Over the last few years, I’ve seen an increasing amount of excitement about writing faster. Even aside from events like NaNoWriMo (where you write 50k in the month of November) the market is crowded with books about writing fast.
I searched for “Write fast” on Amazon.com and it came back with a huuuuuge list, including titles like:
- 2k to 10k: Writing Better, Writing Faster, and Writing More of What You Love (I actually have this book and learned a lot from it)
- 5,000 words Per Hour: Write Faster, Write Smarter
- Writing Fast: How To Write Anything With Lightning Speed
- Write Your Book in a Flash: A Paint-by-Numbers System to Write the Book of Your Dreams—FAST!
- The 10-Day Screenplay Solution: Learn How to Write Lightning Fast
- 10,000 Words per Day
- How To Write The ‘Right’ Book – FAST
- Write a Book in Two Hours: How to Write a Book, Novel, or Children’s Book in Far Less than 30 Days
Does reading these titles all in a row stress you out as much as it does me?
I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with these books (though I have some doubts that the last one delivers on its 2-hour promise). As I said, I own 2k to 10k and learned a lot from it. I imagine part of the reason for the increased interest in writing fast is that with self-publishing, a writer who writes fast can publish more work and make more money.
But I think for a portion of the writing population, the obsession with writing fast, faster, fastest is more stressful than it is helpful, and pushing ourselves to write fast could quickly lead to unhealthy burnout.
“Your Pace Is Your Pace”
I’ve heard Emily P. Freeman say this a number of times, both about writing and other life things, and I’m drawn to this statement every time. It honors who we are naturally as writers.
Your voice is your voice. Your genre is your genre. And your pace is your pace.
Can we grow in all these aspects of our writing life? Absolutely. But not if we won’t first accept what kind of writer we naturally are.
Liz Curtis Higgs once said, “I wanted to be ‘deep’ but God gave me ‘funny.'” Her voice is naturally funny, and she had to accept that was how she was made to write.
Stephen King once said, “I was built with a love of the night and the unquiet coffin. That’s all. If you disapprove, I can only shrug my shoulders. It’s what I have.” That’s his genre. Has he done some other things too? Yes, of course. But he would have been a miserable writer if he’d tried to ignore what naturally interests him.
And the same is true for pacing. I can only write a book so fast. Never in my life have I written 5,000 words in one hour, nor do I think I’m built to. That just doesn’t excite me.
Season vs. Lifestyle
I can write 10,000 words a day. It takes me 9-10 hours, and I only do it a couple times a year when I’m on writing retreats. I can do this for several days in a row, and then I’m wiped out. In the days that follow a writing retreat, writing words feels harder than normal.
While I love my writing retreats, and while they’re very helpful for getting books written, what matters more to me is building a lifestyle for writing. I don’t need to write 10,000 words a day every day, or even most days. I’m happy with my typical goal of 1k to 2k. (Or this summer, just 100 words a day!)
In his book Finish, Jon Acuff talks about making goals achievable by cutting them in half, and advises that goals are a marathon, not a sprint. “In the course of a year or maybe a lifetime, that approach will always beat the kill-yourself-for-a-month approach.”
I completely agree. Writing is a lifestyle for me, not a season.
“What kind of writer do I want to be?”
On a writing retreat with Shan and Jill back in 2014, Shannon taught me this question. She shared that when she compared herself to other writers, she kept coming back to asking herself about what kind of writer she wanted to be. I continue to ask it all the time when that panicky, I’m-not-doing-enough feeling starts to grow in my chest.
Here are the kinds of answers that have risen up inside me the last 5 years as I’ve asked that question:
- I want to write at a pace that’s productive but not stressful.
- I want to only publish work that I feel is my best.
- I want to write books that matter to me.
I love this question of Shan’s because it has potential to honor both where I am now and where I want to go. It keeps me from blindly chasing fads like writing fast or releasing a book a month.
What kind of writer do you want to be? What kind of pace do you write at, and how do you feel about it?
Also, today is day 29 of the 100-for-100 writing challenge. How’s it going, writers?
I love what you said here! Especially about writing being a lifestyle. I feel that our culture today puts so much emphasis on everything “fast.” We want fast food, fast delivery, fast Internet service. And that applies to writing as well. Too often we want to rush the writing process. We want to see the finished product, see our finished book published and on the shelf without wanting to experience both the joys and frustrations of actually working through the writing process. You can’t rush a work of art. It takes time. And I’ve found that it’s often in the break times, when I’ve taken a little step back from writing, that I’ve developed and produced some of the best parts and themes of my story.
So thank you so much for this post! It was just what I needed as I’m working on a book right now, trying to get it done by the end of this summer, and feeling that I need to be writing faster, but can’t seem to due to lack of time and sometimes just lack of will. 🙂
You go, girl! Great perspective! And good luck on your book!
Thank you!
