A Million Little Words

So the saying often goes around that it takes a million practice words to really become a good novelist. A couple weeks ago I realized I have more than hit that mark. So just so ya'all know, I'm a good novelists now.

No, I'm so kidding.:D

But it is an interesting thought. Now, I assume that those words are meant to include things like all of the poems and short stories that I wrote in college. But I don't have any stats for those and ultimately, I think you learn to write novels by writing novels. So I thought I would list my novels and word counts.

Note: I extensively re-wrote every novel here except for the Basque Romance. So I will list "Words" and "Applicable Words" since I think all those words I re-wrote still count.

The Chain and the Sword: Words= 150,000 Applicable Words= 300,000 (minimum! I edited this baby until the pages were filled with blood. Blood, people!! Also, I generally count this as two book because it was two 100,000 words books that I combined and cut the crap out of. Just FYI.;))

Basque Romance: Words= 100,000 Applicable Words= Still 100,000

Wings: Words= 69,000 Applicable Words= 138,000 (Again, minimum. Rewrote no less than half this book just in first round edits.)

Spells: Words= 85,000 Applicable Words= 170,000 (I rewrote this sucker almost from scratch BEFORE I turned it into my editor. *Whine* Sequels are haaaaaard!!!)

Illusions/Wild: Words=88,000 Applicable Words= 132,000 (I'm giving this one 1.5x instead of double because edits were easier on this one. I think . . .)

Destined: Words= 73,000 Applicable Words= 146,000 (DEF doubled the word count in edits for this book. DEF.)

Life After Theft: Words= 80,000 Applicable Words= 160,000 (Though having worked on it for over five years, I think I deserve TRIPLE!!:D)

Earthbound: Words= 86,000 Applicable Words= 172,000 (Again, at least!! This is also a pushing triple book.)

Don't Close Your Eyes: Words= 90,000 Applicable Words= 135,000 (I've done first round edits, so I am giving myself 1.5, but not a full double.)

Earthbound 2: Words= 75,000 Applicable Words= 75,000 (No edits, no increase. *wink*)

So those are my ten (and arguably eleven) books for a grand word total of Words= 896,000 and Applicable Words= 1,528,000.

That's a lot of words.

I'm not really making a statement of any kind with these stats. I just find them interesting. Am I a better writer after 1.5 million words? I hope so. Have I picked up any bad habits in those 1.5 million words? I'm afraid so. But I have put about 1.5 million words into my career in the last eight years. And I'm proud of that.

Ciao!