Jet or Snail

My husband made fun of me a few days ago. I bought new running shoes, expensive shoes because I have old knees and I need good shoes. They felt so wonderful on that first day out on the road. I returned home after an hour's run (dripping sweat, not a pretty picture) and told my husband I ran fast and felt great in my pretty new footgear. He laughed and said steady might be a better description than fast. Okay, so I resembled more a snail crawling through peanut butter than a world class marathoner, but the pace felt perfect for me at my present stage of life.

Our pace at many things changes at different stages of life and career.  Seven years after my first publishing contract, I write much faster (and I hope better) than I did all those years ago. I was satisfied with finishing one novel during those early years of being a writer. Now I'm trying for four per year. It's the pace that fits me now.

Can you write a novel in one month? Two months? One year? Four years? I feel more comfortable every day with my pace as I settle into being a full time writer. When I was working on the day job full time and as my children grew up, I'd advanced to a two novels per year pace. But those were first drafts. There was still a lot of editing and rewrites to be done. Being comfortable and enjoying the journey is part of the fun of being a writer. There's plenty or room in this world for jets and snails.

In case you're worried about young people and the state of reading and writing in our society, let me introduce you to a young man, a teenager actually, who is celebrating some of his short, short stories being published. Patrick Stahl's drabble titled, Trying to Make a Living is featured on Specklit. I hope you'll stop by and leave a comment for Patrick. He's a very cool young man and a gifted writer.

Every write a drabble? Are you comfortable with your writing pace? Has it changed over the course of your career? Ever see a snail gliding through peanut butter?