The Slow Writing Process
Well, I’m in the publishing phase of my new novel. Honestly this is the hardest part of the journey. However my experience with Troy Book Makers, in Troy, NY, is proving to fit right in with my slow-style. I never knew there were so many choices to make in the look of a novel. It was overwhelming! But I took the decisions one at a time, treating this publishing process as just another creative aspect of coming out with a book. When you do it on your own (self-publishing), a writer can truly indulge in this final step. Of course the pressure of getting my story out into the world at large, especially when my readers “couldn’t put it down,” is always there. Today I’m thinking about the Slow Book Movement from the perspective of the writer versus the reader. The average reader, after losing herself in a good book for a couple days, never stops to think about what it takes to writer that book. Well, the easiest way to imagine it, is to take your experience of those few days of immersion in characters and a plot, stretch it out into a year or two of your life, and you might begin to understand. The chapter you spend an hour savoring over a cup of tea one afternoon was also savored by me, during the month I spent writing, and then the week a year later re-writing, that I spent. A novel is best compared to a great wood carving, a kind of totem pole chiseled out of ink in paper. It’s best done SLOW, with many walks and good food and coffee in between working. And being a slow writer has nothing to do with being a lazy writer. Once I figure out the picture upload problem I’ll post a shot of all the rewrites over the last 18 months, a stack of paper four feet tall. Oh what a profession I chose. There is no choice but to take it slow, like building a stone wall.
Recent posts by this author
- SlowBookTour - December 4th, 2009
- Life Is Better With A Dog - November 11th, 2009
- Rock Walls - October 19th, 2009
- The Slow Book Movement - September 25th, 2009
