Being Prolific

Anyone can write, but not everyone can write. A lot of people think that writing involves a lot of polishing and rewriting. I used to be like that. But, like so many things that we learn when we're younger, the way we think it is doesn't always match up with the way it actually is.

Now, I've self-published three books in less than six weeks. I've had people at work look at me like I'm crazy. And people think that the notion of publishing twenty books in a single year is impossible. "How can you expect to write well when you write so fast?"

Well, it comes down to practice, and persistence. We're used to authors writing one book a year, or maybe two if they have a second series on the go. One of my favorite authors is David Weber; he publishes one book in the Safehold series a year, and the Honor Harrington books now come out even less frequently than that. And that's the normal, 'traditional' way of doing things. But how traditional is it, really?

One of the most eye-opening things I learned was what Dean Wesley Smith had to say about writing speed. The most prolific authors of the first half of the twentieth century wrote in the pulps, and they wrote a LOT of words. Smith describes what he calls 'pulp speed,' talking about writing a million or more words a year. To put it into perspective, the popular series Game of Thrones, through five volumes, runs to a total of 1.7 million words after five books. George R.R. Martin wrote the first book in 1991, and published the fifth book twenty years later. That's an average of 85,000 words a year. To a lot of people, that sounds impressive.

To a pulp writer, that was less than a single month's output. For some of them, that was about two weeks' worth of work.

Personally, I've set a goal of 100,000 words a month. That includes short stories, novellas, and even blog posts, although I'm not publishing those. Is that crazy? Not really. It's just a matter of self-discipline, self-confidence, and unleashing the creative side of the mind to do whatever it wants.

That's going to work out to about 1.2 million words this year. I managed to achieve my goal last year, starting in late July and finishing with over 500,000 words in 2019. That was a great feeling, believe me. And now that I know I've done it already, I'm know I can do it this year, as well. All told, by the end of this year, since starting in late July of 2019, I'm going to have written the equivalent of the entire Game of Thrones series by the start of next year.

I'm not writing this to brag about how awesome I am. I'm not, really. And not everything I write is going to end up published. But a lot of it will, simply because I absolutely love what I'm doing now. I look for new ideas to write. I just keep typing; I'll clean it up later, sure, because nobody's rough first draft is publishing-worthy. But the key to being prolific is to keep moving forward, and that's what I'm doing.

No, I'm writing this to show that it's possible. Not that it's easy; you have to want it. No, you have to need it as much as you need air. And you have to know what your goal is. I set the goal of 20 in 2020 because it's a challenge, because it's demanding. But I also set it because I know, deep in my heart, that I can do it. And, if you're someone who wants to write for a living, or just wants to write because you can't imagine not writing, then you can do it, too.

And if you don't believe that yet, then just keep watching. And check out my page on Amazon; it's going to keep on growing. If you like mysteries, check out the first two Cameron Vail Mysteries, Final Exam and The Missing Magnate. If fantasy is your thing, you might want to take a peek at the Chronicles of Meterra, which start with Book 1, Arrival.