My slow read of The Art of Slow Writing by Louise DeSalvo is complete. It is a good book, though in the middle I read it too slowly at times so it felt choppy and fragmented. The chapters are super short, usually only two or three pages, which encourages reading the book during short time windows. By the end, when I started reading it in longer chunks more regularly, it at times felt too long. Still, there is an abundance of good stuff to be found in the book.
DeSalvo’s point in a nutshell: Writing is hard work and takes time so take the time and don’t worry about whether it is a month or a year or ten years before your piece is finished. It will take however long it takes. Sure, you can force your way through it but that will probably produce work that is not as good as it could have been if you had taken the time you needed to get it right.
Slow writing is a meditative act: slowing down to understand our relationship to our writing, slowing down to determine our authentic subjects, slowing down to write complex works, slowing down to study our literary antecedents.
Let’s face it, most of us aren’t going to be blockbuster novelists with publishing contracts that require a manuscript by a certain date. Most of us who undertake a creative writing project are not going to have a deadline. So there is no reason to fret over how long it takes. Commit to the project, commit to taking however much time is needed to make it a success. Don’t pay attention to friends and family who ask you why it is taking so long or tease you about that novel still not being done. They aren’t writing your novel and they have no freaking idea what it takes to do the job right.
DeSalvo’s voice throughout the book is that of writing coach. There are chapters about keeping a proccess log, about failure, daydreaming, writing partners, revision, and how to know when you really are done and let the work go. She provides examples of professional writers and the problems they have faced and overcome in each chapter. In the end I am left with a long list of novels that sound really good and other books about writing and creativity.
While Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic gives the reader permission to be creative, DeSalvo gives the writer permission to take her time in the process and not fret about it. There will be good days and bad days; days when the writing comes fast and easy and days when a single sentence is an accomplishment; days when everything clicks into place and days when nothing makes sense and everything seems wrong. That’s what writing is — a proccess, a journey, a lot of problem-solving.
every writer is a beginning writer, and every work teaches you how to write it, but not the next one.
Lots of wisdom nuggets in this one. The hard part, of course, is remembering them when you are in the thick of writing and feeling stressed and wanting to give up and press delete or toss the pages into the fire. Don’t give up, just slow down. It will all be okay if you give yourself and the writing time.
Stefanie, I’m so glad you wrote about this book. Before I read it, I listened to a National Association of Memoir Writers presentation/class she gave. She is fantastic. Because I enjoyed her so much, I got her book. As far as writing/coaching books go, I think it is unique. She’s right, it takes as long as it takes, advice which has helped me as I write a memoir. I was also impressed when she spoke with us about one book in particular that drove her crazy in the writing, and how finally she was able to find her way to clarity. I can’t remember which of her books she was referring to now. Anyway, she is a great teacher and writing mentor. So glad you found the book, you summarize its essential bits well.
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Thanks Valorie! How very cool you got to see her in person! It seems like she would be a compassionate yet firm writing coach which is what a person needs in the end, someone who understands the struggle but will also call you on your excuses. I don;t recall how I came across the book but I am glad I did!
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Slow reading I practice. Slow writing not so much. It sounds very worth while though.
I get the impression this is a book I might like to own rather than request from the library, and not only because the three weeks loan we have in our library doesn’t facilitate going slow for me.
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Cath, I borrowed it from the university library so got to have it for a long time. Not sure I would have read it as slowly if I had borrowed it from the public library.
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Well, I am a slow reader but I have a feeling it might no be in quite the same way as its generally meant in the slowness method, if you know what I mean. I do like books that are easily digestible like this one–you can read a bit of and not feel overwhelmed and ease your way through. I guess she practices her own advice!
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Danielle, ha! I know exactly what you mean! Yes, it does seem like she practices her own advice, a good sign!
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Heh, it’s ironic that slow reading of a slow writing book leads to choppiness, but fast reading makes it feel too long! Sounds interesting though. Are you writing a novel? 🙂 I hope so…
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Helen, heh, I know! There is definitely a happy medium to be found between too slow and too fast! No. I’m not writing a novel. I think about it now and then I am taking it slowly 😉
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I slow write on big projects but I write fast in general. I wish I could write my big projects as fast as essays or blog posts.
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Fin, and rush through the journey? 😉 I spend lots of time working things out in my head so when I sit down to write it usually goes pretty quickly, but the whole process can take a long time.
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I just feel like, sometimes, that the project I’m currently working on is so big that I can feel the story in my heart but I have trouble articulating it like trying to make a painting from a dream where the details are felt in clarity but the strokes are slightly vague.
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What a great analogy! I think finding the language for the story is one of the most difficult things a writer does.
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Brilliant Review!! It was your commendation that made me read Big Magic and a lot of the book made sense and the whole writing for no reason but for being creative was one of best advise ever. Now I want to look this one up !
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cirtnecce, thanks! So you read Big magic and liked it? Yay! This one is different, less enthusiastic, more let’s get down to work, but it still is very practical and worth the time in my opinion. 🙂
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I really liked this one too. There is a lot of overlap in our writing-reading lately! 🙂
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