Back in January, I read an obituary for American crime fiction writer Robert Parker. The headline labelled him a “prolific author” so I was immediately intrigued, even though I have to admit I’d never heard of him (is he famous out there in genre land? Sorry, I’m a bit ignorant sometimes!). The article says he was among the top ten best-selling authors in the world, so obviously I really am showing my ignorance by not knowing him.
Prolific equaled 65 books in 37 years, something I can’t help but admire, because even if his books aren’t quite my thing, they still got published and that’s no mean feat.  How did he write so much? His routine was simple:
Parker wrote five pages a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year.
I love that he gave himself a two-week holiday every year! And he had two days off from writing every week, too. Five pages sounds like a very manageable amount, but I do know first hand the effort required to do that day in, day out, even when you don’t feel like it, or are tired, or have so much other stuff happening in your life.
It all got me wondering about how many books I might be able to write in my lifetime. It’s hard to even figure out how long one takes, because I tend to write in strange sporadic bursts, usually when I set myself a really firm target like a contest entry date or something. But I’ve tried to project forward and imagine that I’m a published writer with a publisher expecting the next book by the end of the year. Would I only write what’s contracted or could I do more than that? I certainly don’t think I’m a slow writer, but of course there’s the matter of quality too. It’s all a bit unknown to me still.
I don’t think I’ll publish 65 novels in my lifetime. I’d be really pleased with perhaps a dozen. Heck, right now I’d be really, really pleased with just one, who am I kidding?! But I take my hat off to those prolific writers out there who are obviously really good at sitting down and actually writing. It’s really nowhere near as easy at it looks.
Tags: prolific writers, Robert Parker
Realistically, I think I could put out at least 1 book every year. Probably 2. And thus that is my career goal. Once I, you know, get a career. ;P
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Robert Parker is so prolific that, though dead, his next book will soon be out. October, I think. Wow. Not ghost written, either, though I will be very sad to see Spenser disappear from my life.
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