Pre-writing

I must admit I am not one to typically pre-write. I have before and usually can write slightly better. When pre-writing I prefer to use free writing.  Usually stream of consciousness. Something simple to get ideas flowing. Pre-writing isn't something that's easy for me to do. I don't like having to figure out multiple ideas, and often that's what's expected from a pre-write. That's why I enjoy free writing. You just write anything about the topic at hand. The beginning of my writing experience included a lot of cluster pre-writes, so often when in doubt I fall back to that. However the more visual pre-writes are not something I typically use. I feel restricted when using them to write. I usually don't have enough space and by the end I can't read what I have written. After reading the pre-writing examples I found some pre-writing tactics may try in the future. An example would be looping. It seems like a great way for me to narrow down exactly what it is I'm trying to get across. Pre-writing is helpful to quickly eliminate ideas that don't have enough information or are not interesting.  Although not a favorite pass time of mine, I can understand the importance of a pre-write.