A Few Minutes Ago, I Finished My Thirtieth Novel
And now I’m sitting here alone at my desk and can only tell my cats. Thirty novels are more than most writers write in their careers. I should feel special. I should celebrate. Instead, in a few days, I’ll start writing novel number thirty-one because that’s what I do — I write novels.
It’s already evening, here in Germany and outside it’s been dark for a while. I sat down at the computer this morning at nine and wrote until just before five in the afternoon.
Tomorrow I’ll rework the manuscript all day long and send it to my editor late in the evening. Writing THE END under a script for the thirtieth time was something I could never have imagined a few years ago.
It took me seven years to write my first novel, with interruptions. When I finished it, I wasn’t sure if I could do it again.
Well, I could. In the first four years, I didn’t sell any books, but in 2015 it really started. My first thriller made it into the top 100 in the German Kindle Store. From that day on, I was sure that one day, I would only make a living from writing.
I quit my job in November 2018. Since then, writing has been my only source of income.
Today the question is no longer whether I can write another book, but how fast. I am currently writing six novels with an average of 52.00 words per year.
In total, I have now written at least 1.6 million words and sold over 200,000 e-books. That sounds like big numbers, but those are just numbers that add up over the years.
You don’t write 30 novels with one significant effort. You write them by sitting down and writing every day. You write them by sitting down every day and reading and learning. Writing is not just the act of writing.
Writing is planning, networking, advertising, surviving difficult times, and believing in oneself when hardly anyone does.
Today I have reached a great milestone, nothing more. Much more important than these significant milestones are the countless small ones without which it would not be possible to reach the great ones.
Every day when I boot up the computer and open my current manuscript is a victory.
Every evening when I turn off the computer and look back on a productive and creative day is also a victory.
Every written chapter is a victory.
Every written scene is a victory.
Every written word is a victory.
We authors should never forget that. There is no excellent triumph without a thousand small victories.
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