#ArtistTherapy: Tortoise & the Hare (Things Take Time)

"I write so slow..." I've heard this numerous times from various writers. I've even said it myself. At a writers' conference several years ago I bemoaned the fact that my linked anthology (now in year 7) was taking a long time. (Then I was 3-4 years into it.) The instructor for my workshop did a "real talk" moment. "You're acting as if writing should be an efficient process, Jennifer. It's not."

True words. It's the Tortoise and the Hare scenario of what wins out. Fast or slow and steady? I've met artists who have complained or regretted that they didn't initiate their art sooner. Ones who were frustrated that their art wasn't as good as it could be and why, oh why, was this the case? I have friends who joked that their novel is in it's pre-adolescent stage. I've had critique partners who could draft, revise, and again revise a book in a year or less. And others who've taken a couple years. And several who've taken a decade or more.

I know I am not a fast writer per se. When it comes to short or even flash fiction it can take me months if not years to revise a piece to a point where I (and my critique partners) are satisfied. I have stories that are years in the making and still don't make sense. I have pieces that feel done and may very well not be but we're going to set them aside for now while I work on something that requires some TLC.

Susanna Daniels took 10 years to write her debut Stiltsville. She noted that this was because she wasn't writing the whole time but because life happened amidst her writing. She got married, had a baby, worked. . . . Those outside of the creative world may wonder "Why does [this] take so long?" Perhaps they're picturing you sitting at a desk, on the floor, in the middle of a studio with your creative tool of choice and working on it every day, day in and day out, non-stop. This is not the reality. Even published authors for the most part have jobs. And emerging artists especially, unless blessed with financial backing of some sort, are more than likely working full-time jobs in addition to pursuing their art.

Writing for me is work. It's a job that I do not yet get compensated for. I have bills to pay, a grad school loan, and parents who will not cover my expenses. So guess what? Sometimes work that pays wins out over work that doesn't. And this can stretch into time that is not focused on creation or editing, but on maintaining the life you have. That's the reality.

There are also other realities. Like being stuck. Like not knowing how to follow through on an idea you like/love. Perhaps you don't have the community around you that would help you to follow through on a project (or projects) and this takes away some joie de vivre from the act of creating when there may not be anyone to readily share it with. What if you have no critique partners? What if you're intimidated by the ones you do have? What if you get a slew of rejections that takes some of the wind out of you? What happens when family commitments, tragedies, unexpected occurrences, and so on come into play? And that thing you do, the one that's more than a hobby but is a passion and a need, may get held up.

There are so many factors of why the work itself may not be done in a time allotted. Not everyone has the opportunity that author Harper Lee did where a friend said "Hey! I'll support you for a year but you better finish that book." Not many of us have the knowledge on how to fix a work so readily that we will meet a deadline. It's simply not in the cards for us all.

But what about the market? Timing is everything in the market, right? That's true to an extent. Even recent National Book Award winner James McBride said that timing does play a role. But so does talent. And in the end what do you want out there reflecting your work?

An artist will rarely, if ever, ask, "What's taking you so long?" because they'll understand what can be keeping the work from progressing. Be it personal, professional, creative, or other. Another artist will not pressure you to finish soon, but to finish, period. Hopefully you can relinquish the burden of being fast, of seeing all the sales and figures for people selling things now, of those striking while the iron is hot, hot, hot. It takes how long it takes. Creation is not fast or slow. It's a pace that works for the creator. Supposedly, God created the world in seven days, but I'll tell you what, I bet God wasn't on a deadline or anything.

#MyWritingProcess Blog Tour

Maybe you've heard about the My Writing Process (Blog) Tour, maybe you haven't. If not consider this your intro. The tour's been going on for a few months and I'm delighted to have been asked to join in by my writer buddy overseas Laura Rueckert, whose answers on her process you'll find at www.laurarueckert.com. And here's my contribution to this fine tour we have going on:

What am I working on? 

Lots. My baby, so to speak, is a linked anthology about an interracial family that spans several decades and three generations. This collection has been my "White Whale" in a way in that I've been working on it for several years and it's gone through a complete metamorphosis making me a much better writer over the course of the process.

Last fall I started drafting a contemporary YA suspense. And I have a few flash fiction pieces and essays that I am either refining or drafting as well. I tell you, there is simply not enough time in the day.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?  

Short answer would be the diversity aspect as it is, unfortunately, not numerous in the literary realm (in all genres). I don't necessarily focus on race and racial tension as a person of color, but I think there is a need for literature to reflect reality and reality is quite diverse. My whole world has been an amalgam of various races, people, sexualities and such that my prose will always reflect that. I am also a very character-driven writer and I like to mix it up in terms of elements. I like to focus on people, psychology, and sometimes a slight twist on our reality and history. It's fun to rethink history and create it anew, for better or worse.

Why do I write what I do?

I wrote very bad poetry in high school and undergrad. It didn't fit me. I'm a bit long-winded at times, but the short form (and long form) is something I very much enjoy. Point blank: I like making things up. I also like detailing what I see, hear, and feel. So fiction and nonfiction/journalistic fits more for me because I feel like I have more space to truly expose, or explore, what and who is around me.

How does my writing process work?

My process is to sit down and do it. It's usually a burst when it comes to the drafting/writing phase. Just get words down on paper/screen, is my focus initially. And I can sit down for hours in a comfy chair with my laptop writing. This past Christmas while visiting my grandmother, she consistently passed the room. I had sat in a La-Z-Boy for up to seven hours with my laptop on my lap writing. "You okay?" she asked a few times. "Yup!" I shouted. When I'm in the zone I get stuff done.

Molding and refining my work is what I do after the fact. I keep every draft I write (I date each one), sometimes it helps to go back and see what I did earlier in the process or see what may or may not be salvaged. But yeah, (1) write like a fiend, (2) refine like the fiend you were previously, (3) get feedback, because invariably there's always something that needs more work than you thought.

That is my process, in a nutshell.

I've invited (or tagged) the following writers whose work I admire and enjoy to also participate and I'm glad they're up for it! You can see their posts on their process next week.

I present . . .

Megan Cooley Peterson is a writing-reading-pizza-coffee addict from the frozen tundra, aka Minnesota. She has written a YA contemporary, a YA romantic thriller, and an upmarket women’s fiction manuscript. She is currently drafting a manuscript about witchcraft that she can’t stop obsessing over. When not working on fiction, Megan writes and edits children’s nonfiction books about topics ranging from gross animal facts to urban legends. She lives with her husband and darling daughter.

Megan and I met via Twitter and she is one of the sweetest and supportive, and most dedicated writers I have ever engaged with. And after reading one of her manuscripts I can attest she's going to be a force to be reckoned with in the publishing world.

Karen McCoy first got the writing bug when she read The Babysitters Club series at age eight, but almost gave up after a bad grade during a creative writing class in college. Fast forward years later, to an HR training for her librarian job in 2008. She got out a pen and started her first novel, in her head, ever since that first writing class. She's currently studying for her MFA in creative writing at Northern Arizona University. She not only blogs at her site Writer Librarian, but also contributes to Operation Awesome on Mondays.

Karen and I met at the GlenWest Conference in New Mexico a couple years ago and her tenacity and excitement for writing inspire me all the time.

Thanks again Karen & Megan for joining in and I look forward to hearing more about your process(es)!

If you've done a post for the My Writing Process blog tour lemme know so I can read it.  :-)