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What is the Purpose of Freewriting?

August 26, 2023 | 2 min read

Unlocking Your Creative Potential with Freewriting

If you’re here, chances are you’re curious about the concept of freewriting. Perhaps you’ve heard the term bandied about in writing workshops or stumbled upon it in productivity blogs. Either way, you’re probably asking: what exactly is the purpose of freewriting, and how can it help me?

 

What is Freewriting?

At its core, freewriting is an unfiltered and non-stop writing practice. You write as quickly as you can, letting your thoughts flow freely onto the page, without worrying about grammar, structure, or even coherence. There are no red pen edits here, no agonizing over word choice. Just you, your thoughts, and an endless blank canvas waiting to be filled.

The Purpose of Freewriting: Unleashing the Benefits

Now let's get to it: what is the purpose of this seemingly chaotic exercise? Why would anyone want to write without any guidelines? Here’s a breakdown:

1. Silencing the Inner Critic

Your inner critic is the voice that tells you your ideas aren’t good enough, or that you should re-write that sentence for the tenth time. Freewriting helps you tune out that nagging voice, allowing your creativity to flow unbridled.

2. Idea Generation

Stuck on a particular plot point in your novel? Not sure how to begin your next article? Freewriting can serve as a brainstorming session, helping you generate a plethora of ideas in a short time.

3. Overcoming Writer’s Block

This is a big one. The act of writing freely and continuously can help you break through the mental barriers that often accompany writer’s block. It’s like a warm-up before a workout; it gets the creative juices flowing.

4. Discovering Your Voice

Freewriting provides a platform for your authentic self to shine through. Because you’re not focused on polishing each sentence, your true voice can emerge, helping you understand your natural writing style.

5. Enhancing Focus and Discipline

Contrary to what one might assume, the process of freewriting can be intense. It requires focus and discipline to write continuously, making it an excellent practice for honing your concentration skills.

6. Emotional Catharsis

Beyond the realm of productivity and skill enhancement, freewriting serves as a therapeutic exercise. It allows you to express your emotions, fears, and hopes in a raw, uncensored fashion, serving as a form of emotional release.

Why Freewrite Tools?

So, how do Freewrite's line of drafting tools fit into all of this?

Our range of devices is designed to foster an environment conducive to freewriting. With a distraction-free interface, long-lasting battery, and a tactile keyboard that’s a joy to use, Freewrite make it easy for you to get into the flow state, making your freewriting sessions even more productive and enjoyable.

 

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The purpose of freewriting is multifaceted, serving both practical and emotional needs. It’s not just about spewing words onto a page, but about liberating your creativity, overcoming blocks, and enriching your writing journey.

So the next time you find yourself staring at a blinking cursor, remember: just start writing. You'll be amazed at where it takes you.

Write on!

January 09, 2026 2 min read

A new year means a whole new crop of work is entering the public domain. And that means endless opportunities for retellings, spoofs, adaptations, and fan fiction.

December 30, 2025 3 min read

It’s Freewrite’s favorite time of year. When dictionaries around the world examine language use of the previous year and select a “Word of the Year.”

Of course, there are many different dictionaries in use in the English language, and they all have different ideas about what word was the most influential or saw the most growth in the previous year. They individually review new slang and culturally relevant vocabulary, examine spikes or dips in usage, and pour over internet trend data.

Let’s see what some of the biggest dictionaries decided for 2025. And read to the end for a chance to submit your own Word of the Year — and win a Freewrite gift card.

[SUBMIT YOUR WORD OF THE YEAR]


Merriam-Webster: "slop"

Merriam-Webster chose "slop" as its Word of the Year for 2025 to describe "all that stuff dumped on our screens, captured in just four letters."

The dictionary lists "absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real, junky AI-written books, 'workslop' reports that waste coworkers’ time … and lots of talking cats" as examples of slop.

The original sense of the word "slop" from the 1700s was “soft mud” and eventually evolved to mean "food waste" and "rubbish." 2025 linked the term to AI, and the rest is history.

Honorable mentions: conclave, gerrymander, touch grass, performative, tariff, 67.

Dictionary.com: "67"

The team at Dictionary.com likes to pick a word that serves as “a linguistic time capsule, reflecting social trends and global events that defined the year.”

For 2025, they decided that “word” was actually a number. Or two numbers, to be exact.

If you’re an old, like me, and don’t know many school-age children, you may not have heard “67” in use. (Note that this is not “sixty-seven,” but “six, seven.”)

Dictionary.com claims the origin of “67” is a song called “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Skrilla, quickly made infamous by viral TikTok videos, most notably featuring a child who will for the rest of his life be known as the “6-7 Kid.” But according to my nine-year-old cousin, the origins of something so mystical can’t ever truly be known.

(My third grade expert also demonstrated the accompanying signature hand gesture, where you place both hands palms up and alternately move up and down.)

And if you happen to find yourself in a fourth-grade classroom, watch your mouth, because there’s a good chance this term has been banned for the teacher’s sanity.

Annoyed yet? Don’t be. As Dictionary.com points out, 6-7 is a rather delightful example at how fast language can develop as a new generation joins the conversation.

Dictionary.com honorable mentions: agentic, aura farming, broligarchy, clanker, Gen Z stare, kiss cam, overtourism, tariff, tradwife.

Oxford Dictionary: "rage bait"

With input from more than 30,000 users and expert analysis, Oxford Dictionary chose "rage bait" for their word of the year.

Specifically, the dictionary pointed to 2025’s news cycle, online manipulation tactics, and growing awareness of where we spend our time and attention online.

While closely paralleling its etymological cousin "clickbait," rage bait more specifically denotes content that evokes anger, discord, or polarization.

Oxford's experts report that use of the term has tripled in the last 12 months.

Oxford Dictionary's honorable mentions:aura farming, biohack.

Cambridge Dictionary: "parasocial"

The Cambridge Dictionary examined a sustained trend of increased searches to choose "parasocial" as its Word of the Year.

Believe it or not, this term was coined by sociologists in 1956, combining “social” with the Greek-derived prefix para-, which in this case means “similar to or parallel to, but separate from.”

But interest in and use of the term exploded this year, finally moving from a mainly academic context to the mainstream.

Cambridge Dictionary's honorable mentions: slop, delulu, skibidi, tradwife

Freewrite: TBD

This year, the Freewrite Fam is picking our own Word of the Year.

Click below to submit what you think the Word of 2025 should be, and we'll pick one submission to receive a Freewrite gift card.

[SUBMIT HERE] 

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Sources

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