The Perks of Being a Slow Writer

My friend Dick Hannah recently blogged about Russell Blake and his ability to write and publish fast. The man released 25 books in 30 months!

I am a slow writer.

There are lots of reasons for this. I'm a Mom. I'm a reader. I'm determined to stay in relatively good shape, so I can only sit for so many hours a day. Most of all, I'm a perfectionist. I'm trying to overcome this crippling condition - yes, it's crippling when you're trying to be creative - and I have made great progress in the last year!

But even if I could write 25 books in 30 months,would I want to?  I'm not sure. I enjoy living in my made-up worlds. I enjoy getting to know my characters before I let them make decisions.

What's more, many of my favorite books took many years to write. J.K. Rowling finished the first Harry Potter book, The Philospher's Stone, in five years. Stephen King took thirteen years to finish The Stand. Both authors had life intervene and took some time with their stories. I'm not saying you have to take your time to create a quality story. I haven't read Russell Blake's books but a quick look on Amazon tells me they aren't bad. But maybe the type of stories I want to write require a little more 'marinating'.

Some of you know that I've been working on a YA time travel story for years. Yes, years. Today I had a breakthrough! Many people have told me, "Just publish it already!", including my son who I wrote the story for. But there were things that didn't quite work, things that didn't make sense. Today I found a wormhole and viola! The world I created makes sense to me. No, I didn't write this book in 30 days, but I love it and I have loved watching it grow. Is it as good as Harry Potter or The Stand? No, probably not. But I think that when I do publish it, I will be proud of it. Maybe when the kids go off to college, I'll be writing a-book-a-month, but until then I'll be content to 'give it my all' on one or two books a year.