I enjoy clusters. I find that clusters triggered by abstract concepts engage me more than ones triggered off by concrete words like physical objects. I seem to get stuck more easily when the trigger word is an object. An abstract concept usually gets my emotions rolling and words flow easily. As with psychology, word association really has no rules, so any word can lead to any other word and the connection isn’t always obvious. It reminds me of Edward Debono’s lateral thinking books.
With freewrites it’s a bit different. So far, I haven’t yet managed to write first thing in the morning. I can’t really function without having a coffee first. I keep a dream diary, but when I write on waking up, I only jot down words that remind me of what the dream was about and I usually write up the dream right after I’ve had coffee.
Somehow my freewrites do not seem that free. I need a trigger. So I guess, I’m writing focused freewrites. If no word comes to mind, I choose a number, go on google news and click on an article, I count the words to the number I chose and that becomes my trigger word. I was surprised that it even works when the trigger is a silly word like a conjunction. My free writes consist mainly of phrases, miniature pictures of thoughts and ideas, they're mostly disjoined and won't make much sense to anyone else. Am I doing it right?
I prefer typing to writing. It’s faster. Many of my notes are on my laptop. However I keep a notebook on me when I’m out and I jot down things: phrases, descriptions of places and people, impressions, storyline ideas. I do clusters on the notebook too.
Another thing - no one is allowed to browse through my notebook. There’s so much that can be misconstrued or misunderstood and taken totally out of context. What’s in there is only for me, and with good reason, I don’t look good in straight white jackets!
