Today my friend Zoe Winters called me lazy. Well, not me personally, but writers as a group and, in particular, writers who take their sweet time writing their books. And since The Wendy House has taken me a very, very long time to write, it made me a little defensive I feel compelled to defend myself.
Zoe’s original assertion (also made here) is that it isn’t “impossible to ‘write fast’ without [the resulting book] being crap.” I agree. Prolific writers frequently get a lot of shit, with many people assuming that their work lacks quality or depth, and that’s wrong. I’ve read amazing books that were written in a short period of time. Some writers just work faster than others, and that’s fine. Here’s where I take issue with her:
My Emo Couch
“When a book takes YEARS to write, I’m really skeptical. What was the writer doing all of that time? … Most of what writers do isn’t writing. It’s angsting, drinking coffee, fainting on their emo couch about how hard it all is, “suffering”, staring out the window, staring at the screen, rearranging the pens on their desk, checking email, tweeting, getting up and walking around, researching, outlining.”
First of all, I literally don’t know one writer who complains about “how hard it all is”, or who spends a good amount of time “suffering.” And I know a lot of writers. Every writer I know loves what they do, and those who are published (whether self-published or traditionally) are frankly awed that they’re able to make money doing the thing that they love, whether that money is the spare change variety or the pays-the-bills kind. And they’re genuinely appreciative of the people who make that possible: readers who buy their books.
Secondly, yes. Writers do spend more than a little time rearranging their pens, staring blankly at their computer screens (or staring at a blank computer screen), playing on Facebook and Twitter, watching Jon Stewart on Bill O’Reilly’s show on YouTube because they forgot to set their DVR last night…in other words procrastinating. It comes with the territory. But most writers also have other responsibilities – day jobs (or night jobs), children and spouses, doctor and car repair appointments, etc – that they’re juggling along with The Writing. And it’s not always easy to slip back into the writing zone after the stress of spending an hour or two verbally wrestling with your teenager or listening to a mechanic explain what a sway bar is and trying to figure out just how the hell you’re going to be able to afford replacing the one that’s busted on your car. Sometimes you can use those feelings of powerlessness and frustration in your writing. But sometimes you can’t.
Thirdly, when you’re a writer, “getting up and walking around, researching, outlining” is work. It might not be the act of physically writing, but it’s work just the same. If you, for example, want to accurately describe the conditions of a gravel pit in the middle of March, it’s helpful to get your ass into a gravel pit in the middle of March. Preferably without the owners of said gravel pit becoming aware of your presence. Oops. Writers also spend a good deal of time marketing. Which means sometimes – sorry, but it’s true – going on Twitter and Facebook is work, too. Not always. But sometimes it is.
Now, I realize Zoe (whom I seriously love dearly)’s post wasn’t directed at me personally, but since I’ve been asked – a lot – when I’ll be done with The Wendy House, I want to address that here. It’s taken me a long, long time to write this book, much longer than it took me to write Waiting For Spring, and those of you who read WFS back when the self-published version came out are probably wondering what the hell I’ve been doing since then. The truth is that I’ve spent a lot of that time working on it: writing it, chucking what I’ve written, starting over, and rewriting that. I changed narrators from Wendy to Rick after the first couple of drafts were done. Then I changed it from first person narration to third. Recently, I decided to tell some of the story from the point of view of characters other than Rick and Wendy.
Some parts have been difficult to write, because a lot of this stuff hits home. So, yes, I’ve spent more than a little time on my emo couch figuring out how to use or to get past those feelings, to figure out a balance between honest emotion and maudlinism.
I’ve also had to spend a lot of time marketing Waiting For Spring. It truly wasn’t easy drawing attention to a self-published, 500 page, non-genre book. I worked my ass off to get it where it is today. I don’t regret it, because the work paid off, but still…it took up time I could have spent writing.
I’ve also been hanging out in gravel pits, reading up on guns and gruesome wounds, working nights, producing episodes of Inside The Writers’ Studio, raising two (now three) teenagers, spending time with my husband, acting locally, and, yes…I drink a lot of coffee and frequently play on Facebook.
So although I haven’t spent every waking minute working on this book, I haven’t been slacking off. I’m not lazy.
R.J. Keller 
Hey, you take as long as you want. Better to be good than quick. I’m looking forward to reading it when it’s published.
