The idea of slow creativity and slowing down in our content creation has been on my mind for a while, and my thoughts were really solidified by a talk from the amazing Ann Handley at this year’s Atomicon. In her incredible talk, Ann argued against speed and efficiency as the ultimate arbiters of marketing and content efforts. While speed matters sometimes, in many cases it’s a trap that keeps business owners and marketers trapped in a cycle of mediocre content, virality chasing, and quick wins over deep work and long-term results.
If you have even a passing familiarity with my work, you’ll know that I am a loud and proud generative AI hater.
One of the most common arguments I hear in favour of gen-AI is “but it’s just so fast!”
And yes, gen-AI is fast. It allows people to generate blog posts, photorealistic (if you don’t look too closely) imagery, and increasingly hard-to-detect video clips in seconds. It requires no technical skills, no artistic talent, and only the barest bones of an idea. It’s dirt-cheap or even free to end users (because the environment, unseen and exploited workers, and creative professionals whose work has been stolen are paying the price.)
But setting aside the issue of whether efficiency is worth the cost (spoiler, it’s not), there’s another question I want you to sit with today: is that really a good thing?
When, and why, did we decide speed was the ultimate factor in the act of creation?
It’s Not Just About AI: The Curse of “I Need It Yesterday Lol”
This issue is a little bit about AI, but it’s something that existed before the AI-pocalypse and can be seen even in businesses and marketing teams that don’t use AI at all.
It’s really about the underlying and often unspoken philosophy that faster is better, that more is always needed, and that quantity is more important than quality.
I don’t subscribe to these beliefs and I invite my clients to question whether they want to subscribe to them.
While I truly believe there’s no such thing as a copywriting emergency, sometimes content needs to be delivered fast. I understand that. If you’re a client who truly needs a speedy turnaround, I’ll do everything I can to make it work for you.
But if you want my fastest possible work, you’re probably not getting my best possible work.
If you want a 2000 word blog post by tomorrow, I’ll burn the midnight oil and finish it for you. And the result will be fine. It’ll be clean, grammatically correct, fact-checked content that does what you need it to do. I’m good at my job and even on my worst days, anything I give you will be a thousand times better than whatever ChatGPT can spit out.
But if you give me just a few more days? You’ll get something that really sparkles. I’ll have the time and brain-space to mull over your project, let ideas percolate like coffee in the Moka pot I use on luxuriously slow mornings, play around in your voice, and try some things out to see what works best.
True Creativity Takes Time
Read that again, then read it a third time just for fun.
Creativity takes time.
Whenever we’re trying to create something, our first ideas are rarely our best ideas. Those first ideas aren’t necessarily “wrong.” They might be perfectly serviceable. But when we slow down and allow our amazing, magnificent, creative minds to do their thing, magic can happen.
I can’t count how many times I’ve been stuck on a tricky passage in my PhD thesis, my work-in-progress novel, or a client project, only to have the answer come to me when I step away from the screen. Taking a walk, taking a shower, making a cup of tea, or calling a friend are all clichéd solutions to writers’ block because they work.
I understand that when there are targets to hit and sales to make and senior leadership teams to keep happy, it can feel like anything is better than nothing. But that isn’t always true. In fact, nothing can tank credibility and brand reputation quicker than low-quality or poorly-considered content that was rushed through.
Magic Can Happen When We STFD
(That’s “slow the F down,” FYI!)
When I’m not writing, one of the hobbies that consumes a lot of my time (and money) is fibre arts. And yes, there have been occasions when I’ve finished crocheting a shawl an hour before the wedding I want to wear it to. I’ve also spent long, peaceful sessions with nothing but a good audiobook, my cat sleeping next to me, and the feeling of yarn in my hands. I can tell you which one is more fun and which one ultimately results in the work I’m proudest of.
That’s why I roll my eyes when crafting influencers brag about how many pieces they made this month as though we’re all in some competition we never signed up for. Creating should be about the experience of creating, not just the end result.
Endless streams of fast content are depriving people of the joys and benefits of the creative journey.
I don’t write just to have content to give to my clients so I can get paid, any more than I craft just to get to the finished garment.
The process is the joy. The process is the point.
Whether you’re a creative person or the client of one, I’d like to challenge you to try slowing down. Instead of focusing on how much you (or the creative person you’ve hired) can churn out and how quickly, pause for long enough to appreciate the act of creating. I promise that the end result will be so much better for it.
Slow(er) Content With a Heart
If you’re looking for a writer to create soul-driven content for your brand, business, or project, you’re in the right place.
I’m here for the intentional process, the “what if we tried…?”, the middle-of-the-night flashes of inspiration.
I’m here for the heartfelt and the real.
I’m here for genuine creativity that takes a little time.
Let’s talk?
P.S. The link to Atomicon is an affiliate link, which means that I make a small commission at no extra cost to you if you use it to buy a ticket!
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