Try This: Think of an opportunity you’d like to investigate (changing departments, creating a new product, writing a book in your chosen field), and hold a ten-minute freewriting conversation with a paper advisor. Now, pick out some interesting point from that conversation, and use it as a starting point for ten more minutes of writing with a diffe

Slow writing, in fact, is counterproductive. Keep up the pace, so your internal editor loses its grip. Ray Bradbury says, “In quickness there is truth.”

This kind of writing is like the scientific method. You: 1. observe 2. hypothesize 3. experiment 4. note the results 5. ask, “What’s next?”

If you put honest thinking into your written words, you spot situations that yawn to be changed.

How were fan bases built for ideas and initiatives in other fields, such as politics, music, philosophy, medicine, manufacturing, engineering,

Focus-changers are simple questions to ask yourself, in writing, that help you redirect your mind toward the unexplored parts of a situation.

If you’re interested in learning more writing marathon-like ideas, see “The Loop Writing Process” in Peter Elbow’s “Writing With Power.” He has wonderful thoughts on how to further disorient one’s thinking so that it turns productive.

What solutions can I borrow from past problems that can be applied to this current one? • What does this remind me of? • What’s the best-case scenario? • What’s the worst-case scenario? • What am I doing right? • What am I doing brilliantly? • How can I jump the track? • Which strengths of mine (or my company’s) can I apply? • Which weaknesses need

When you freewrite, the page is alive. The ideas that appear on it will change radically, if you let them. You must be open to the truth of the material as it shows up. When something good materializes, jump on it, whether it fits what you’ve been writing or not. Don’t be afraid to turn your back on what got you there.