Writing is a Long Slow Process

I'm finding just about everything associated with writing a long and slow process.  This is certainly true of the drafts I'm writing.  Of course, I'm writing novels consisting of thousands of words.  I would expect that.  But the revision process is a slow process too.  Revising my first novel took about two months and revising the second novel will not win any awards for speed either.

Publishing and releasing the novels also takes time as well.  Oh uploading the files is easy and fast, sure.  But getting all the files so they come out right is a huge time sink.  I thought I'd have everything in place to self-publish by the end of August or September but here in November, I'm still fussing with the artwork of the hard cover version of Aure, the Topaz.

Getting responses back from publishers has always been (and continues to be) a process measured in weeks and months.  I don't think that will ever change and I'm not suggesting that publishers rush their evaluations of submitted work.  I'm just noting that here again, there is a long process associated with writing.

Hearing back from readers and reviewers is always time-intensive. too.  It usually takes months (or ever) to hear anything.  Maybe I'm dealing with slow readers or infrequent readers and others don't have this problem, but this is my experience.

And to be clear, I'm not complaining about any of this.  I do, however, find it ironic that in an age of instant messages, tweets, and information overload that the writing process, while it has speed up from the days of typing out drafts on paper, is still comparatively slow.  And I have to wonder why?  Is this one reason why it took so long for e-book readers to catch on?  Is there an inherent lethargy with books and writing?

I don't have the answers to these questions but based on empirical evidence I would say yes.  Which then begs the question, what does that say about us? That art should not be rushed?  I would argue that the creation process cannot be rushed.  But I think that since we have such a glut of things to read the time it takes to go to market does not matter.  Also, I'm finding that what's important is not the time to market but the promotion afterwards that makes all the difference.