Half a Million Words and Counting

Some of you probably remember how I used to write a million words a year. I did that for 17 straight years, in fact, and usually posted on the blog when I reached that milestone. Then, a few years ago, for various reasons, the streak came to an end. Since then, however, I’ve never done less than half a million words a year, and since that seems like a worthwhile accomplishment, I thought I’d mention that I hit that mark yesterday.

I’ve also made noises about retiring on numerous occasions, but I came closer than ever before to doing that for next year. My age is starting to catch up to me, health-wise. It wouldn’t be actual retirement, of course. I’d still write books, but only ones that I intended to self-publish, nothing with contracts and deadlines involved. But when I mentioned that to the editor on the ghosting job I’ve been doing for many years now, she prevailed on me to do a few more books next year, and then Gary Goldstein, a good friend for more than 35 years and the editor who has bought more of my books than anybody else, became the editorial director at Dusty Saddle Publishing and asked me to write a few books for him, and I couldn't say no. So I went from the prospect of semi-retirement to having contracts and deadlines at two separate publishers next year. That adds up to, you guessed it, about half a million words. So I guess I’ll press on for a while yet. My current novel is the 432nd I’ve written, and I’d sure like to get to #450 . . .