63. How to Find Your Sustainable Pace: Slow Writing in a Fast World

There's something happening to us writers right now, isn't there? The algorithms reward, consistency. The platform's demand content, and somewhere in the rush we've started to believe that faster means better. That value comes from volume, that our worth as creators is measured in word counts and publishing schedules.

If you've been feeling the pressure of creating faster, publishing more, and somehow keeping up with the relentless pace of the digital world. This episode is my gift to you.

Website | Substack

Transcript

TWW EP 63 - Slow Writing in a Fast World

[00:00:00] Nicole Meier: There's something happening to US writers right now, isn't there? The algorithms reward, consistency. The platform's demand content, and somewhere in the rush we've started to believe that faster means better. That value comes from volume, that our worth as creators is measured in word counts and publishing schedules.

[00:00:22] Nicole Meier: If you've been feeling the pressure of creating faster, publishing more, and somehow keeping up with the relentless pace of the digital world. This episode is my gift to you.

[00:00:39] Nicole Meier: Welcome to the whole writer. A place where we talk about what it means to show up as a writer, not just a better writer, or a more productive writer, or a published writer. But a whole one, someone who's grounded in their voice, in their community, in their creative path, even when the world tells them to hustle, compare, or conform.

[00:01:00] Nicole Meier: I'm Nicole Meier, a multi published author and book coach. Who believes that nurturing the person behind the page is just as important as refining the words on it. Each week we'll explore the terrain of writing life with honesty, warmth, and practical wisdom, creating space for you to write from a place of wholeness rather than depletion.

[00:01:20] Nicole Meier: Whether you're drafting your first manuscript or publishing your fifth book, you'll find conversation and companionship for the journey here. So settle in, bring your questions and your curiosity, and let's discover what it means to write and live with authenticity and purpose. Well, hello, beautiful souls and welcome to the podcast.

[00:01:44] Nicole Meier: If you didn't catch last week's episode, we have a new name, the whole writer. And did you also know that each podcast episode comes with a companion letter? Over on my substack. You can find access to new and archived posts by subscribing. Just visit Nicole Meier writes on Substack, or check out the link in today's podcast show notes.

[00:02:07] Nicole Meier: I'd love to have you join us over in our creative community. All right. It's just you and me today finding our quiet corner in this noisy world. I'm so grateful you're here taking this time for yourself and for your creativity. And today I wanna talk to you about something that's been on my mind lately.

[00:02:26] Nicole Meier: And this is the gentle art of slowly writing in a world that seems to value only speed and productivity. If you've been feeling the pressure of creating faster, publishing more, and somehow keeping up with the relentless pace of the digital world, this episode is my gift to you. There's something happening to US writers right now, isn't there?

[00:02:48] Nicole Meier: The algorithms reward consistency, the platforms demand content, and somewhere in the rush we've started to believe that faster means better. That value comes from volume. Our worth as creators is measured in word counts and publishing schedules. I felt it myself in recent months. I was trying to finish three different projects, maintain my newsletter, and still have something meaningful to share on the podcast.

[00:03:16] Nicole Meier: My writing started to feel mechanical. The joy was seeping out, and I realized one morning staring at a half a finished draft that felt nothing like me, that I was riding at a pace that wasn't sustainable for my soul. Here's what I've come to understand. When we rush our writing, we aren't just racing through a task, we're rushing past ourselves.

[00:03:42] Nicole Meier: That's pretty powerful. If you stop and think about it. We are rushing past ourselves, past the moments of insight that require stillness past the connections our minds make when given space to wander pass the very experiences that make our writing worth reading in the first place. So by doing a little online research, I learned that we're living in the age of what sociologists call accelerated time.

[00:04:10] Nicole Meier: Oof. Everything is speeding up the news cycle, content consumption, even the way we communicate. This kind of makes my throat tighten up just talking about it. Do you feel the same? But it's true. Have you noticed how impatient we've become with long emails or social media posts? Or have we've started to feel guilty about taking a day to respond to a message.

[00:04:33] Nicole Meier: Side note, I'm horrible about this in the sense that I can't stand to have unread emails in my inbox. I really envy those people who can. However, this acceleration has the danger of seeping into our creative lives. If we feel like we should be able to produce a novel in 90 days, hello Instagram ads telling us that we can or launch a successful blog in three weeks, or build a platform overnight.

[00:05:01] Nicole Meier: We see other writers seemingly doing it all and push ourselves to match their pace, but creativity has its own timeline. Ideas need incubation, words need to breathe. Stories need to unfold at their natural rhythm, and perhaps most importantly. Writers need rest. I think what we forgot is that many of the works we most treasure the literary fiction that sustained readers for centuries, the engaging novels that left an imprint on our hearts weren't rushed into existence to, uh, beat a publishing schedule or capitalize on a trend.

[00:05:40] Nicole Meier: They emerged from a different kind of relationship with time. From writers who honored the natural pace of their creative process. I remember when I first started writing seriously, I would sit with a single paragraph for days turning the sentences over, like stones in a river, watching how the light changed their appearance.

[00:06:01] Nicole Meier: There was a reverence in that slow attention, a kind of listening, but somewhere along the way, well, pretty soon into my writing, if I'm being totally honest. I started to believe that that wasn't enough, that I needed to produce more faster to beat the competition or worse beat myself. That slow, intentional pace was somehow a failure rather than a strength.

[00:06:27] Nicole Meier: Maybe you felt this too, this quiet shame around taking your time. This sense that everyone else is racing ahead while you're still lingering over a single chapter or a single poem. I wanna tell you something I wish I had told myself earlier years ago. Your pace is perfect. Your relationship with time and creativity is uniquely yours, and slowing down isn't just okay.

