2
Leaping Before You Look Video Transcript Musical genius. Pop icon. And, according to himself, freewriting lyricist. David Bowie, in a 2008 article for Mail on Sunday, described the genesis of his song “Life on Mars” as such: “I took a walk to Beckenham High Street to catch a bus to Lewisham to buy shoes and shirts but couldn't get the riff out of my head. Jumped off two stops into the ride and more or less loped back to the house up on Southend Road. Workspace was a big empty room with a chaise longue; a bargain-price art nouveau screen; a huge overflowing freestanding ashtray and a grand piano. Little else. I started working it out on the piano and had the whole lyric and melody finished by late afternoon. Nice.” Have you ever wanted to go on a road trip with no particular destination? Just jump in the car and drive? Once you get started, your head clears, the pressure to make a decision about where to go eases, and you progress in the right direction; whatever “right” means to you at the time. Or you jump on a bus to buy some shoes and return with lyrics and melody. Perhaps just the act of starting on the journey is exactly what you need to find out where you want to end up. At times, that empty sheet of paper, or blank screen, may seem to taunt you. When starting a writing assignment, that first step – those first words – can be overwhelming, especially if you’re not sure what exactly you want to discuss. This is where freewriting can be helpful. To put it a different way, freewriting is essentially the writing equivalent of leaping before you look. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Rather, freewriting can be an excellent tool for jump-starting your creative process, allowing ideas to flow freely without worrying about criticism or correction. When freewriting, you allow your mind to free associate words and ideas, and then write these words down as they come to you. Grammar, punctuation, and even coherent sentences are not the priority, just writing what you are thinking in the moment.
