Fifth Friday Free Write

Ooops I missed it by a day.

ChatGPT Prompt: Create a film noir movie poster called Fifth Friday Freewrrite, in which a middle aged slightly crazed detective who’s lived one too many lives writes his memoirs on an old typewriter in a dusty room. His fat orange tabby cat purrs happily at his side.

As I was trying to convince myself to commit to publishing on Substack weekly, one of the ideas that came to my head was a “Friday Freewrite.” It would be an easy bit of content, just sit down and type into the word processor for 15 minutes or so, and then click send. I do it every morning with the privacy of a pen and a journal, why not try out a bit of stream of exhibitionist consciousness

?

Then I got all in my head about it, because my morning pages are pretty all over the place. When I’m depressed, I find myself writing “help help help” for lines at a time, and when I’m feeling good I’m spinning up business plans and fictional religions that will all certainly alter the course of human history. Do I really want to share those two extreme sides of myself, and have no idea which one is going to come out?

I sure as shit wasn’t going to do that every Friday. Okay, so maybe once a month. Hell, I probably have 6-8 weeks of Farworld content built up, and I’ve got plenty of other stories and essays that are just one whiff of inspiration away from public consumption status (as long as I don’t have too many readers).

Even once a month seemed like a pretty vulnerable act, because if anyone is paying attention, they’ll probably really be looking forward to the “First Friday Freewrite”. Or maybe “Fourth Friday.” How about “Final Friday?” Whatever, a monthly commitment seems like a lot, because I’ve never done this before for the public!

I’ve done plenty of improv as a performer, but improvised writing seems somehow more sensitive. I don’t have the same charming armour that comes with being a tall and loud personality with nice hair and decent bone structure. Maybe the charm can translate if I can get my typing fingers and brain on the same wavelength.

Okay, so if I don’t want to do it monthly, but I do want to commit to something, what could I do?

I took a look at the calendar and saw that January was one of a few months this calendar year that has five fridays. FIVE FRIDAYS! It’s perfect! Alliteration and everything! And if I don’t stick to it, the next one isn’t until May, and hopefully everyone will have forgotten!

All right, that’s enough for now. Thanks for reading, and see you in May.