I’m a bit of a slow worker.
I love writing but I don’t find it easy.
I spend entire days writing and redrafting two hundred words.
Then I spend more days redrafting the same two hundred words.
On and off I return to those two hundred words again, and again, for months, or years.
I like buffing and refining sentences.
Picture books suit me.
I’m a bit of a slow worker.
Some writers write novels.
Some writers blog every day.
Some writers have huge daily word counts.
I could never be a journalist.
I’m a bit of a slow worker.
Sometimes publishers comment favourably on my writing style.
They ask if I’ve considered writing a novel.
They’d like to see a novel of mine.
That’s flattering but – thousands and thousands and thousands of words?
I’m a bit of a slow worker.
I’m not much of a planner.
I start with a screaming idea and see where it takes me.
I had an idea for a children’s novel.
I told it to go away.
I can’t write a novel.
I’m a bit of a slow worker.
But it wouldn’t go away.
It kept on screaming.
So I started to write.
Without a plan, I started to write it.
It was hard.
Very hard.
Too hard.
I put it away and pretended that it never was.
But it still was.
And it still is, waiting.
My agent said it could be ‘amazing’.
That’s flattering but – a novel?
I’m a bit of a slow worker.
The idea of a novel is overwhelming.
But I’m trying.
Maybe one day it will be finished.
Or maybe one day it won’t.
We’ll see.
I’m a bit of a slow worker.
I’m a Bit of a Slow Worker © Katrina Germein 2010
Tags: Writing slowly
Hilarious! You may be slow but you ARE funny!
Being a slow worker isn’t necessarily a bad thing! At least you write well because you put in the time and effort. Sure some writers blog everyday but what is more important, quantity or quality?
Great post!
Lovely. Much better than the verses I would write, which would no doubt have to include the link “I’m a bit of a procrastinator”.
It’s a sad creative truth that a muse cannot be rushed.
Well – I think you wrote that poem especially for me, Katrina. Thankyou for taking the words right out of my fingertips – before I’d even thought about them.
Thanks everyone. Um, I didn’t actually mean to write a funny post or a post in verse or a poem, which goes to prove that I’m not much of a planner and maybe I’m slow in more ways than one! xx
Great post! I think being aware of your own style is fantastic. I’ve discovered I actually love the freedom of churning out words in a full-length novel (although editing 75,000 words is turning out to be rather time consuming!!) but I’m still drawn to the selective simplicity of picture books. I don’t think I’m as patient as you or Kat, however, and I suspect that your careful, methodical, non-rushed style is responsible for the amazingly high quality of work that you produce. I’m learning to slow down, I promise!
Hi Karen, it seems your comment is quite a bit longer than all the others! Seriously, thanks for your lovely comment.
Yay for all us tortoises in the world of writing! Every time I read a post, a blog or a tweet from someone who wrote thousands of words in a day I am thrilled for them but a bit nervous for me – because I will be lucky if I have managed 400. But it seems I am not alone after all!!!
Like you, Katrina, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the slow.juicy pondering of picture book words.
But like you, I’m challenging myself to write novels. And there’s some fun to be had there as well – though in a different way.
Janeen
[...] it. I like to let the writing take me wherever it wants to go. (This is probably why I’m such a slow worker.) I might never be wild, cool, glamorous or funky but when I write I feel like there’s part of me [...]