Water it and let it grow

For such a loquacious guy I've developed a dangerous writing habit. I don't know if it's a fear of outrageous copying costs or the constant critique I keep hearing that a lot of the workshop stories could be cut shorter (or at least less wordy), but I'm choking my stories trying to keep them under 3,000 words long.
I haven't been putting as much time into my writing as I'd like to, and one thing I have wanted to do is compile the good advice I'm hearing in the workshop. The best advice I think I've gotten regarding my own writing is to "water it and let it grow."
This isn't something I'd advertise as a writing maxim, because not all writers have the same style of getting a story down on paper. When I started writing in my youth I cranked out thousands of words and the only revision I ever did vas fix spelling and punctuation errors. When I decided to give writing a serious effort last year I still cranked out thousands of words and learned the importance of editing the story as a whole. Somewhere along the line I learned to make things very short. Too short for the way I use the language to tell a story.
Don't get me wrong, I love crafting vignettes under 1,000 words. They're my poetry. But when I want to tell a good tale, I need to water it, and let it grow.

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Another joy of writing comes prom the pen. I found myself sitting in a tire store waiting on my car and had to edit one of my stories with a pen. It was a wonderful experience. Now I find myself writing a first draft on the computer, then I clean up that draft and let my wife read it. Then I grab my favorite fountain pen and sit in another room next to a window and write a whole lot more.
It may be this way right now because 1) the office is a mess, and 2) my Dvorak typing speed is still under 30 WPM and my fingers can't keep up with my thoughts.