Grievances Before Thanks

A common compliant that I see with my books is that some readers find them to be 'too slow.' Though, I shouldn't feel upset about that, because reading reviews of other books, award winning pieces of fantastic literature, I see the same 'too slow' criticism popping up. It's almost as if any book that isn't filled with twists at every chapter, or bursting with plot, is labeled too slow.

Anything that requires one to think these days is 'slow.' Anything to values the language of a story and an intimacy with character as much as plot, is 'slow.' And when did reading become a race anyway? Perhaps since people started setting online goals of how many books they are going to read in a year, or tracking the progress of their page count as they read. One of the great things about books as opposed to film is that they allow you you're own time within the story. Some readers actually value that quality.

I will continue to write 'slow' books because I believe in order to capture the terrible beauty of life requires attention to detail.