Ooh, and, on an unrelated note: I left a comment on a friend’s WordPress blog yesterday and he was using the same ‘monster’ guest avatars that you’re using. I was very excited to see how mine would turn out and I got the same pink uterus one yesterday that I have been assigned here. Yay! So it’s not random but it is exciting.
Thanks a bunch!
(“Pink uterus”!! LOL)
very well put. Now, out down your coffee mug!
Never!!!!
I believe all writers have their own “distractions” whether it is a day job, children, spouse, etc. etc.
For me, I write with a co-author so all of those distractions are multiplied by 2. It does take us a long time to write a book, but then again, we work as much as we can. We do hope to finish our newest fantasy this year (of course, baring any unexpected distractions, that is).
I take my hat off to anyone who can co-author. Or I would if I was in the habit of wearing hats.
I think James Morrow would take issue as well. He wrote The Last Witchfinder, which was one of the most phenomenal literary works I have ever read, and it took him 7 years to write it. The historical research alone must have been agonizing, but the story would not have rung the least bit true without it. Most of the literature I have read in my 45 years of life has taken the author a long time to write. I doubt they were pining away on their emo couch. I want to join you at that gravel pit, sounds like fun. I’ve stalked grave yards and quarries. I’ve even spent 10 minutes lying inside a morgue drawer, with a dead body in the drawer above me.
Ooooh! A morgue!!! Hard core!
Hear Hear!!
This is *exactly* the kind of validation I needed! In my case, teaching college freshman academic writing takes of so much of what I call “psychic” energy that there sometimes isn’t enough left over for my novel. (I also suck at multi-tasking. Always have.)I’ve got to carve out that time, and then much of it is spent doing the mental composing — listening to characters talk to me and to each other, visualizing scenes, doing a little bit of research, etc. All a valid and important part of the writing process for me.
And these days, writers have to market themselves in order to reach an audience. This may be a choice, but it’s one that got me as far as it has, so it’s one I’m not willing to give up.
Kudos to you!
🙂
I admire those who can write fast. Prolific is where the money is. I am sadly not one of those authors. I like writing stupidly complex books–multiple POV’s, shifting timelines, lots of interconnected plot threads. My work tends to be on the long side, anyway, so figuring out what happens when and how takes some serious thinking through, and lots of rewriting. All of that adds up to a longer writing process. It’s just how it is for me.
Plus I do watch too much YouTube.
Well, for another take on it, Yes , I AM one of those who think writing fast=crap, and I have more examples than not that validate my ezperience. I can’t say what Zoe writes is crap, because it’s not.
However, when someone who can afford to write full-time gives someone who can’t shit about not writing fast, it’s gomna piss me off. I didn’t bother to read Zoe’s whole post because it pissed me off so much and since she doesn’t open her commentas, I’ll say it here: Zoe, your experience is not universal. Stop acting like everyone works/thinks like you do. They don’t.
You know why The Proviso is the only doorstopper book that has ever held your attention? Because it took me 15 fucking years to write it.
I have more to say. I won’t. I’ll go back to staring out my window, sewing, building bookcases, and quilting another Christmas tree skirt. You know what you’re looking at when I’m doing those things? You’re looking at me writing, whether you SEE that or not.
Forgive the typos. I did it on my iPad because I couldn’t wait until I got into the office. I plan to organize some of my possessions today. IOW, write.
Elisa, the “mental composing” is what makes the novel taste so good.
Avery, me too. Both the writing stupidly complex books thing and the YouTube thing.
MoJo, Amen.
I don’t know if Zoe Winters writes crap, but she sure talks a lot of it.
I’m a very slow writer too – first and second draft of my current WIP will end up taking me about a year, and that’s my quickest novel so far. I routinely leave my short stories to “bake” for a few months at a time in between revisions. Ah well, it is what it is, right?
Waiting for Spring looks awesome, by the way! Just picked it up for my Kindle! 🙂
I agree 100% with everything you have written RJ.
I could go on and on and on about this topic forever, but I am already editing and rewriting and researching… and now it is just too long for a post comment. I need to sit on it before committing it to the world forever. I’ll have it ready in 2 months for you. *wink*
Seriously, though, I’m pretty fired up about the original posts.
In short, I can say this:
There are pop culture writers and there are educated thoughtful people who produce timeless classic literature.
It is ok to be either one, but I am guessing any novel remembered long after the author has passed, the writer probably put a significant amount of time and respect into their book.
Just depends what sort of author you want to be as to how much time you devote to the process?
