The wisdom of the zeitgeist says, “Follow your dreams. Don’t settle for a job you don’t love. You have to be passionate about what you do.”
However, the truth is that if you look at the people who really love what they do, you find that most of them didn’t follow this rule.
Free writing is an exercise we often practice here at the Write Practice to unblock the mind and increase creativity and fluidity.
But free writing is more than a pill you dole out to cure writer’s block, isn’t it? It has a much more important function than helping you finish a scene or discover an ending that resonates.
Free writing, practiced deliberately can set you free from fear.
![Longing [writing prompt]](https://thewritepractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Longing.jpeg)
Write about longing.
Write for fifteen minutes. When you’re finished, post your practice in the comments section.
And if you post, please be sure to give feedback to a few other writers.
Today, we’re talking to Stefanie Freele, a novelist, poet, and short story writer who lives in the Northwest. Stefanie is a Pushcart Prize Nominee and has published short fiction in Glimmer Train, PANK, Sou’wester, Word Riot, R.KV.R.Y Quarterly Literary Journal, Vestal Review, and many more. In the last eight years, she has published 99 short stories. Isn’t that remarkable?
Stefanie and I are going to be talking about the hunger for publication, how to know when your short story is finished, and the world’s need, or lack thereof, for more donut stories. You can find Stefanie’s work on her website, stefaniefreele.com, as well as her book of short stories, Feeding Strays, and her novel, Surrounded by Water.
Thanks so much for joining us Stefanie!
A student once asked her English teacher, “What’s a metaphor?” and he replied, “It’s a big place to grow grass.”
I don’t think he understood the question.
We’ve grown with up the distinction between similes and metaphors, but in a technical sense, all comparisons are metaphors. But let’s stick to this separation of powers, and think about the problem with similes and why metaphors may be better for your writing.
