I Made It!!
Eight Years of Daily Blogs…
2,920 days without missing.
Power failures, hospital stays, computer crashes, traveling, moving, too tired to care, and I still did a blog every night.
I started on August 1st, 2012, just about one year after my friend Bill died. I had been blogging before that for years and years in different places, but not daily.
So this streak at the moment stands at 2,920 days. Some days there were more than one blog. No idea how many posts, just days.
I have three distinct kind of blog posts.
— Basic information, or things like that, sort of like this blog tonight. Often filler. Often talking about a Kickstarter or a Workshop or a Bundle.
— Writing blogs about topics that strike me at the time, often those end up as chapters in books. Sometimes just rants.
— Writing challenge blogs, talking about my writing that day and so on when I am in a challenge.
All three types tend to vary and alternate when they happen, depending on what is going on in my life at the time.
Over those eight years, I have published upwards of 250-300 books of different kinds and forms. I might actually try to count them at some point. I count a book if it has my name on the cover meaning I wrote it or edited it. About 50 or so of those books were novels. (I don’t count short story stand alone, but I do count collections.) But I have seldom ever promoted a new book of mine that has come out. I just put them out. I can’t imagine promoting my own books here. I haven’t even updated the lists at the top in a year or more. (I will at some point.)
Don’t believe me, I just had a book come out a few days ago. A Poker Boy Collection called PLAYING A HUNCH and it was in a StoryBundle recently, but just published live.
https://books2read.com/u/4AKd5d
That kind of thing happened for all of the last eight years. I talk about challenge writing, but not what I am publishing.
So it has been an interesting eight years. I might add in this fall in the 9th year of this blog (if I can keep this going) another type of blog post, talking about health and exercise and what I am doing with exercise as I head into my 70th year on this planet. That might be helpful to a few of you, and the rest of you who are in denial about needing to exercise and take care of your health can just skip that day. (grin)
And one more thing. No one ever does a long writing streak on their own. So thanks, Kris, for the billion or so reminders to do my blog. I flat could not have done all these without you.
Tomorrow starts the 9th year of daily blogs. Every day a challenge, and that keeps it fun.
What I Looked Like Writing a Blog Eight Years Ago…
What I Look Like Writing a Blog Now…
21 Comments
Nathan Haines
You made it!
Congratulations. It was a lot of hard work, and you stuck with it and I’ve profited immensely from it. I look forward to the next 8 years!
Harvey
Congratulations, Dean. Onward.
emmiD
Congratulations!
And that intense focus and frazzled hair is a perfect Visual of what writing requires
dwsmith
Nah, just me joking around. Writing is easy. I just sit alone in a room and make shit up and people pay me lots of money for doing that. Trust me, that’s not hard.
Mary Jo Rabe
I hope you choose to continue writing your blog. You have no idea how much it has helped me progress as a writer.
Judy Lunsford
Congrats! Keep the streak going! And I think adding posts about exercise would be a great addition because too many people who spend their lives in front of a keyboard forget how important it is to get up and move. Myself included.
Mark Kuhn
Way to go, Dean!
With your help – finally – I’m writing every day.
Couldn’t have done it without you!
Thank you.
Cynthia Lee
Thanks for all you do, Dean! You’ve made a world of difference in so many lives and careers.
Terry
Just what I needed to hear today! Thanks, Dean. I’m in a workshop now, story due Monday, and with a hurricane coming I’d already rationalized that I couldn’t get it done, have to prep the house for the storm, what if the power goes out, etc.
Steven Pressfield’s ‘resistance’ barreling through my head like a freight train…
If you can blog for 8 straight years, I can find a way to get the story done and in on time.
Thanks again,
Kate Pavelle
That’s a stunning accomplishment. You actually walk the walk, and I don’t know if you realize how rare that is or whether you just take it for granted.
As for the photos, I’m glad I wasn’t drinking over my keyboard! LOL, maybe the fourth blog category could be some kind of Manifesto?
E. R. Paskey
Congratulations, Dean! You made it! Thanks for even starting the streak in the first place–I’ve been reading your blog for the past eight years and I have learned a ton and been so encouraged!
Had to laugh at your *now* picture–what a perfect picture for 2020 and pandemic craziness. *grin*
Martin
Great job, Dean! Your blog was – and will be – at many times very inspirational for me as a writer. Please carry on with your great work and the useful thoughts about this industry.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Congrats, Dean. Watching you do this has been incredibly impressive. I know how tired and sick you were when you wrote some of these blogs, or how distracted, or how busy, and yet you made time every day. Many congrats!!!
Diane Mills
Congrats! Your blogs have helped me get rid of many myths over the years. And helped me to continue to write and publish. Thank you!
Brandy
Congratulations! I’m super impressed and inspired. I deeply appreciate your willingness to stick with your daily posts to share the knowledge in your noggin. Thanks a bunch.
I’m looking forward to reading for the next decade.
Stefon Mears
Congrats, Dean! Well done!
Heather Strickler
Sir, I salute you. You do not know me from Adam, but this is a fine accomplishment. In the time since I have discovered your blogs, your workshops (and lectures and informational books and… all the myriad of other things you put out for aspiring writers) , you have impressed me greatly. Your knowledge has been of great use to me. So I will simply say thank you and well done. For whatever it is worth, I salute you. What you have written has meant much to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Respectfully yours,
Heather Strickler
dwsmith
Thank you, Heather. Means a great deal!
Dave Hendrickson
Congratulations! And love the “after” photo!
Deb
Congrats, Dean! Absolutely LOVE the pics!
Susan
Bhwahahahahaha the pics are hilarious. That is a monumental accomplishment! Go Dean Go! Congrats! What an inspiration!