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One day in a Turning Memories Into Memoirs workshop, a woman read a story she had written.

Other workshoppers were not enthralled with the piece. When everyone had shared what feedback they want to, I said to her, “This piece has the feel of hasty writing. How long did you spend on the writing?”

It was obvious that she had written in haste without much consideration of how she was staying on the surface of her story.

Slow writing is an essential quality of good writing.

The writer had written the piece the night before and  “had not had the time” to revise it or to deepen the meaning. She had written what amounted to a first draft although she assured me she had reread the piece before coming to the workshop to read it out loud.

A grammar and spelling check is not the same thing as making your story more meaningful and interesting.

Stages of writing

At one point, slow writing can also involve fast writing! Let me explain: as my workshopper did, you can write a first draft quickly. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I often recommend fast writing for a first draft. Where room for error comes in is to believe that this version is ready to send out into the world

No, you would be well advised to put the writing aside. To think about it. To scrutinize your photos of the era. To Memory List if you have not done so.  To ask yourself of every word and phrase: “What do I really mean to say by this?”

As one of the posts below suggests, slow writing is related to slow cooking. Ever taste the difference between a soup that was hastily put together and boiled for twenty minutes and a soup that was let to simmer for a few hours? And how about the same soup the next day?

Now the next day is often where you find the best flavor.

In conclusion

Treat your writing with the respect it deserves by committing yourself to slow writing, to spending time not only to write but also to reflect.

Let the story simmer for a while. You’ll improve it—guaranteed.

writing process steps

Slow Writing is the Literary Relative of Slow Cooking

With all the blog posts I have read about learning to write faster—I have even heard of “how to write a book in a weekend, I want to take a moment to re-emphasize the value of writing slowly and carefully. Perhaps, what I would like to stop a moment to ponder is the literary relative […]

take a break from writing

Four Reasons to Take a Break from Writing

When should you take a break from writing?

Writing is hard work, and there will be many times when it seems too difficult. You sit at your desk and nothing much comes. Your impulse is to get up to do something—anything—else, as long as it’s not writing! You think of the lawn that needs mowing, the closet that needs cleaning, etc.

But, stop and ask yourself if you may simply need to take a break from writing and need some physical activity, rather than avoiding the work. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

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writing

Show Up and Do the Writing!

To your dismay, you have been writing your memoir in snippets. In the mornings, when you show up on your laptop, you face, as does every writer, a demanding master: a writing stint for the day.

Oh, how you wish it were the end of your scheduled writing period!

Like many memoir writers, your memoir writing time is perhaps not long. Then you need to move on to the numerous chores that are attendant on keeping a life and a home going. You feel some urgency to write deathless prose because of the short time allotted.

But some days, even your short writing period seems too long. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

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