Slow and Easy by Liz Flaherty

One of the things that has happened to me as I've gone along is that everything has slowed down. I used to write so fast--it wasn't always good, but it was fast--and now I'm thrilled with 500-word days. No, actually, I'm thrilled with 300-word days. Sigh. 

Reading has slowed just as much. I've gone from reading several books a week to finishing a couple a month. I may start more than a couple, but I don't always finish them. With slowness comes lack of focus. I skim a lot. I don't do justice to the people who put their hearts and souls into their work. Be assured it's me, not them.

But every now and then...

My friend Margie Senechal, one of the charter members of the Word Wranglers blog, has a recently finished manuscript called Suitcases. She honored me by asking me to be a beta reader of the story. I'd read pieces of it during the writing of it, but sometimes...sometimes you need the whole thing. 

I don't use the word honored lightly. 

Suitcases isn't what I normally read, but, you know, I can--for a friend. There is the indisputable fact that a part of me wanted to love this book simply because I love Margie, but it went well beyond that. Analisa and Danny grabbed hold of me and didn't let go until I'd read the last words of their story.

It made me happy not just because it's Margie's story or because, voila, I finished a book, but because even though the reading was slow, the pleasure was as intense as it's always been. 

It made me think about writing--doesn't everything? I realized that even though I don't write fast anymore, that particular pleasure...the one that comes with creation and spending quality time with friends no one but you knows yet...is just as intense as it always was. Just as exciting. 

Thanks, Margie, for the honor and for making me remember how much I love both reading and writing. And being slow is just fine.