The Tortoise and the Hare

My belief: Writing isn't a race. It is a craft. It is often misunderstood.

In general, most people I talk to think writing should be easy. They think a story, a novel, a book is a quick process. Someone sits at a computer, bangs on a few keys, a month or two later sends it to a publisher and hey presto ...

Ah huh. Most of those people don't write.

I am not a prolific writer. I don't write 5000+ words a week. I will never be an insta-writer (as I like to call those who can just sit down and *BAM* pour out tonnes of prose in a matter of hours). I know people who do write at the rate of almost a novel a month. I wonder though, what does this achieve? Do they end up with cohesive stories? How much do they have to neglect to get the time and focus? What do they do with all that writing? Do they achieve their goals and dreams?

I am making progress. In word count, my current story is just over 43,000 words. While word count does not maketh a story, I am still proud of this achievement. I have never pushed a story this far towards completion before. Climbing over the 40,000 word count was a small yet significant benchmark in my writing. I am seeing the story build at my hand. The construction probably isn't as perfect as I would like it, but my characters are well into the journey of this adventure. They are evolving and reacting more than any characters I have written with before.

Looking forward, I am working on a section of my story that involves a lot of action and escalation. There are many more words to come to create the climax. I feel good. I am not near the end of completing the story, but the path is looking clearer and the words are slowly working their way onto my page.

I am not trying to win the race, but I do want to finish it. Whether the hare wins or not, the importance for me is following through to completion. The tortoise persevered, and so shall I.