I am a slow writer.

Sometimes, when I do 20-minute writing sprints with my writing friends, at the end, some folks will have 1,000 words written, while all I’ve gotten to is a measly 200. It’s easy to feel like I’m behind, like I’m not writing quickly enough. Hell, it took me three years to write a 20,000 word novella. Some people write full novels in that time span. Some even write multiple novels.

Then I stop and remind myself: I’ve had other accomplishments during those three years. I earned my PhD. Got my first industry job. Moved to a new city. Worked in physical therapy for two full years to rehab a chronic injury. Wrote not one, not two, not three, but four PuzzledPint sets.

Part of the reason why I’m slow is because I have so many varied interests. After all, trying new hobbies is my favorite hobby. And I believe that though it makes me slower (less time for writing), it also makes my stories better, adding new experiences and new perspectives to my worldview.

Another one of the reasons why I’m a slow writer is because I find it very difficult to turn off my inner editor; most of the time, it’s much more appealing to me to spend twenty minutes revising and niggling away at a single sentence instead of generating more sentences to work with. Now that I’m aware of this, I’m trying to get better about not editing while writing. After all, what’s the point of crafting the perfect sentence if it might not even make it into the second draft?

Occasionally, I find myself wishing that I could write faster, wishing that I could be more productive and get more done. But I try to remind myself: it’s not a race. As long as I’m still having fun, all I need to do is focus on the page before me and keep on typing, one word at a time.