I'll freely admit I write slowly. Sometimes my fellow authors will ask, usually at critiques where they have work to show, "How's your writing coming, Thomas?" I feel the need to reassure them that I'm not just here for the curiosity, that I'm actually writing. After weeks of not showing anything publicly, though, I wonder if my honesty is called into question.

I'll sit and edit a story to death. The story can sometimes go stale. I lose interest. Or it can feel overworked. For instance, my recently-finished time-shift short story is about 5k. I've worked on it probably since the 10th, so around 20 days. That's right at 1 "perfected" page each day. I've heard of authors who work at this snail's pace, but most of them have been somewhat or outright established. And since I started my career late, I'm not sure if I have the luxury of slowness.

So:

• Should I embrace my slow writing speed, or
• Should I be concerned? If concerned,
  • Should I trust that, over time, my speed will pick up, or
  • Should I take definite action?

Probably the most important thing to determine first is whether my slow writing speed is a problem.

As I mentioned above, sometimes I feel like a writing loser when other authors who work faster then I do -- and in some cases much much faster than I do -- bring attention to my slow speed. But I believe my slow output bothers me more on a day-to-day basis than it does in those relatively rare moments. So, I'd say I have a problem. If I have a problem then embracing my slowness is not an option.

So the next thing to determine is whether I should act to fix the problem or allow time to fix it for me.

This is more difficult. On one hand, my writing is benefitting from looking so excruciatingly closely at ever aspect of a story, bravely calling into question each sentence, demanding more of myself and my skills. It's sort of a P90X mentality toward getting better fast. But, at the end of the day, I have less to submit and only submissions lead to publications and only publications lead to better opportunities and only better opportunities lead to success.

Do I see my speed picking up? Yes and no. 

I can tell that I produce more GOOD pages recently than I ever have, but I'm not producing MORE PAGES. So is that an increase in speed? Hard to tell when my goal is to produce MORE GOOD PAGES. 

Bottom line is probably this: I do have a problem right now writing slowly. But I write every day and, in so doing, I'm becoming a better writer. So, I'm sort of doing both things I mentioned one should do if concerned about his speed. I'm taking definite action, even if that action is not specifically addressing my speed. Likewise, I have faith that, over time, my speed will pick up as a result of writing every day.

Not sure what I've accomplished here, but it sure was enlightening thinking about it in such detail.