Start a new process without blocking the terminal
Just add & at the end of the command. This makes the new process to run in background and you can continue using your terminal. For example: gedit new_file.txt &
I would like to recommend you nohup gedit filename &. Simply gedit filename &, you're bearing the risk to accidentally close the terminal and lose your edit. If you don't like nohup.out being created each time, just redirect the output:
nohup gedit filename > /dev/null &