Writing a novel is like building a romantic relationship: you can either nurture it, take your time, get to know the subject, caress it, and make sure to say all the right things (ie not be a total jackass and F up everything); or you can jump right in, take everything for granted, quickly go through the motions, say all the wrong things, and leave an empty feeling…
One will last, one won’t.
Laura, “baking” is a great way to put it.
Jade, great seeing you again!
“I need to sit on it before committing it to the world forever. I’ll have it ready in 2 months for you. *wink*”
I’m holding you to that!
Just an FYI, mostly in response to private comments made to me about this post, but also just to clarify:
This post was written in response to Zoe’s, yes, but not with any sort of animosity. As I stated, Zoe is a friend and has been for several years.
That is all.
I didn’t know you acted!!! How cool is that?!
I heartily agree with this post. Jill had the best line. I can’t top it.
Can’t wait for The Wendy House! I’ll stock up on Kleenex. You’re dangerous that way.
I wish Zoe was my coworker, because the controversy is so stimulating. She’d sure make my stupid, boring meetings better. Plus, the lingo would improve – “fainting on my emo couch” is my new favorite phrase. I’ll create a reason to use it tomorrow.
Robin! 🙂
Doing The Vagina Monologues was seriously the most powerful experience of my life. If you – or any woman – gets the chance to participate in a performance, do it.
Awww, Robin. I miss you! You don’t tweet much do you? Because I think I follow you on Twitter but I never see you tweet.
And yes, Kel and I are friends. And are STILL friends. LOL. We talked on the phone today, probably for close to an hour.
Yeah Kel, the morgue thing was quite hardcore, but I needed to know how cold it was and what it felt like. I had a friend who worked there. He snuck me in after hours.
As for writing … whatever. Everyone is different, and writing fast or writing slow doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good or bad or that you’ll make more money or not. One person’s method may not work for another writer or genre or storyline. I write very slow except when it comes to the flash fiction. I generally crank out a bit of flash everyday, and they run anywhere from 150-300 words as a complete story. The novellas take a whole lot longer just because there are more things for me to consider, especially if I am incorporating some poetry into the piece. If I try to do things fast, I inevitably feel rushed, then I get manic, then I get neurotic, then I sit in the corner and drool over a glass of whiskey. It’s better if I work slow. I admire fast writers, but it just isn’t for me.
“I admire fast writers, but it just isn’t for me.”
Me too.
“However, when someone who can afford to write full-time gives someone who can’t shit about not writing fast, it’s gomna piss me off. I didn’t bother to read Zoe’s whole post because it pissed me off so much and since she doesn’t open her commentas, I’ll say it here: Zoe, your experience is not universal. Stop acting like everyone works/thinks like you do. They don’t.”
Maybe the reason she can afford to write full time is that she writes fast?
There’s a simple mathematics about it… the more books you write in a year, the more easy it is to make a living as a writer. If you write a book every two years, unless you are capable of putting out a bestseller every time, you can’t afford to write full time. Ever.
Alternatively, if you write four books a year, you can afford to write full time, even if three of them sell at the same rate as a typical first novel and one flops.
In any case, from what Zoe says, I don’t put her into the fast camp. I know authors who write 9 books a year. That’s fast. A couple of novellas a year is SLOW.
i’ve been thinking about this since I posted yesterday and I came to realize what has been my true issue: Zoe had closed her comments…and then got upset when she got called out in public.
If they were open, I’d have probably said, “Zoe, you so silly,” knowing she’d clarify herself via comments.
So instead of understanding that she hurt some of her friends (some of them very deeply) because she “said what had to be said,” she went back on the attack with more of the same, playing the victim to the hilt.
I don’t feel the need to justify my writing process, nor do I feel the need to define what writing is to the rest of your poor ignorant schlubs who just don’t get it. By the same token, I’m not going to sit by in silence when someone else lectures on it as if it her opinion were the gospel truth, KNOWING that people whose work she likes don’t write HER way. What’s the take-home message there?
BTW, Thomas, really good point, but Zoe does write at least 2 full-length books a year under another name (yes, I know what it is; no, I’m not telling).
So yeah, I’ll admit that she really kicked me in the head (and continued to with her followup posts), but the first one wouldn’t have bugged me at all if her comments were open. One “Zoe, you so silly” would’ve gotten a nice discussion going.
Mojo,
You were a little attacky, first. If you’d been so hurt, I really wish you had emailed. Nothing I said was about you or about anyone else personally. It was about me more than anything, and how I lied to myself for so long about “how long a book takes”.
