And I found myself thinking today that, you know, this isn’t a book you could just dash off in six months. (Though for all I know the author did–I’m really only guessing she didn’t.) My blog reading these days seems full of advice from writers who talk about how being a professional means dashing off a book in six months or so. I know that’s partly the distortion of what I remember from said reading–but even so, it’s good to be reminded of the wondrous things that result from giving a book the time and space to take on layers and texture and depth, too.
Mind you (in the interests of full disclosure), I’ve written books in less than six months (and–once in a fit of insanity and deadline pressure–in six weeks), but it’s been some time now. And when I worry that everything I’m working on now is taking too much time, I need to remind myself that there are books out there like this one, and that not all books want to be fast books, and that indeed, I wouldn’t want to be a reader in a world where they all were.