Writing a Stream of Consciousness Exercise #SoCS

Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “all or nothing.”

The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this prompt was this song. (video put in later)

I have no idea why except the word nothing is in it.  It has been a while since I have participated in Stream of Consciousness Saturday and so I am a little rusty or maybe it’s just that my stream is a little stagnant. So here I am giving it my all but I seem to be getting nothing.  Hmm… I have this technique that when I have to write something I just write and let everything flow out on the paper with no punctuation or anything. This is how I get a first rough draft of anything done. Then I go back and edit and rewrite but first I just write. I write whatever pops into my head, you know, stream of consciousness style. If I can’t think of something to write I will actually write “I can’t think of anything to write now”. It is the act of writing or typing without a break that gets my creative juices flowing.  Sometimes something good comes from the stream and flows on to the paper and sometimes I just have to throw it all back and start over.

If you want to give it a try, just set a timer for a specific amount of time. You can start small with 15 minutes and then just write or type whatever pops into your head. Let it flow. No one but you will be seeing it so it doesn’t have to make any sense. Similar to what I am doing in this post. Don’t go back and read while you are writing, as a matter of face don’t even really look at the paper, just get in your head and let it flow through your hands to the keys or the pen.  Once you are done walk away. Do something else, then later look at what you wrote and figure out what you are going to do with it.

Unlike this post which is unedited except for spelling, you can go back and edit what you wrote, trash it, or save it for later. That’s it – all or nothing. You got to leave it all on the floor or the page if you really want to write.

Here are the rules from Linda:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!