But thanks to DWS’s blog I got out of my “Oh woe is me, books take forever” crap and started writing more consistently every day. Yes, I have more “time” than many others, but that’s neither here nor there because no matter what else has been going on in my life I’ve always had more time to write than I’ve actually written.
I wasn’t “playing the victim”. You took a post personally that had nothing to do with you, then started jumping on me on Twitter. When I said I wasn’t doing that in public on Twitter anymore and you could email me, you said “block”. I’m sorry, I just can’t and don’t want to deal with that much drama.
If you have a personal problem with me, talk to me, but don’t call me out publicly because it was never personal, it was just a blog post. Or, you could have made your own blog post in your own space, like Kel did. No problem. But coming to me on my Twitter and forcing me to get into it with you and put that crap in front of my Twitter stream, was a little unfair.
To then turn around and say I’m playing the victim, is equally unfair. And to make a statement about pissing off my friends when… you haven’t emailed me in months also felt a little below the belt.(I haven’t emailed you, either, we’re both at fault for the drift, but still.)
And yes, I could have emailed you about this, but you are the one who once again has chosen to do this in public. I don’t think you have any idea how hurtful it is to me for people who claimed to me by friends to discuss me as a person PUBLICLY.
Please stop doing it. It hurts. And it’s unfair since my post wasn’t even about you. Or Kel. Or anybody else “personally”. But the things you said here and on Twitter most certainly were and are personal.
I’m sure you think I’m just playing the victim again, and if you do, there is nothing I can do about that. But I do prefer for my arguments with those who claim to be friends to stay behind closed doors and not aired in public like so much dirty laundry. This is why blog comments are closed. This is why for the most part I avoid commenting on other people’s blogs. This is why I’m practically a hermit, largely keeping to myself. Because I’m tired of being hurt. And I’m tired of drama. And I’m tired of it all sucking out my writing time. (Today I was smart. I wrote before getting online.)
And again, we’re talking about blog posts. Not me personally badmouthing you anywhere. Getting personally offended about a blog post that has nothing to do with you is not my issue. My blog is an opt-in situation. You are always free to opt out. There are plenty of people online whose blogs I do not read.
Here’s what’s going to happen. If y’all want to talk about the specific points brought out in my post, go for it. Everything else can be hashed out privately. This ain’t TMZ.
LOL Kel. No problem. And you are welcome to delete my post if you like.
Long story short, your laziness takes me back to an old cliche, “good things come to those who wait!” You take all the time you need!
p.s. but please hurry!
Haha! Love ya, Elaine. 🙂
“This ain’t TMZ.”
hahahha….
But we do love to sneak a peak of that when no one is looking, don’t we!
Oh we love a good drama! That is why every single one of us is here, isn’t it? To write a drama! The more drama, the more it sells.
On the one hand, Zoe accomplished that, she wrote some solid drama. 🙂
She has also given us a fine example of what can happen when something is quickly written without considerable thought or edit: you can alienate fans and potential customers by making negative sweeping generalizations about an entire group of people.
As a writer, a positive and honest approach to the same topic could be to stick to true tales about your own experiences instead of untrue accusations about people you have never met.
Just think, Gone With The Wind took ten years to write, due to historical research, personal bodily injury, and perfectionism; it is one of the most popular novels and movies of the 1900s. The author got in a second serious car crash and died, having produced only one book in her lifetime. So what? Quality or quantity? Accuracy or frivolity? We each get to choose what works for us personally and what we want to accomplish and give to the world.
Anyway…. this was good fun. Thanks RJ and Zoe and everyone else for having the huevos to put yourselves out there on the line like this. It has been enlightening and thought provoking.
Go forth and write, slowly or quickly, with or without sugar and cream, in your bed or on the front lawn. Be a writer. Be lazy. Be lovely. Be uncommon.
x jaden
PS. One of my favorite sayings I heard somewhere goes like this:
“That which comes quickly, goes quickly. “
“As a writer, a positive and honest approach to the same topic could be to stick to true tales about your own experiences instead of untrue accusations about people you have never met.”
That was my problem with Zoe (whom I love dearly)’s original post. There’s no “one size fits all” way to write.
“Just think, Gone With The Wind took ten years to write, due to historical research, personal bodily injury, and perfectionism; it is one of the most popular novels and movies of the 1900s. The author got in a second serious car crash and died, having produced only one book in her lifetime. So what? Quality or quantity?”
