and that I didn’t go back and edit is magical. The inner critic shuts her mouth. I take bigger risks. I write from the heart instead of my head. When the time is up and I re-read what I wrote, half the time I sit there with my mouth open… “did I really just write that?”
I have grown so much as a writer (note that I didn’t say “blogger”) because of this weekly series. I’ve gained confidence and found a part of my voice. I’ve become willing to take risks, ignore the inner critic, and listen to my heart.
Thank you for hosting FMF. It’s an amazing community.
Thank you for this Lisa-Jo. I was doing so well with my little book until the “editor” stepped in. Suddenly I couldn’t write two words in a row without rethinking them. This is great stuff!
I haven’t done the FMF though I have seen it all over bloggyland. May have to give it a go this week! Thanks
I wrote my post early this morning, before Mother’s of toddlers would dare to touch the computer key for fear they would be joined at the task. Honesty, I am the church janitor and after dropping off my 16 year old son at school I came to be alone at church before cleaning.
I would Title it Raw emotion this week. Going through some tough stuff, and want to give God the glory for saving me and giving me Hope Eternal.
http://gis-butterfly.blogspot.com/
Shalom, D
I participated in my first 5-minute friday last week. It was very challenging because I haven’t written like that since college – which I’ve been out of for only a few years now. Anyways, I LOVE the challenge and seeing the end result as imperfect as it is!
Thank you! I needed to hear this! Not to be repetitive, but I think this is so true with art making too! I contantly have my proffs critical voices in my head and hate it! Its so much more freeing to just do it, and not worry, and to feel amazing with process AND results. Ive been doing 5 minute friday for 3 weeks now, and love it!
What do you do if you really ARE the teacher who critiques every comma and who teaches proper sentence structure and MLA format? It’s REALLY hard to turn that off, which is probably why I’ve written less in the past couple of years since going back to work than I had previously. Ugh.
I love FMF, but haven’t participated in a long time because, well, I teach on Friday. I may just try to squeeze out five minutes tomorrow though. People tell me that the FMF posts I’ve written are some of my best work. Go figure! :)
I have only done two Five Minute Fridays. I was thrilled with the outcome the first, discouraged by the second, but both times I had the same pride in myself for ignoring “the editor” and writing whatever was on my heart. Now I’m hooked! The internal critic is my biggest obstacle (“she” actually kept me from writing anything at all for many years). FMF has been a huge help already. Thank you!
I enjoy participating because I never know what thoughts are going be put on paper. Sometimes I am surprised by what is put down. And then I enjoy taking the time to read what others have written and to get different perspectives on the same thought. Sometimes, though, I am so tempted to write for longer – but then I stop myself.
“All fast and awkward and desperately enthusiastic” — hahaha, YES.
The teacher voice got really loud when I chose to write for 31 days on short stories! Thanks for such a well-aimed, well-timed swat. :)
My favorite part about Five Minute Friday (other than beating Mary Beth to be the first to link up…hehe..) is the fact that no matter what my writing has been like (feast or famine), I know on Fridays I can forget about structure and just. write. the. words. And the community of writers who visit & comment & encourage? It’s beautiful.
I love Five Minute Friday! I set my timer and simply …write. It has helped me get to the point quickly and to stop filtering everything in my mind before publishing a post. Sometimes I surprise myself as to what comes out. I love that I don’t get to see the word until the morning and I simply …write.
I’ve only participated in one FMF so far. And I have to admit, I struggled. It was hard to ignore my “inner editor”. My biggest concern wasn’t the grammar or punctuation, but the content itself. I was really worried about it sounding….well, dumb. Like was it going to be just a bunch of jibber-jabber thrown out there? I kept trying to imagine what someone on the outside reading it would think. Would the REAL writers laugh? Would they roll their eyes as they read through the numerous cliches I included? That being said, I actually really enjoyed the exercise in spite of my insecurities. It’s good to just write off the top of your head every now and then. I look forward to tomorrow’s five minutes!
I am with Kimberly and some of the others. I have done a few FMF but really struggle not to listen to the ‘inner editor’ in me and just let it go. I am so in awe watching you and others just go…and I try and I question, does this sound right, am I getting my thoughts out into the exact words? Then I feel my mind is going way faster than my slow fingers move, I think I am one of the slowest typers. SIGH but I am stepping out in faith and have been trying :) And I have decided to join the 31 day challenge on my little blog I start three years ago and never kept up. I write about very random stuff right now as I discover ‘my story’. But coming over here keeps me encouraged and to keep trying! Thank you so very much for cheering all of us on!
ive only just found you via the 31 days project and i am loving your blog and the idea of 5 minute friday…will be back! When do the prompts get posted? x
Haven’t participated yet but I am going to start!!!!!!!!!!!