I'm slow and I'm proud of it.
I spend hours perfecting a scene instead of moving on with the next. This means that I don't finish writing novels as fast as most.
I spend hours perfecting a scene instead of moving on with the next. This means that I don't finish writing novels as fast as most.
Remember those word count statistics I posted the other day? Well, guess how long I spent each day producing those 1000 - 1400 word bursts? Pretty much 4, 5, 6 hours per day. Crazy you think? I do too.
But I can't do it any other way. Seriously. I don't feel SATISFIED doing it any other way.
So I'll say it again. I'm slow, and I'm PROUD of it.
So stop telling me that I write too slowly you dimwit who thinks you know it all! (Okay, no one is saying that to me, really. But I have to blame someone for that little voice that keeps telling me to speed up, so 'dimwit' it'll be).
So I'll say it again. I'm slow, and I'm PROUD of it.
So stop telling me that I write too slowly you dimwit who thinks you know it all! (Okay, no one is saying that to me, really. But I have to blame someone for that little voice that keeps telling me to speed up, so 'dimwit' it'll be).
Anyway, I suppose the plus side of this is that it means my first drafts are in second draft shape. That means that I get to skip a WHOLE stage of the editing process.
I hope. Let's hope.
I hope. Let's hope.
Cross your fingers for me?
PS: On a side note. What's with the disappearing followers? I've lost TWO in a week. How sad :o( What did I say? I've had a few busy weeks and couldn't make it to as many blogs as I like, do you think that's the reason?
PPS: Tomorrow I'm being interviewed over at Alesa Warcan's Part Gilt - Part Gold. I'll remind you all again tomorrow. The interview is not what you would expect, though. Tomorrow I reveal and showcase a couple of my other artistic outlets, thanks to the generous Alesa who is graciously letting me take over for the day :o)
PS: On a side note. What's with the disappearing followers? I've lost TWO in a week. How sad :o( What did I say? I've had a few busy weeks and couldn't make it to as many blogs as I like, do you think that's the reason?
PPS: Tomorrow I'm being interviewed over at Alesa Warcan's Part Gilt - Part Gold. I'll remind you all again tomorrow. The interview is not what you would expect, though. Tomorrow I reveal and showcase a couple of my other artistic outlets, thanks to the generous Alesa who is graciously letting me take over for the day :o)
There's no shame in being slow, that way you know a job is done properly.
ReplyDeleteAs for the missing followers I have some who sign on as followers and I never hear from them, no comments...nothing, it seens strange to me,
Will look forward to your interview,
Have a lovely day
Yvonne.
You'll have to pardon me for quoting an advertisement: the best comes to those who wait. ; j I'm glad to hear that you're writing in your own time.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry too much about people coming and going, it is part of the natural flux of blogdom.
LoL, generous indeed... : j Basically, you've been kind enough to give me something firsthand to put up. Which wasn't originally what I had in mind for that blog, but it will be made better for it. Thanks!
I'm glad I have found someone else who is slow. Don't worry about it. I'm super slow and everyone around me is pumping their manuscript out. It's frustrating. So you are not the only one.
ReplyDeleteDon't fret over the followers. I lost a couple then gained somemore. It does hurt though. Some people may be closing their sites. Who knows?
Have a great day!
I don't write super fast either, so don't worry about it.
ReplyDeleteSo what if your slow? It's not a race, but besides that you could still win in the end because you may not have to take the months to revise that everyone else does.
ReplyDeleteAs for disappearing followers, it may be they realized they were never stopping by. I have a few I added that NEVER write about anything I want to read, and yet I still hesitate to cut them.
You go girl! If you're slow and you like it then continue, everyone's style is different and each one should own it!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a fast writer, in fact I've written 20,000 words in four days, but that means revisions are a complete nightmare, so I guess we're all slow in certain categories!
Disappearing followers drive me bonkers... am I that uninteresting?
It doesn't matter what you write, or how you write only THAT you write. I haven't written anything in weeks and I finally figured out why last night. Which means when I come back from vacation I have a lot of ground to cover.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't sweat losing followers. I do it all the time. I'm always offending someone. Oh well, can't please everyone.
Don't worry about slow writing. I heard a writer say that she's terrified of handing in a manuscript with [insert fight scene here] in the middle of it!
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing, sometimes--begin layering directly after I write a scene. Can't help it.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about speed, Jess. Who set a time limit anyway??? LOL.
God, you heard me whining about being slow last week - so you KNOW I can relate!! lol. Although I am trying to be speedier in general so I learn how to get the bones of the story down. That's coming along okay, though I'm not satisfied with just slapping words on paper, so it's still a slower than usual process :D I'm trying to learn to trust it - sounds like you trust yours, so I'll learn from your example! And I get that little twinge when I get unfollowed, too. Happened to me twice in the last two weeks...
ReplyDeleteYou're definitely not alone on the writing slow front. I'm a very slow writer - mainly because I tend to edit as I write. Some say it's a bad habit, but like you, my first drafts are in pretty good shape - which makes revisions a much more enjoyable process.
ReplyDeleteNo shame on being slow, heck I write using three different online dictionaries, so, I'm really slow too. And my first drafts never have que quality of second. Craaap!
ReplyDeleteSlow is where it's at. I'm the same way. And I hate when followers leave:(
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the interview!!!
