Sample Freewrite | The Writing Process

“If you can’t think of anything to write about, write about how you can’t think of anything to write about.” —Mark Twain

The following is from a freewrite by a 21W.222 student starting a response paper on Barbara Lazear Ascher's essay "The Box Man":

DO NOT READ (Write this at the top to start, especially if you're going to be giving this to a teacher. You can erase it later, but do whatever is going to help you feel free and unself-conscious. Of course, you should read it again later yourself for interesting ideas!)

How to begin writing a response paper? I like to take the time to think about what the article. I picked the box man. Sounds interesting. Reminds me of a story I read for taks about some thing with a girl who was asking around about something and getting peoples philosophies about life. One person was terrified of the “box”. Boxes everywhere people living in boxes driving in boxes always trapped in the box. That lady was probably homeless or something. I dunno. Boxman, boxman, boxman. I wonder what this article is actually about. I have no idea, really. I need to read it a few times. Right now it is a mystery. I hate this! The mystery of the box man. Maybe he’s isolated himself from society, or maybe he was isolated from society. Maybe his mind never learned the constructs of human language. Maybe his mind is free to think in feelings and emotional. True thoughts without translation! Maybe society makes a mockery out of him, or perhaps society looks up to him. The origins of the box man are simple. Put a baby in a box and let him grow up. Just Kidding.

Well I remember this one quote about math. “No one ever learned good mathematics in a vacuum” or something like that. So what are all the things that his man never learned. He’s probably not very sociable. I still haven’t quite learned how to be a very social person. I don’t know how to use computers I don’t know how to google docs! Maybe Mr. Grunwald will look away and I can try to figure it out. But if not I dunno. I guess I can just go ahead and figure it out. There must be so many collapsing thoughts. I like thinking continuously in multiple levels. Everything is more humorous when you add another dimension. Like math. How do you get people to stop understanding. That's it! The box man is not understood, but she's trying to understand him by writing about him! Cool.

Try freewriting now yourself either with pen and paper. Remember, don't worry about grammar, and don't stop!

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