A quick write is a timed writing on a topic. Usually you write for 7 or 11 minutes.
The reason for such a short time is that by writing quickly, you shut out the internal critic. (You know who I'm talking about--that voice inside your head that criticizes everything, especially the creative process, especially YOUR creative process.)
When you're up against the clock, you have to write fast--almost without thinking (thus silencing that internal critic). What you get out on paper is fodder to cultivate into a fully developed written piece. Sometimes what you write surprises you, and you have to take time to reflect and ruminate why these particular thoughts or attitudes bubbled up from your unconscience.
For example, you may be writing furiously about the first time you voted and suddenly you feel tears tightening the back of your throat and you look down and see that you have written...
I voted but I didn't think my vote mattered. Daddy always told Mama how to vote and he tried to tell me, saying that women didn't have enough sense to decide who could be president. But when I got inside the voter booth and no one was watching, I voted for Kennedy instead Nixon, and I never, never, ever told anyone. Before now. Today I voted for Barak Obama, and again I am afraid to tell anyone. Why? Why is it so hard for me to speak up who I vote for, to say my vote matters, that I matter?~Anonymous participant in college writing class, Nov. 4, 2008
Now that, my friend, is worthy of reflection.
Writing prompt: Write about a time you felt invisible. You have 7 minutes. Go.
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