Slow Is Smooth And Smooth Is Fast

Ah, the late, great Shelby Foote. A prince among historians and storytellers alike. The above quote speaks to all who write, but particularly those who’ve read his series on the American Civil War.

You see, dear reader, that sucker is a TOME, and every bit of it is beautiful.

Foote’s painstakingly crafted words drip off every page as he covers the war in detail, making anything from logistics to personal anecdotes so interesting its hard to put down. It all bestows a subtle nuance to things that would otherwise appear black and white, adding such depth to something as banal as a soldier making his morning coffee it should come as no surprise the man is seen as a national treasure.

One does not simply read Mr. Foote’s series on the Civil War, dear reader. You live it.

And as the man said, he worked at it! He didn’t crank out chapters like he was Stephen King late for a party, no! He took his time, artfully manipulating each word into an experience that would not only take his readers across the events of the war but do so in a way that was both entertaining and poignant enough for his readers to fully appreciative the gravity of each new development.

Too often we as writers focus on the next “milestone” we’ve set for ourselves. We dangle that carrot in front of our own eyes and focus on it to the exclusion of all else.

And that’s wrong, dear reader.

Quality far outweighs quantity and I find it disheartening to see so many aspiring authors (or even those who’ve been published already) taking to the internet to constantly bemoan their having made progress sure, but not enough progress to where they view themselves as succeeding. Far from it and more often than not the failure to meet those arbitrary deadlines often results in their seeing themselves as a complete and utter failure or someone possessing “imposter syndrome.”

Don’t do that, dear reader. Set goals for yourself by all means, and strive for them! But don’t be afraid to acknowledge progress in all its forms. It’s the constant attempts that’s the key and I’d rather take a book by Shelby Foote than some slapdash POS typed up by some idiot with access to wikipedia is all I’m saying.

The man may have died but his body of work remains as a shining testament to the axiom “slow is smooth and smooth is fast.”

At the end of the day, it’s all about consistency and perseverance. You just have to greet each day knowing it does get easier. You have to do it every day which is the hard part, but it does get easier.

Wake up, kick ass, repeat. It’s just that simple and just that hard.

So, if you’re ever feeling down or that you aren’t making enough progress just remember Mr. Foote, dear reader, the man who (ironically) wrote his magnum opus one inch at a time.