Today while meeting with my FYS professor to discuss revisions for my final research paper, I was introduced to an amazing website that I had no idea existed: www.750words.com. My professor told me that she could tell that not all of my ideas for my final paper were completely developed in my head and that she wanted me to just write it all out over and over before making any final revisions.
The website helps with just that: writing out all of the ideas swimming in your head to make better sense of what’s going on up there. It encourages members to write 750 words on the site each day with the intention of no one ever reading the entries. For me, this means that I can have huge run-on sentences and horrible grammar and paragraphing and it won’t really matter since no one will ever have to read it, therefore meaning that I can focus more on my ideas than my structuring. I have also found in the past that getting into a habit of writing like this tends to cleanse my mind, making it easier to form sentences in other things I write. It also makes it easier to think during the day or even fall asleep at night; getting everything out of my brain for a few minutes of my day usually relieves a lot of mental stress. I’m hoping that I see these effects as I continue to use the site.
How is this different from just writing in a journal, you say? Or how is this different from using a typical blog like Tumblr or WordPress? Simple: 750words.com pushes members to write by giving the incentive of 1 point for each day you reach 750 words, 2 points for each day you write over 750 words, and even more points for writing on numerous consecutive days. As with all writing processes like this, the goal of this website is to get into a habit of writing so that certain writing techniques or ideas can be sharpened. But the fact that all posts are private with a running count of how many words have been written and a daily count of points earned really makes the process almost seem like a fun race or competition with ourselves. Although today was only my first day using the site, I can already tell that I’m going to love the process of forcing myself to write 750 (or more) words every day.
So how about it? I dare you to go create an account! I dare you to write 750 words every day and I dare you to see the effects that this “cleansing” writing process will have on you.
-Maggie S.