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Reasons Not to Rush the Writing
Rushing is toxic to flow
“Let this take as long as it takes.”
That is my new mantra. It’s surprisingly relaxing, and a marked shift from trying to pack as much as possible into each day.
We eagerly absorb stories of aggressive schedules, tactics to keep our inboxes clear, and life hacks to get more done every day.
But this rush to be productive can be futile and toxic. “Getting stuff done” isn’t the same as doing the important things.
In writing, true productivity is seeing your work through to the end, and getting it out into the world. Sometimes that requires you to commit to doing less of other things.
Too often, though, we rush through the writing.
Despite our instincts to the contrary, going faster does not make us more productive-in writing, in our other work, or in our lives.
And the rush to be productive is particularly damaging to writing. Here’s why.
We all want to love the writing
I’ve written about finding flow in The Writer’s Process -it’s that state when we are ‘in the zone,’ absorbed in the work, unaware of time passing.