We do have an unhealthy obsession with fast, I agree. Nobody likes struggling or being patient. It’s the worst! But as you said, that’s often where the treasure is found. I’m so glad you’ve discovered that for yourself, Kristianne!
Thanks for this post! It was just what I needed ?
It was what I needed too!
Great post! I agree that writing at a stressful pace is not always helpful. I like to plan out my week and realistically decide how many words I can write in the time I have outside of my job and other responsibilities. My current goal is about 8,000 words a week, with the bulk of that being done on Saturdays.
I love how you look ahead to figure out when you’ll be able to write. So smart!
I always wanted to be a fast writer. The type of writer that can knock out a whole book in a year. But then life has caught up with me, and I’ve just had to come to the realization that while I want to be a fast writer, that’s not the type of writer that I am. I am a writer who likes to take her time to think through each plot point and likes to take a while to develop her characters to really ensure that she understands them. It takes me a long time to write a first draft. While I still struggle with being okay with that sometimes, I’ve gotten better at accepting the writer that I am.
I understand those feelings. I’m hoping that with all of us talking about this, we’ll feel a bit freer (that word looks wrong!) to be who we are as writers and not as fixated on what we’re not.
I really appreciate your bringing these difficult subjects up for us to discuss so we can grow and learn new areas of where we need to grow!
Thanks for this post! That question of Shannon’s, “What kind of writer do I want to be?” really hits home.
I’m slowly realizing that I’m an author who has to pick someone to journey into my story world with me, or at least listen to my adventures when I come back out, and that’s ok.
As much as I love writing, it can be a struggle to balance at time, and I love the idea of it being a lifestyle instead of a season or phase. There is so much less pressure that way.
My word count is kind of all over the place, because I write in short sprints basically. Like, I write scenes, and then step away for a couple of hours, or thirty minutes, and then write another six as inspiration hits. And that’s ok, because it’s how I write, and how my brain accesses my imagination, and somehow it works! XD
I love that you’re giving yourself permission to write in a way that works best for you!
I love this! I’d love to be a fast writer, but that’s just now who I am or the season I’m in. I’m still learning to be okay with that. 😉
Me too!
This post definitely made me think. I’ve probably fallen prey to the mindset of ‘I’ve gotta write fast!’ The ‘I need to finish this flash fiction piece today’ or ‘I need to finish this short story this week’ type of thing, that just isn’t true. It often make me feel like I either do it fast, or not at all.
That quote from Shannon will have me thinking for a while. I haven’t really stopped to think about what kind of writer I want to be, just how to get published, etc. It’s also got me thinking about how it applies to my life in general, not just me as a writer.
Well, great post as always!
Also, on the 100-for-100 challenge. Not working out for me this year, sadly. I didn’t really have a definite project I was working on (little problem of mine), and life’s been busy. I’m still writing, actually I’ve been doing pretty well on that at the moment. But, I’m working to settle that all down. And, I’ve missed a chunk of the days.
Thank you so much for writing about this topic. It’s hard not to compare with other writers and feel inferior or suffer imposter syndrome.
Speed is not my strong suit, so I’ve often struggled with guilt at not getting enough done in a day. This post was such a breath of fresh air. I’ll be bookmarking it. :0)
Speed-wise I’m not amazing, I can generally do at a normal pace 300 words in five minutes, but I can do 1K in ten if I really am pushing it and not deleting anything like for word sprints. I’m more concerned about writing scenes or chapters per day compared to words, because I always feel better when finishing up a big plot point or chapter than writing 5000 words.
I am not a fast writer. I want to be a detected writer though. 🙂
When you have so many good ideas to write in a row of each other, is it good to write the jist of it, or write it in complete detail? This is something that has always racked my brain, not knowing if I should take the time to write slow and in detail, or speed and write it like it’s a wadded piece of paper and is hard to read.
I have this issue too! I have so many opening idea that I come back to later and wonder where in the world I was going. Maybe the best thing to do is to ask how good your memory is, and then when you’ve figured that out, write it as detailed or abstract as you want! I have a notebook with random words, names, locations, and fully outlined plots that I’ve started that is as random as “indoor soccer” and as detailed as the outline of a form of magic. Figure out what works best, which will take experimenting, and go with that. I’m a mix of both, which took a while to realize.
Hope this helps!
This makes me feel so much better about the fact it’s taken over twenty years to get to where I am. I used to obsess about how slowly I was writing and would always worry that I was “goofing off” instead of using my writing time wisely. I put way too much pressure on myself to get the book finished and published. It took me this long to learn there’s no such thing as a “bad” writing process. You have to do what works for you. If that means spending hours gazing at pictures of your characters or listening to songs and pretending they’re singing them or watching YouTube videos that inspire scenes…then so be it.
I had this sort of epiphany last year and wrote a blog post about it: https://crazywriterconfessions.blogspot.com/2018/06/write-your-story-your-way.html