Blogging and Bill…
August 21st, 2011…
My close friend, Bill Trojan, book dealer, died suddenly on the last day of the World Science Fiction Convention in Reno. I spent most of the next year working on his estate, which was why I ended up losing the vision in one eye. But I made a promise to Bill to honor what he had spent his life doing, and that was collecting. (Bill was a hoarder, but it is commonly known that you are not a hoarder when you collect books, comics, stamps, coins, art, and very high-priced pulp magazines, even when there is nothing more than a path in your three-bedroom home and in your two-bedroom apartment.)
I got done with most of the estate and the problems he caused not having a valid will by March of 2012. At that point I was trying to find a way back into writing since I had pretty much stopped completely to take care of the estate.
Finally, by the summer, with the help of Kris, I had decided to start Smith’s Monthly in October and I needed some months to write to stay ahead of that monthly pace of 70,000 words per month of short fiction, novels, non-fiction, and you name it.
I also decided to blog every day starting August 1st, 2012.
I hit every month of Smith’s Monthly up until May of 2017, when Kris got so sick and we moved down here. I stared back up the monthly pace in January, 2021 and have not missed an issue yet.
However, the blog, somehow, I managed to maintain, not missing a day of blogging something since August 1st, 2012.
Every day!
Almost ten years now, if I can make it to August. That is 3,650 days minus 50 days until August.
3,600 days of not missing, even when I was sick, even with major power outages, or internet outages or major computer crashes. Or many, many moves to get to this spot. You name it, I managed to get one blog a day done for almost ten years.
That’s about 1.8 million words at an average of 500 words per blog. Approximately. About 180,000 words per year.
In my 70th year I published 70 full books. In the last ten years I have blogged every day without missing a day. And I publish a monthly magazine with 70,000 words of only my stuff in it.
Yes, I am that crazy.
Now to just to blog for 50 more days.
8 Comments
Balázs
Oh, 10 years, it is so long time! I don’t say congrats yet, but it’s pretty awesome what you do — it is for me, who has a hard time to find time to write. Awesome and inspirational. Although I don’t want to copy what you do. At least not the blogging side of things. But I am here now to tell you I like your blog, I like to read your thoughts about topics or learn sommething new from you. Thanks for this.
So cool 🙂
T Thorn Coyle
::claps::
Cynthia Gilbert
*standing ovation*
E. R. Paskey
Congratulations, Dean! That is an outstanding achievement! Hard to believe it’s been that long already.
I first stumbled across you and Kris in April 2011 and I haven’t missed one of your blog posts since. I know I’m not the only writer who has benefited from your willingness to teach and share what you’ve learned.
It’s been a long road full of bumps and overcoming myths and fears, but I’m a much better writer and businesswoman now, thanks to you and Kris. (And I’ve gotten a good look at how much more there is to learn!)
You are very appreciated. Here’s to another ten years. *grin*
dwsmith
Thanks, Emily. Appreciate it.
Desikan
Congratulations Dean !!
You are an inspiration.
Kate+Pavelle
When I discovered you, Kris, and your blogs (via Angie Penrose), you were just starting out with the courses. For years, I have been tuning into your blog in the morning to “get Deanified.”
Thank you for killing the sacred cows, helping me silence that critical voice (or at least muffle it,) and for other tools you and Kris have shared over the years. And craft, of course.
In those years, I grew cocky and supercharged – then deflated and humbled. These things go in seasons, I think, and so does fighting burnout. I incorporated. I have an inventory, documeted and all, and I am trying to figure out how to do business so that I get paid more than coffee money.
The key is to write and publish on a more regular basis again, which is a goal toward which I want to “train” for 2023. I haven’t done the novel challenge yet. Maybe that will be the year for it.
Ten years is a long time doing anything well. Congratulations, and thank you for years of your supportive presence on the other side of our electric grid!
dwsmith
If you have more than 20 or 25 major books out, all under the same name, and still only making coffee money, there more than likely is something else wrong. You are more than likely putting covers to stories, not genres. More than likely your sales copy is all plot and no hype or telling the reader what the book is about. I have not looked at your stuff, but that is in general for everyone.
Tough to check because to the author, it all looks great. Just not connecting to the readers.