Slowing Down Has Its Benefits

Slowing Down Has Its Benefits by Debra H. Goldstein

Recently, I had surgery. It ended up neither as extensive as expected nor as painful as predicted (Tylenol and a few muscle relaxers took care of everything for the first few days). Recovery has gone very well as I’ve worked to be a model patient – walking, drinking water, being kind to myself, and pacing my return to my regular Energizer Bunny status. Still, there are restrictions, including no lifting over ten pounds or flying for eight weeks. 

Being forced to slow down has had some benefits. I’ve read a book from my TBR pile each day or two days since I stopped taking the muscle relaxers, become a pro at doing online jigsaw puzzles up to 300 pieces in an amazingly quick amount of time, gotten ahead on some of my behind-the-scenes-blog obligations, printed out lots of short story calls, caught up on my backlog of magazines, and made notes on the two longer pieces I’m working on. I’ve also enjoyed leisurely visits from friends (who, based upon the cookies and other treats they have brought, know how much I enjoy chocolate) and, of course, the grandkids (I did have to take a nap after the first one of those). 

What I haven’t done is much actual writing. It isn’t a matter of writer’s block or post-surgery brain fog, but more of the need to slowly think things through respecting the pieces I’m working on. It has been exciting to consider different approaches to what I’m writing. The result is that what I have produced has been more thoughtful and I think better written. 

For example, I had a short story, “Musicians of Bremen,” published in early June in the Wish Upon a Crime anthology edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson. Each story in the book is inspired by a fairy tale. In my case, I took the characteristics of the four animal characters from the original story and transferred them into the four main human characters of my tale, which incorporates the Holocaust, October 7th, and the Violins of Hope project. After my surgery, Art Taylor allowed me to explain my process for coming up with the story in his wonderful “The First Two Pages” blog ( https://arttaylorwriter.com/2026/06/23/the-first-two-pages-musicians-of-bremen-by-debra-h-goldstein/  ) In writing my piece, I realized that slowing down the story and the action before reaching a big bang instead of beginning with the bang is what makes this story all the more powerful. (true confession: I think it is one of my best stories).

It’s funny, but in writing the blog for Art, I understood that the slower process of my recovery is much like the analysis necessary to make my work better. Consequently, although I’m not writing as much per day, I’m much more satisfied with the words I’m producing.

Have you ever found that slowing down helps you produce a better product whether it’s writing or something else in your life? 

Thinking About the First Two Pages

By Shari Randall

Short story writer and novelist B.K. Stevens debuted her blog series “The First Two Pages” in 2015. Bonnie asked short story writers and novelists to analyze the openings of their own work, sharing their approach and techniques for tackling some of the writer’s most challenging real estate.

I met Bonnie at Malice. In the way of conferences, we had a couple of quick conversations that I remember for Bonnie’s deep intelligence and wit. We had things in common – we both had two girls of the same ages, and one of my daughters went to Boston College, where Bonnie and her husband studied. I enjoyed her and knew I’d be looking for her at the next conference.

It was not to be. Bonnie passed away, too soon, in 2017.

Writer, editor, professor, and dad extraordinaire Art Taylor took the reins of “The First Two Pages” after Bonnie’s untimely passing, hosting the feature on his blog, continuing to provide a forum for writers to share the techniques, tricks, and thought processes that went into the crafting of their first two pages.

Art invited some writers of stories in the new Chesapeake Crimes anthology, Fur, Feathers, and Felonies to tackle the First Two Pages assignment. My look at the first two pages of my new story, “Pet,” will run tomorrow.

I won’t lie. Writing my “First Two Pages” essay was a challenging assignment. I felt thrown back into freshman English class, thinking about my own writing in a way I haven’t since college. Art asks writers to “focus on the strategy you used in the passage you quote, explaining what you were trying to accomplish.” He also asks writers to address issues like hooking the reader and handling backstory.

To prepare, I scrolled through several blogs in the archives, admiration growing as I read each essay. Admiration grew into a sense of shared purpose. Writing beginnings is hard, especially for a short story. So much has to be done with so few words: introduce characters, setting, conflicts, tone. Seeing how diverse writers, including many friends from the WWK blog, have tackled this assignment and their first two pages was not only like taking a dozen mini master classes, it was reassuring. Writing the first two pages is a challenge for writers at all stages of the writing journey.

Do you have any tips for writing the first two pages of a story?

Archive of Bonnie’s website: http://www.bkstevensmysteries.com/category/the-first-two-pages/

Link to Art Taylor’s First Two Pages site: http://www.arttaylorwriter.com/category/the-first-two-pages/