September 3, 2022

My biggest weakness as a writer is that I don't write very fast. I plod along, editing, revising, stressing over every sentence and word as I go. Hard as I've tried, I've not succeeded in writing a first draft quickly, getting the gist of the plot and ideas on paper (or screen) as efficiently as possible so that I can move on to the process of molding the story and the characters toward a final, readable work. Anyone who's followed me the past few years has heard all this before. So why am I bringing it up again?

Because I'm running out of time.

I have a lot of stories I want to tell, just as I did when I was in my twenties. But I'm not twenty-something anymore. And I've yet to obtain any kind of success as a writer. (I'm not talking strictly monetary success, although that is a part of it. I never expected millions, but at least enough to not have to work a 9-to-5 that sucks the life out of me. But I digress.)

Even if I live into my nineties (less than thirty years away!), I still can't be messing around with nitpicking through outlines and first drafts. I've no more time to dawdle with revision after revision. Hell, nothing I've written has been good enough to warrant the time spent completing it anyway, so I just need to get on with it. Strike while the fire's hot, as they say; those red embers aren't going to keep glowing forever.

With that, I finished the first draft of Rite. In the process, I came to yet another crossroads on my writing journey.

Which I will share next time.

Gordon Gravley

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