Exactly!!!! 🙂
Despite what people (Zoe) might think, I do understand where she’s coming from:
She’s a new convert to a philosophy that rings true for her. She’s been reading a guy she finds inspirational and she’s enthusiastic and she wants to share the gospel.
I get that.
Actually, I thought the post out, edited it many times, and I stand by every word I wrote. It was NEVER personal and other people taking general, generic posts as personal attacks is not my issue.
My comment was directed at @screenwritingforhollywood
Thing is… I’ve never thought writing was “one size fits all” Ever. And I still don’t. I understand not everyone has the same process, really. But there is a very large percentage of writers who know they could be writing more than they’re actually writing, as in sitting down and typing out words. The post I wrote WAS passionate and extreme, because those are the kinds of posts that wake “me” up and in fact woke me up to MY laziness.
If other people have a different process and want to take years to write a book, that’s them. I’m not saying they’re lazy. You know if you’re lazy or not. If you don’t think you are, then live long and prosper. Do your thing.
But *I* was being lazy. And I know I’ve seen a lot of people complain about how hard it is to write when they don’t even have their Word document opened.
And I’m also tired of this assumption that several books released in a year is going to be “crap”, when many people who publish that many things spend HOURS a day writing as in… typing words. Why should hard work be punished, when many times a book that takes 5 years and a book that takes 5 months, often takes the same amount of “time” to write?
While I know I may have a book that’s harder and I have to put it aside while working on something else, in general terms… I’m a 4 month writer. It takes me 4 months to produce a book start to finish, writing, editing, publishing. I can stretch that out to a year or 5 years so someone else can think I slaved over it more, or I can just do it in 4 months.
If other people don’t want to or can’t work that way, that’s fine, too.
I naturally just assume that if people don’t want to know what I have to say about a topic on my blog, they just won’t visit and read it. And if they disagree or have an alternate viewpoint, they’ll write their own blog post, like Kel did here, or write me an angry email.
My specific issue, Z, was that you said:
“Writers are fucking lazy. It’s true. We are. Well, not all of us. But a good chunk of writers are lazy.”
And then qualified that with this being the reason:
“they do it [writing] in small and inconsistent increments.”
You later go on to apply it to yourself in particular, which is cool, but by starting out that way you’re setting yourself up as a voice for writerkind. My post was set up to refute that.
And for the record, I started by saying this:
“Zoe’s original assertion (also made here) is that it isn’t “impossible to ‘write fast’ without [the resulting book] being crap.” I agree. Prolific writers frequently get a lot of shit, with many people assuming that their work lacks quality or depth, and that’s wrong. I’ve read amazing books that were written in a short period of time.”
Edited to clarify the “it” in Zoe’s quote. Because that’s the raw power I have. 🙂
@Kel (Sorry this is long)
LMAO @ “raw power”. Well when I said writers are lazy I said WE are. I was including me. And honestly, most writers really ARE pretty lazy, IMO. They don’t write consistently or even THINK about their book consistently or do anything else consistently. For something they supposedly love so much, they sure do try to avoid doing it. And maybe I should say WE again, because it’s not these “other people who aren’t me”. It’s not like I’m saying “I’m better, neener neener.” I do the same crap sometimes.
Is that about you? Or Mojo? Or anybody who “writes slow”? No. I understand people have a hard time sometimes really carving out the time and getting in that zone. I’ve been there. I also understand, this is all I do. So “easy for me to say”.
And I’m also not going to say: “Kel, you should be writing more” because that’s not my business how much you write or don’t write. You also had to rewrite The Wendy House a lot of times. I get that. I admire the fact that you can do all you do and still write anything at all.
Every writer is different. Every book is different. But I still think as a GROUP we are pretty lazy “very often”. I’m STILL lazy. Like… today I haven’t written yet because I’ve been wasting time on the Internet. I’m not sure if it’s going to happen, today.
Now maybe that could be because I didn’t know what I wanted to say next in the book. But I DO. I already know where I’m going. All I have to do is sit down and open the freaking document and put my little Zoe fingers on the keys and make them move around a lot.
But I haven’t yet. That makes me lazy today. That’s poor work ethic. And I took Monday and Tuesday as my days off, so I don’t need a “day off” either.
But I don’t live at your house or Mojo’s house or anybody else’s house.