Oh and I forgot to say: U probably already have it, but you won an award on my bloggy. Hope that cheers you up, and don't mind the disappearing followers. It happens I guess =(
ReplyDeleteI'm a slow writer too, but I'm much happier with a scene when I take my time than if I rush through it. There's nothing wrong with being the tortoise...he won the race after all, remember?
ReplyDeleteslow = careful. there's nothing wrong with that
ReplyDeleteBaaa, who cares about those two lost subscribers... you just got a new one!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about the whole long-time-between-books issue (been about 6 yrs since my only book was published).
I know I can write more than 1 book in 6 years, but I don't think I'll be that person who writes a book every year or so.
Yes, readers need to know writers exist during the long time between books. But maybe that's not so much of an issue now with blogs and stuff.
So I say, take your time! Get your best work out there :) Once it's published, it's in the world forever.
If slow works for you, stick with it. My guess is it does save time overall. I spend way too much time on the rewrite phase(s).
ReplyDeletehi miss jessica! seems you worry too much. you just gotta go how it feels good to you. being just who your are is the best. you couldnt be more slow a writer than me cause i write all my stuff with a pencil and paper and gotta wait til my brother gets it in the computer for me. but while im waiting i do lots of fun stuff.
ReplyDelete...hugs from lenny
Well at the moment I'm not moving at all, so you got me beat!
ReplyDeleteI think it's a wonderful way to write as long as you keep moving forward.
ReplyDeleteAs to your followers, I'm not sure what happened. Maybe some have left the blogging world...
CD
I'm slow too. However, I figure my slowness leads to less editing down the road. There are times when I write in spurts, but my usual pace is slow, slow, slow.
ReplyDeleteYou have to write in the rhythm that feels right for you. I can be very slow too, though I've experimented with the sloppy first draft and can kind of do that when ideas are flying faster than I can neatly shape them. I tend to do those sloppy drafts longhand though. :-)
ReplyDeleteAs far as follower losses--I think some folks drift out of the blogosphere and stop following everyone, so it probably has nothing to do with you or your content.
BTW, I wrote the promised post for you on misplaced modifiers. Hope it helps.
Nothing wrong with doing right - or closer to right - the first time.
ReplyDeleteI think the follower thing happens to everyone. When you're as popular as we are - ahem - you're bound to get some followers who never come back and then their accounts expire or something like that. Click forward to all those grey faces at the very front of your followers. How recently have you seen any of them?
I agree with you about taking it slow while you go and not having to get more bogged down in the editing and rewrite rounds.
ReplyDeleteI posted about disappearing followers last Saturday. I'm going to purge a few from my rolls soon, but you would never be one unless you got really weird in a bad way. I was suggesting that people should let you know when they depart and why so you can evaluate to see if you're doing something wrong. You know-- at least give a blogger a reason. I lost one or two last week, but then I gained like 5 more. It's all cool.
Lee
Tossing It Out
I really think EVERYBODY writes differently. I'm a tortoise in most aspects of my life, but find with the writing I've turned out to be a sprinter. THAT SAID, those 1000 words in an hour probably need about 3 hours worth of editing, so if you manage to get words that are more speedily cleaned up, have I honestly gone any faster? Not so much.
ReplyDeleteSlow people unite! :) I take my time, too. I can't just jot down a few words and fly to the next scene...it drives me insane.
ReplyDeleteGood to see you again. Sorry I've been MIA.
You to do what works for you. There's no right or wrong when it comes to writing!
ReplyDeleteI completely relate to you!! I take the entire day just to write a thousand words. Argh; glad to know I'm not the only one. Great blog!!
ReplyDeleteI like that you've found your style and are comfortable with it. That's big! There's no such thing as the right way to write.
ReplyDeleteI fret over disappearing followers too but I'm trying to stop it! The fretting that is. Not sure I'll ever stop noticing! :)
ReplyDeleteYou should be proud. I'd be, too, if I wrote as fast as a tortoise. (This comment alone took me three hours.)
ReplyDeleteYES! I don't think there is anything wrong with taking your sweet time writing. I really DID have someone telling me I write too slowly--he used to brag to me about how many words he wrote before breakfast and when I'd tell him how many I took 4 hours to write, he'd give me a pitiful look. It wasn't until just recently that I decided I don't care what he thinks! I, too, and proud to be a slow writer! :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, be on the lookout for mail from moi. It took me a little while longer to get into town to mail it than I thought it would, but it is on its way now!
There's nothing wrong with being slow. I tend not to "spit it out" - which means, my first drafts are pretty darn good and I'm proud of that.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your comments everyone! SOOO glad I'm not alone :o)
ReplyDeleteI like to think of it less 'being slow' but more 'not rushing perfection' hehe. If it means that taking your time on a scene enables you to skip an entire stage of revision, the more kudos to you :D
ReplyDeleteI hate losing followers! I always wonder if itæs something I did:(
ReplyDeleteBut you shouldn't mind being slow, some author, whose name I can't remember, of course, only wrote one sentence an hour. I don't know if it's true, but he said all his words were so important that they each needed an hours worth of thought!
By the way, I see you're linking to Nicole Ducleroir's contest; would you mind linking to my contest too? There's a link to it at the top of my side-bar:) Thanks a lot!
I am slow, I am a plodder. Never mind, we will amble along together, Jessica. :)
ReplyDeleteKeep going!
I'm really slow too. I used to think something was wrong with me, but now I realize that it's just the way I work- and drive and walk.
ReplyDelete