We live in a speed-obsessed civilization. Whatever it is we crave—cars, trains, electronics, food, dates—we want them ever-faster-and-furiouser. In fact, much of the developed world seems to be engaged some turbocharged drag race of the soul, hurtling our frenzied selves from cradle to grave, terrified of slowing for even a minute of rose-smelling.

So here we are in National Novel Writing Month, when much of the writing community is turning out fiction at rate of speed never imagined by our pre-electronic-age foreparents. NaNoWriMo can do great things for a lot of writers and help them take their craft to the next level. A number of excellent, bestselling books have started as NaNo projects, and I do recommend it for writers who need to overcome blocks and “creativity wounds.”

If you’re participating, you’re probably here on the fly, champing at the bit to get back to that brilliant WIP. Go do it! And congrats.

But turning out a novel in a month doesn’t work for all of us. Today I’m writing for the people who have tried NaNo and failed to “win” (winning means reaching the 50,000 word mark by November 30th.) Or maybe you’ve never had a desire to join, in spite of the exhilaration and encouragement many people find in it.

I’m talking to other slow writers like me.

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