The Art of Slow Writing by Louise DeSalvo (St. Martin’s Griffith, 2014) is an insightful, slow read for beginning writers. DeSalvo holds your hand and walks with you through the process of brainstorming, planning, writing, revising, and letting go of a book. By the end, you will almost feel like you’ve been through the process with a book of your own.
It will challenge you to let go of false pretensions about what a writing life entails. DeSalvo rips back the glossy cover of a new release so we can see the sweat and tears that go into writing books behind the scenes. She emphasizes the difference between beginners and well-seasoned writers, between writing pages and turning them into a book. To give her book a solid place to stand on, DeSalvo uses examples from the writing lives of other published writers, pulling most often from her life’s work on Virginia Woolf. The book drags in some places and many chapters overlap, but she always manages to introduce a new idea in each chapter.
I think the best way to show you the benefits of reading this book is to show you the wealth it holds in its pages. DeSalvo divides the book into six parts: “Getting Ready to Write,” “A Writer’s Apprenticeship,” “Challenges and Successes,” “Writers at Rest,” “Building a Book, Finishing a Book,” and “Beginning Again.”
In “Getting Ready to Write,” DeSalvo sets the foundation for the book by shattering any notions that a writing life is an easy one. She talks about finding a writing process, why it’s essential, and the fact that natural talent is not enough: “It takes daily, deliberate practice to become a proficient writer” (37).
In “A Writer’s Apprenticeship,” DeSalvo talks about the period of time a writer must go through where they seek guidance from other writers by studying their work, by reading books like The Art of Slow Writing and keeping a process journal of their own writing. According to DeSalvo, it takes time to create something radical, and “if we let ourselves work…long enough until our work surprises us, startles us…we, too, might create a singular, authentic, powerful work of art” (114).
“Challenges and Successes” is all about the most challenging parts of the writing life – failure in the middle, doubt, and rejection letters – and how to keep going. DeSalvo shows us that creative problem solving can take time, years even, and learning to work through these challenges is a huge part of becoming a writer.
In “Writers at Rest,” DeSalvo reminds us all that constant work is not good for our creative selves. We need time to rest and rejuvenate. She says, “If we spend time away from writing, we’ll find our work more satisfying, we’ll find we’re more inspired when we return to work…and we’ll be able to more easily determine what needs doing” (176).
“Building a Book, Finishing a Book,” is probably the most insightful section because it goes into detail on what it really takes to finish a book. DeSalvo tackles big topics like how long it takes to write a book, how to determine the structure of your work, finding the strength to get through the creative problems, revision, and how to decide when your book is actually done.
One passage that particularly struck me in this section was in the sub-section, “The Finish Line.” Desalvo talks about a painting class she attended where her instructor, David Boyd, took a canvas and began applying strokes of paint. “…as he worked,” DeSalvo writes, “he reflected on the process and said that when we begin a work of art, anything is possible. But that with each successive stroke, the possibilities become more limited, until, by the end – the most difficult stage – we have relatively few choices because the universe of the work has been defined” (267).
It is the same way with a piece of writing, and this drove the point home for me that finishing a book doesn’t get easier as we become more experienced because each work is a piece of art in its own right. Nothing like it has ever or will ever exist, and if you persist through the challenges and make decisions about the direction of your work (and understand that sometimes, you’ll make the wrong decisions and have to go back), the piece will show you how to write it.
The last section, “Beginning Again,” reminds beginning writers that finishing a work is not always easy, and it’s not always a celebration. Sometimes, letting a piece go and deciding whether to start anew or take a break is so difficult that some writers never finish a work so that they never have to part with it.
DeSalvo is a joy to read because her voice is gentle but firm, compassionate and wise. She’s been there, and she really wants you to be successful too. She’s one of the few who think there’s plenty of room for all writers in the writing world. This book is her way of stepping over to make a little room for you on the platform, so don’t miss the train. But if you do, no worries: there will be another.
The Write Hodge Podge 