Re: slow writer

Subject: Re: slow writer
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2005 19:38:45 -0800


diotima wrote:

i do know that the speed at which i write changes from beginning to the end of the project. i am my absolute slowest in the beginning. i feel almost overwhelmed with all the possibilities, all the demands. i crawl. i space out. i think. i consider. i plod along. but then, wonderfully, usually half way into it, it's like suddenly i can see it. i see how it's all going to come together, i see beyond my nose and all the way down the street. the text to come is so obvious, it simply falls out of what i've already written. i speed up dramatically. at this point, it's almost giddying. and usually by this time, because i've "wasted" so much time in the beginning, the deadline for what i'm writing is almost impossibly before me and i barely get it in under the wire. and when the praise comes, i think, gee whiz, it could have been even better if i'd had just one more day!

I taught composition at university for seven years. Based on that experience, here's my thoughts:

- Look at how you prepare to write. Would you spend less time in the long run if you took more time at the start?

- Your talk about perfectionism make me wonder if you're not mixing writing and editing too much. You may be trying to do both at once, which makes each one harder. If so, try to separate them in the writing process. Especially in the first draft, ignore the urge to revise. Save it until you've got a complete draft. Some of your early drafts may stink, but nobody has to know that except you.

- Many people find that ten minutes or so of journal writing every day limbers them up for any other writing that they have to do. Try this for about six weeks and see if it makes any difference to you.

--
Bruce Byfield
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield

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References:
slow writer: From: diotima

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