Wednesday, July 01, 2009

 

What Jay Said

Though I'm not a patch on Jay Lake in terms of writing speed (that guy is fast), when I sit down to write I usually turn out more words per day than is average. I don't write nearly as fast as I used to do, though, and I've been slowly trying to retrain my brain these last few years to accept that it's okay that I'm writing slower, if the work itself is improving. In his last guest post over on Tor.com, Jay talks about similar concerns, and sums up my new credo more succinctly than I've managed to do so far:
I don’t need to be a faster writer than I’ve been before, I need to be a better writer than I’ve been before.
Amen.

Comments:
I forget where I saw this -- some book on writing -- but the guy's mantra was: "I'm faster than anyone who's better, and better than anyone who's faster." Which is a nice thing to tell yourself. Me, I need healthy doses of self-delusion just to keep typing.
 
Okay, I'm stealing that quote now. I'll be deluding myself whenever I use it, but I'm stealing it nonetheless.
 
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