General advice on expressive or therapeutic writing

Here are a few simple rules to get the most from your expressive writing.

1. Try to find a relaxed place to write so you can focus on the writing and not be constantly distracted by phones, children, colleagues, etc.
2. Switch your phone to silent or better still, leave it in a different room.
3. If you are doing a particular writing exercise be clear about the instructions before you start.
4. For most Writing Therapy tools and exercises write freely.
5. Don't over think what you are writing about it. Aim to get whatever is in your head into Writing Therapy as quickly as possible.
6. Avoid self-editing. Forget spelling and grammar and just let it flow.
7. Keep moving forward. Don’t move back in your writing to correct errors. It really doesn’t matter. Nobody will see it, so leave those mistakes and typos and just keep pushing on.
8. For most exercises it is good to write as quickly as you can and have as few pauses as possible. This can really help you get into a zone where the writing just flows.
9. Don’t worry about using the correct words. Just use whatever springs to mind even if you know it might not be the best word to say what you want to say. Just keep pushing on and, if necessary, clarify what you mean in the next sentence.
10. Feel free to use bad language and curse words even if you wouldn’t use those words in your normal day-to-day interactions. This is a great chance to get things off your chest and if it helps to use some words, you wouldn’t normally dream of using that is just fine.
11. Make use of the built-in timer available in most of the Writing Therapy tools.
12. Don’t forget to breathe. This might sound crazy, but it is easy to get so caught up in a Writing Therapy exercise that you end up holding your breath for too long, and this can create a feeling of anxiety.

There we have it. Twelve points you can take on board each time you get going on a Writing Therapy exercise. Don’t worry if you don’t remember to do all twelve each time you write, but refer back to the list every now and again so you can slowly integrate all twelve rules into your writing habits so as to get maximum therapeutic value from your writing time.