In response to my recent post about my November 30-day Writing with Pleasure Challenge, subscriber Tineke D'Haeseleer wrote:
I am so happy to hear about your alternative to the madness of NaNoWriMo and its derivatives. In the art world (and particularly on Instagram), #inktober is the big "draw every day" equivalent that sends everybody scurrying for their inks and pens and paper. Since a few years, there is a follow-up art challenge called #slowvember (initiated by illustrator Lee White), where you spend an entire month on the same piece of art. It's aimed to counter the productivity hype and savour the slow process of discovering what you really want to say with that art.
So what might Slowvember look like for writers? Participants in writing challenges already tend to work on the same piece of writing all month. But their goal is volume and velocity, not the acquisition of new skills or the slow wonder of discovery.
As any serious athlete knows – and as Aesop's patient tortoise taught the hasty hare – sometimes you have to slow down to move forward. In the words of authorAnne Lamott, "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."
Here are a few suggestions for slowing down your writing this Slowvember and beyond:
Read. Virtually any book can help you become a more contemplative and craft-focused writer. You might want to start by choosing one that has the word slow in the title: for example, The Art of Slow Writing by Louise de Salvo or The Slow Professor by Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeger.
Relish. The more you enjoy writing, the more you'll write. My 30-day Writing with Pleasure Challenge provides you with prompts for writing with pleasure every day throughout November. It's not too late to slow down and join us!
Retreat. I know of no better way to unplug and reset than by treating yourself to a writing retreat, preferably in a beautiful location and in the company of fellow writers. Speaking of which – here are my 2023 writing retreats: Island Time on Waiheke Island in New Zealand and Mountain Rise in Wengen, Switzerland. Something to look forward to even in the cold November rain!
This Slowvember, why not set yourself the delicious challenge of moving forward by slowing down?