70 Book Challenge,  Challenge

The 70 @ 70 Project

November 9, 2021 /

THE SUMMARY…

This challenge was to publish 70 major books from my 70th birthday to my 71st birthday.

(A major book is a novel, a novella, a collection, and any major editing project with my name as editor on the cover.)

Individual short stories do not count. I published 51 total of those stand-alone.

And see the image of all the books in order at the bottom of this post.

Keep in mind this started a week after the election here in the States and months ahead of any vaccine. Yes, this was that year…

Here is a list of all publications and the date and type.

November

  1. Nov 10th: Fiction River Presents: Time Travelers
  2. Nov 24: Year of the Cat #7

December

  1. Dec 10: Twist of a Knife (Pulphouse Book)
  2. Dec 15: Year of the Cat #8

January

  1. January 26: Smith’s Monthly #45

February

  1. Feb 4: Aliens Among Us (Pulphouse Book)
  2. Feb 9: FR: Chances
  3. Feb 18: Smith’s Monthly #46
  4. Feb 23: Year of the Cat #9
  5. Feb 25: Pulp #10 (Happy Little Accidents special edition)

March

  1. March 11: Smith’s Monthly #47
  2. March 16: Year of the Cat #10
  3. March 30: Fiction River: Dark & Deadly Passions

April

  1. April 8: Smith’s Monthly #48
  2. April 20: Year of the Cat #11
  3. April 22: Pulp #11
  4. April 27: Colliding Worlds, Vol. 1
  5. April 27: Colliding Worlds, Vol. 2
  6. April 27: Colliding Worlds, Vol. 3
  7. April 27: Colliding Worlds, Vol. 4
  8. April 27: Colliding Worlds, Vol. 5
  9. April 27: Colliding Worlds, Vol. 6

May

  1. May 4: Bitter Mountain Moonlight: A Cave Creek Anthology
  2. May 4: Open Ended Threat: A Cave Creek Anthology
  3. May 4: Promise in the Gold: A Cave Creek Anthology
  4. May 4: Card Sharp Silver: A Cave Creek Novel
  5. May 13: Smith’s Monthly #49
  6. May 18: Year of the Cat #12

June

  1. June 1: How to Write a Novel in Half a Month
  2. June 8: Bottom Pair
  3. June 10: Cattitude (Pulphouse Book)
  4. June 15: Year of the Cat 100 Stories
  5. June 22: Ring Game hardcover
  6. June 22: Heads Up hardcover
  7. June 22: Burn Card hardcover
  8. June 22: Ace High hardcover
  9. June 22: Freezeout hardcover
  10. June 22: Dead Hand hardcover
  11. June 22: Bad Beat hardcover
  12. June 22: Calling Dead hardcover
  13. June 22: Cold Call hardcover
  14. June 22: Kill Game hardcover
  15. June 24: Pulp #12
  16. June 27: Smith’s Monthly #50

July

  1. July 1: Stories from the Original Pulphouse: A Fiction Magazine
  2. July 8: That’s Really Messed Up (Pulphouse Book)
  3. July 20: The First Year: A Marble Grant Novel
  4. July 22: Smith’s Monthly #51

August

  1. Aug 17: The Big Tom: A Pakhet Jones Short Novel
  2. Aug 24: Smith’s Monthly #52
  3. Aug 26: Pulp #13

September

  1. Sept 14: Ball of Confusion: An Earth Protection League Novella
  2. Sept 16: Smith’s Monthly #53

October

  1. Oct 8: Hot Springs Meadow: A Thunder Mountain Novella
  2. Oct 14: Don’t Touch My Magic (Pulphouse Book)
  3. Oct 14: Ghosts Among Us (Pulphouse Book)
  4. Oct 14: Run! Creatures, Critters, and Pulphousers… (Pulphouse Book)
  5. Oct 14: There’ll Be Blue Popcorn Without You! (Pulphouse Book)
  6. Oct 14: Twisted Robots (Pulphouse Book)
  7. Oct 21: Pulp #14
  8. Oct 26: A Case for Aliens (Smith’s Collections)
  9. Oct 26: Fantasy Love (Smith’s Collections)
  10. Oct 26: Time for Cool Madness (Smith’s Collections)
  11. Oct 26: Weird Crimes (Smith’s Collections)
  12. Oct 26: Holiday Insanity (Smith’s Collections)
  13. Oct 28: Smith’s Monthly #54

November

  1. Nov 9: A Poker Boy Christmas: A Poker Boy Collection
  2. Nov 9: Ghosts are Weird (Smith’s Collections)
  3. Nov 9: Too Strange for the Name (Smith’s Collections)
  4. Nov 9: The End Might Be Interesting After All (Smith’s Collections)

 

————–

During my 70th Year…

besides writing about 1.3 million words of consumable words, I also did the following…

 

  • I published 37 short stories stand-alone worldwide, and another four in other venues.
  • I wrote, launched, and ran 6 major Kickstarters.
  • I put together and ran 4 Storybundles.
  • I wrote 365 blogs of different types, one per day.
  • I taught 84 six-week workshops.
  • I recorded and taught 14 nine-week collections’ workshops.
  • I created and recorded 21 Pop-Up writer classes.
  • I moved two condos full of offices and books into a third.
  • I ran a marathon and finished. I also participated in 10 different 5K charity races.

Not a bit of this would have been possible in any way without the incredible support of Kris when I just wanted to toss in the towel and the fantastic support and cheering and help from Allyson and Gwyneth and Josh at WMG Publishing Inc.

Gwyneth did a lot of the layout of the books in Vellum and all the actual launching of the books out into the world, plus she launched all the individual short stories. I did the layout of all the Smith’s Monthly issues.

Allyson did some of the covers (the good ones) and the layout of some of the really complex ones like the hardbacks. And she kept track of everything and Allyson’s and Gwyneth’s acceptance of this craziness helped me see that it was possible.

So this craziness was just not possible without Kris, Allyson, Gwyneth and Josh at WMG. Thank you all!!

And the lesson is that if you are going to try something like this, make sure you have the best team on the planet behind you.

 

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