Classes and Life Rolls

Yes, I've been taking two writing classes this month because even with all my releases, there's always new things to learn. Both of them are through WMG Publishing (aka Dean Wesley Smith and Kris Rusch). Both of them involve adjusting my mindset when it comes to productivity.

Part of the initial coursework in both classes is taking a very real look at your output over the last three to five years.

My best year was 2020: 342,816.

2020 was also the first year out of the last five where I wasn't a full-time parent, plus I didn't have a major life roll until the end of the year. *eyeroll*

I'm keeping my fingers crossed 2022 doesn't have any looming disasters.

The more interesting class involves the old pulp writers of the beginning of the 20th century. Back when they were paid a penny a word (because a penny went much farther in those days), so they wrote. A lot.

And much of it survives and is read to this day. People like Erle Stanley Gardner and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Gardner's goal was writing 1.2 MILLION words a year. That's roughly four times what I write in an average year.

I know I can't do 1.2 million this year, but it's a quota to work towards over the next couple of year.