[00:06:56] Nicole Meier: It might be the most radical and necessary act for your writing life right now. When we write slowly, we write differently. We notice more. We make connections that speed doesn't allow for. We develop intimacy with our subjects and our sentences. We leave room for our unconscious mind to offer its gifts, and there are gifts in there.

[00:07:21] Nicole Meier: I promise you. Slow writing also means sustainable writing. It's a difference between a creative practice that burns bright and burns out, and one that can accompany you through the seasons of your life. Through illness and health, through busy periods and quiet ones, and through grief and joy. Okay? Think about the children's book, the Tortoise and the Hare.

[00:07:45] Nicole Meier: We know how that story ends, right? The one who moves steadily, who honors their natural pace is the one who completes the journey. The one who can look back and say, I did it my way, and I'm still here. Still creating, still finding joy in the path. So how do we reclaim a slower pace in our writing lives?

[00:08:05] Nicole Meier: How do we resist the cultural pressure to produce consistently? First, I think we need to redefine productivity. True productivity isn't measured in word count or pages. It's measured in meaningful engagement with our work. I'm gonna say that again. It's measured in meaningful engagement with our work. In the depth of our thinking, in the authenticity of our expression.

[00:08:32] Nicole Meier: Some days, staring out the window and letting your mind wander is the most productive thing you can do for your writing. Some days, taking a walk instead of forcing yourself to sit at the desk is exactly what your story needs. And I know that sounds counterintuitive in our hustle culture. Believe me, if anyone knows it's me, but I'm asking you to trust me on this one.

[00:08:54] Nicole Meier: Second, we need to create boundaries around our creative time. The world will take as much of us as we give it, and I can't tell you how many writers I've coached over the years who've allowed people and pets to literally trample through their creative quiet time due to the lack of gentle boundaries.

[00:09:16] Nicole Meier: So I believe we need to deliberately protect spaces where slowness is allowed. Where we can enter that timeless state that creativity requires. For me, that means no device is while writing, it means telling everyone under my roof that I'm unavailable for a set amount of time. It means saying no to opportunities that would force me to write at a pace that feels wrong for the work.

[00:09:42] Nicole Meier: So ask yourself, what might it look like for you? All right. Third, we need to find our community of slow creators. The people who understand and value this approach, who don't ask when's that book going to be finished? With that note of impatience or expectation, who celebrate the careful cultivation of ideas rather than just their harvesting.

[00:10:07] Nicole Meier: I'd like to share a couple of exercises that have helped me embrace a slower, more intentional writing practice, and maybe they'll resonate with you too. Exercise number one. Let's call this the daily sentence. Instead of pressuring yourself to write pages or meet a word count, commit to crafting just one beautiful, truthful sentence each day.

[00:10:29] Nicole Meier: That's it. One sentence that feels completely right, that says exactly what you mean and exactly the way you wanna say it. Spend as much time or as little on this sentence as you want. Read it out loud. Feel how it sits in your body. Adjust it until it rings true. But remember, this isn't about perfectionism.

[00:10:49] Nicole Meier: It's just about the joy of it. Then let it be enough for the day. What happens over time is remarkable. Not only do you develop a keener ear for language, but you also build a collection of perfectly crafted sentences, touchstones you can return to when you're ready to expand your work. Okay, need another exercise.

[00:11:11] Nicole Meier: This second one will call the seasonal project I'm suggesting you choose one writing project that you commit to working on very slowly in alignment with the natural world. So perhaps it's a series of poems about transformation and you write one with each season, allowing the changing landscape to inform your imagery and your themes.

[00:11:33] Nicole Meier: Or maybe it's a short story that you agree with yourself, you'll take a full year to complete. No rushing, no arbitrary deadlines, just steady and seasonal attention. This approach helps us reconnect riding with the natural cycles of growth and rest. It reminds us that creativity isn't factory process, but more like gardening.

[00:11:55] Nicole Meier: There are seasons for planting, for tending, for harvesting, and for letting the soil just be alright. As we start to wrap up our time together today, I want to leave you with this thought. Your writing voice, that unique way you have of seeing the world and putting it into words can't be rushed into existence.

[00:12:18] Nicole Meier: It emerges from patience, from listening, from the slow accumulation of lived experience and careful attention. Fast writing has its place. It really does. There are times when we need to do this to get the words out quickly, to capture something fleeting before it disappears. But as a constant practice, it can disconnect us from the very source of our creativity.

[00:12:43] Nicole Meier: So I invite you. Beautiful, creative. I. To give yourself permission for slowness to trust that your pace is perfect for the work that you're meant to create. To remember that some of the most endearing works of literature took years, even decades to complete. The world may be moving faster, but that doesn't mean your writing has to, in fact, your slow, deliberate words might be exactly the gift, a rushed and distracted world needs most right now.

[00:13:15] Nicole Meier: All right. Until next time, write gently write truthfully and above all, write at the pace that honors both the work and yourself. Thank you for sharing this quiet time with me today, everyone. I'm holding your creative journey in my heart.

[00:13:34] Nicole Meier: If you want to check out my coaching programs for fiction writers, visit nicole meier.com. That's M-E-I-E-R. And if you like this episode, I'd love you to take a minute to leave a rating and review for this podcast. This will help more writers like you to discover the show and to get going on their writing journey.

[00:13:55] Nicole Meier: Thanks so much for listening. Until next time, happy writing everyone.