Not So Fast – It’s
a Marathon, Not a Sprint
by Robert J. Daniher
How many times
have you tried to write a story, novel, poem, article and given up after a few
days because things weren’t going the way you thought they would? The
plot wasn’t working out, the characters didn’t come alive, or maybe you just
got…bored. After all, this writing thing is supposed to happen overnight
– right? I mean, who has time to wait around for an idea to develop on
the page? Didn’t Steinbeck write “The Grapes of Wrath” in just a few
months?
Some time ago I
had the pleasure of meeting one of my favorite short story writers, Robert
Lopresti. A prolific award-winning writer, Mr. Lopresti’s fiction has
appeared in many magazines and anthologies. He also reviews short fiction
on his weekly blog: http://lbcrimes.blogspot.com/
. But most importantly, he began his illustrious career as a page at the
Berkeley Heights Public Library. One of his shining moments while at the
library was surviving a nasty run-in with a falling bookcase of
Biographies. There’s a nasty rumor going
around that he accidentally pulled it down himself, but you didn’t hear that
from me. In late 2012 Mr. Lopresti was
passing through NJ on his way to receive the Black Orchid Novella Award from
the Nero Wolfe Society and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine when I met him for
the first time.
“You have such a
prolific body of work. How long does it
take you to finish a story?” I asked, expecting him to say a week or a month.
“Oh, sometimes
years,” he said.
Years? Could
that be? I think he was half-joking, but there is some truth to
that. Sometimes, you need to put a draft away for a little while so you
can come back to it with fresh eyes to revise. Junot Diaz spent 7 years
on “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Woa”, and that won the Pulitzer. French
poet, Paul Valery said, “A poem’s never finished, only abandoned.” So, if your idea is taking a little longer
than expected to germinate into the novel of your dreams, don’t rush it.
Think of writing as a marathon, not a sprint.
END
Bob, that was no rumor. I was sitting on the floor and tried to use the shelves to pull myself up. Turned out they weren't attached to the wall. This would have been circa 1970. I am a librarian now, which probably means the crash did permanent damage to my head. Thanks for the mention!
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