I know I’m not alone. I know I’m not the only writer who can be chronically lazy (again, not pointing fingers at anybody. Everybody who is lazy knows when they’re being lazy. And if they aren’t, it’s not about them). That doesn’t mean I look at someone who took a long time to write a book and think they’re lazy. Maybe they just didn’t WANT to write much for awhile. And that’s okay too.
Also I understand the concept of a book giving you fits. For someone like me, that means working on another book for another pen name. But for people who, have a lot of other stuff going on in their lives, it might not be that way. I get that.
But you guys have other jobs that make you money. This is my job. So, to me, it’s totally disrespectful of what YOU guys have to do out in the “real world” making money to not just sit my butt down, open my word document and make stuff up.
So yeah, that’s how I can say all that and still not feel like anything I said was the slightest bit personal. I guess I just assume people don’t take things personally unless they feel a little guilty (clearly I was wrong on that.)
I also think that a lot of writers (like me) who CAN write faster get stuck in this idea that we can’t, when really we can. And for me, with this being my occupation, and wanting to STAY that way because really, I can’t work for other people. I have panic attacks. So I’m really really motivated to write and write a lot.
Well, except for today where I’m being lazy. But I think a lot of that is fallout from all the drama surrounding my post. And that’s really why I stay in the batcave and comments are off and etc. I shouldn’t have commented here at ALL, mainly because it just keeps me in this place where I’m worrying about a bunch of stuff that I shouldn’t be thinking about. I should be writing.
But I totally understand why you wrote your rebuttal, and I also appreciate you standing up for the prolific people! 🙂
Also, my blogs posts are just “my opinions”. People shouldn’t give the power of “the voice of writerkind” to my posts. Me stating how I feel about stuff is not an obligation on everyone else to agree or take it as the gospel. I simply find it tedious to say: “Warning: This is just my personal opinion, if you think differently, okay” at the start of ever blog post. It should be understood it’s my opinion and that I’m not god.
*every. (Sorry. ugh. I need an editor for my comments.)
Zoe–
Of course, all of our blogs are personal opinions, that’s a given. It is also a given that everyone has a lazy day. It was the presentation of the topic that people did not like, the accusatory tone and blind sweeping nature of it.
Saying negative inflammatory comments to a wide audience of people about the one thing they love to do and that is maybe their highest life ambition (to be a writer) IS personal. You don’t have to say a name.
Not only do you insult Writers, you also insult Construction Workers who I have always admired for working out in the baking sun, breathing toxic fumes, lifting heavy shit, just to build roads and structures for the rest of us. They make low wages and often work harder each day than the majority of paper pushers ever will in their entire life.
Most people have to work and make money or raise a family, and that’s why it takes years to finish a book, and for no other reason than that; quite the opposite of laziness.
Melissa Donovan wrote a great article that I think everyone in here should read.
I love the opening quote:
“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”
Mohandas K. Gandhi
positivelypresent.com/2011/05/using-positive-language-for-positive-thinking.html
🙂
@screenwritingforhollywood Most people had no problem with the post. Most, in fact, were inspired/motivated by it. Different strokes. People who find me offensive/upsetting just shouldn’t read my blog. I do my best to keep it in my own space and not dribble it all over everyone else. (This discussion happening here is a rarity for me now.)
But, I’ve said everything I have to say on the topic here. I think all that will go on beyond this is a mere rehash. The bottom line is that I stand by my post as my experience and viewpoint. I refuse to water all my thoughts down for everyone because someone may be offended. Why even share them in that case? It’s just a blog post. No one has to put any stock in it.
Thank you for the discussion though. I’m going to go ahead and unsubscribe from this thread so I can go back to the bat cave to write.
“Just think, Gone With The Wind took ten years to write, due to historical research, personal bodily injury, and perfectionism; it is one of the most popular novels and movies of the 1900s.”
-SCREENwritingFORhollywood, May 19th ’11
That’s a Strawman argument. There were also no computers back then, or internet. Are you writing Gone With The Wind? Are you writing ROOTS: THE SAGA OF AN AMERICAN FAMILY? If not, writing a book shouldn’t take you 10 years, or even 7. You’re just over-writing and those books that took 4ever to write normally end up being SOOOO boring! They’re just boring.I don’t think these writers are lazy, they’re just not that good, frankly. But that’s just my one opinion. Other opinions will vary.
I edited your comment to take out your url because it led to a website that advertises doors. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you’re an honest commenter and not a spammer and leave the comment itself up.
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I read a lot of interesting posts here. Probably you spend a lot of time writing,
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