Assessment 2010

As usual at this time of year, I doubt my productivity, so I do an assessment of my writing.


I have, of course, proofread and edited approximately 2000 papers during the year, although that doesn’t count as writing, but it is part of how I earn most of my money. If I multiplied that times the 45 years I have taught, it comes to nearly 100,000 papers over a lifetime.

Having become more organized, I can give an accurate accounting of my writing for 2010:

1. Poems:

    A. Written—34

         a. Found poems (new effort)—7

         b. Free verse—8

         c. Rhymed verse—4

         d. Translated from French—14

         e. Translated from Spanish—1

    B. Submitted for publication—10 (current and archived)

    C. Published—6 (5 archived, 1 current)

    D. Published in blog Writing rite—88 (from archives or previously published collections)

2. Articles or essays

    A. Started—16

    B. Completed—11

    C. Submitted for publication—2

    D. Published—0

    E.  Published in blog Writing rite—18 (from archives or written in the blog)

3. Short stories

    A. Started—15

    B. Completed—6

    C. Entered in contests—4

    D. Published—0

    E. Published in blog Writing rite—11 (from previously published collections)

4. Novels

    A. Worked on—8

         a. Science fiction—2

         b. Mystery—5

         c. Western—1

    B. Completed—2

    C. Published—2

    D. Chapters published in blog Writing rite—23 (revised from Encomienda)

5. Miscellaneous
    A. An associate at MDC was creating a newsletter for a local veterinarian and asked for title suggestions. I suggested Meow Growl, and that was the title chosen for the newsletter.


This assessment is quantitative and tells me that I have kept steadily writing.  Qualitatively, I did publish 6 poems and 2 novels, so some editors have approved my writing.  Plus, I did get one excellent review and encouraging comments from readers.  Thanks.

Happy New Year.