It is with a heavy heart that I bring you such ill news: Wednesday blog entries have now begun their solemn, shuffling gait towards the Great Blog Graveyard in the Sky.
That brings us down to just Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, with occasional posts on Friday and Saturday (but Dollhouse was axed, so I’ll have to find some other pretty girl to canvas the pages of my blog with…)
But all is not lost. This gives me more time to spend on photography and the preparation of travel plans. I have some big, longer-than-a-month-abroad ideas that I need to put serious effort into. It also gives me a little time to work on non-bloggy writing like short stories and novels. I’ve been looking at writing a novel for a while now, but with my commitments both here and over on Download Squad, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day or strength in my fingers.
Thing is… I’ve written a lot this year. It was actually my New Year’s resolution, to write every day. Originally that was ‘a blog post every day’, but obviously with commitments and jobs ever-changing, I’ve had to spread the love a little.
Did you know that I’ve written 422 blog entries this year? At an average of 800 words per entry, that’s 337,600 words. In the last 6 weeks I’ve written 40,000 words at Download Squad.
Throw in a few thousand email, comments on other blogs and forum discussions… and I think I’ve written over 500,000 words this year. Maybe more. That’s five big novels or ten crappy female novellas.
No wonder my fingers ache…
So this is me retiring Wednesday from my blogging schedule. I’ve intended to for a while — the plan was always to have a big blog post on Monday followed by photos, news commentary or random bits of wacky stuff throughout the week.
And hey, instead of writing, I’ve spent today updating the various indexes on the site. If you’re new here, it’s well worth giving the Index of Topics a look-see, or my collected Travel Stories if you prefer thrilling tales of excitement, woe and adventure. The sidebar has also been updated, which is your quick index to all things juicy. Oh, I’ve also got a bonus photo for you, because it’s now December, the festive season of giving and sharing and all that stuff.
MentalSarcasm
Dec 2, 2009
500k is a lot of words!
I should really sit down and calculate how many words I’ve written this year, unfortunately they’re scattered over a dozen different websites >.<
Goodbye Wednesday blog posts! I shall always remember your sweet, buttery goodness!
Amber
Dec 2, 2009
Come to the U.S.!
(P.S. – while you blog much more than I do, I might have you beat on wordage in my real-life job. 500K is super impressive, though. Congrats!)
sebastian
Dec 2, 2009
Even as a journalist, you must be quite hard pushed to break 500K in a year? Not that I have much experience in that field — only university stuff.
I’ve been to the US a few times, but I do like how I keep getting re-invited…
Hey SARCASM!
Ed Adams
Dec 2, 2009
I am sooo bummed about Dollhouse being cancelled.
sebastian
Dec 2, 2009
Me too!
But it does release a bunch of good actors from BSG… I wonder where they will pop up next…
MentalSarcasm
Dec 2, 2009
That wasn’t sarcasm, that was a quote from Red vs. Blue
Art
Dec 2, 2009
I feel completely mislead. Your twitter feed went on and on about nudity, and now here you writing on and on without even using the word nude. For shame.
sebastian
Dec 2, 2009
That’s for tomorrow, Art! I always blog a day in advance… I thought you knew that?! I don’t actually wake up at 7:30am and write a blog entry every day
I wasn’t calling you sarcastic, Sarcasm. I was calling you out!
I know the quote!
carissajade
Dec 2, 2009
I’m sad about losing Wednesday, but good for you for spreading your blogging horizons…You should take a trip to Texas, and write a novel about it! Kill two birds, ya know!
sebastian
Dec 2, 2009
There is a long-term plan to do a road-trip around the USA and take photos as I go.
I will let you know nearer the time, but I don’t know if it’ll be soon
Nyx
Dec 2, 2009
Wow. That’s a lot of gingerbread houses.
And you two look very happy together.
Dude….500K…once again I must state that you are a machine! I couldn’t even finish NaNoWriMo!
Good luck with your upcoming travel plans – I expect photos! And, farewell sweet Wednesday postings…I hardly knew ye….
Hannah-Lane
Dec 2, 2009
a single tear just rolled down my cheek.
MentalSarcasm
Dec 2, 2009
Ooooh I see! Being a geek I would hope you know the quote!
So HI SEB! in return
Amber
Dec 2, 2009
OK, so I actually worked out the math after you challenged me.
I write for a daily newspaper five days a week, and sometimes provide a lot of “copy.” Stories, briefs, police blotter, blog entries, etc.
I’d say, on average, I write about 35 inches of copy a day. We write in inches, but it translates to about 32 words per inch. 35 x 32 = 1,120 words a day (kind of lame, now that I think about it, but most news stories are about 10 inches each). 1,120 x 5 days a week = 5,600 words per week. Assuming I don’t take any vacation days (and I do. God, I do), that’s 5,600 x 52 weeks = 291,200 words a year. (Or, nearly six awful chick-lit novels, if we’re using your calculations.)
So, in essence, I am just proving to you that you’re better than me. I hope you’re happy.
P.S. – Who ever said reporters weren’t good at math?
sebastian
Dec 2, 2009
I’m sure if you figure in email and blog stuff you must be getting close to 500,000…!
I don’t think anyone ever said reporters were bad at maths — just that they have a penchant for adding one…
Jaime
Dec 2, 2009
I shall miss you on Wednesdays. But that just means I’ll look forward to your other posts so much more.
Kevin
Dec 4, 2009
After 30 or so years of touring Jimmy Buffett decided to cut down on the number of shows he did. The result: The Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays tour.
Following Asimov’s death, his wife found a scrap of paper in his desk on which he’d written:
“Over the course of 40 years I published an average of 1,000 words a day,
Over the course of the second 20 years I published an average of 1,600 words a day.
Over the course of 40 years I sold an item every 10 days on the average,
Over the course of the second 20 years, I sold an Item every six days on the average.”
That said, your record does indeed stand head-and-shoulders above the crowd. I’ll miss the extra weekly post, but that’ll just make Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays that much better.
floreta
Dec 7, 2009
you’re quite productive and it’s awesome! i can’t wait to hear more of your travel plans! i’ve heard a little rumble.. but not much
sebastian
Dec 11, 2009
Thanks for some vague comparison to Buffett and Asimov, Kevin — I quite fancy myself the next Asimov.
Actually, I’d rather be the next Carl Sagan… but we’ll see; that might take a bit of work
Thanks Jaime, Floreta!