Challenge,  On Writing

Six Decades

January 3, 2020 /

Now I Officially Feel Old…

Thanks to the great writer Mel Odom, who pointed out on a post that he will have published in five decades when his new book comes out later this month, I was forced to do the same calculation.

Sigh…

When my next book (a large collection of 33 stories) is published on January 15th, I will have been published in six decades.

I think I have that count right.

1 — Published my first short stories in 1974, and forty or fifty poems to literary magazines, so that counts the 1970s.

2 — Published a ton of stories and my first novel in 1988.

3 — Published a ton of short stories and lots of traditional novels in the 1990s.

4 — A bunch more short stories and another ton of books in the 2000s.

5 — And I published more than a hundred books in the 2010s, plus short stories.

6— So now in January comes the first book of the 2020s.

By my count, this will be my 6th decade of publishing work professionally.

Screw it, I’m still young. I’m going for 10 decades while still alive. (My friend and mentor Jack Williamson did 9 decades.)

And I want to do about seventeen decades before my stuff hits the public domain.

It’s possible. Excuse me while I go get some exercise in. Got to stay in shape if I’m going to make that goal.

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