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21 February 2009 ·

Essay – Can’t. Stop. Writing. – NYTimes.com

I sometimes worry that if I’ve been writing very slowly for the past few years, but on the other hand, I still sometimes feel embarrassed about how many books I’ve written – I know exactly what Geoff Nicholson means here: Matters of literary quantity have been much on my mind since a new book of mine was published recently. A fair percentage of the reviews described me as “prolific” or “highly prolific,” in one case “wildly prolific.” Now, I’m not going to argue about the accuracy of this. I’ve published 20 books in 22 years (some quite short), and I’d say that’s not excessive, given that I don’t have a day job. But accurate or not, “prolific” definitely didn’t feel like an unalloyed compliment.

to read the whole article:

Essay – Can’t. Stop. Writing. – NYTimes.com



Comments

  1. Robyn Young Stafford Girl, you crack me up! Take it from a fellow writer, prolific is a Huge compliment. One that you deserve. The fact that it is used repeatedly gives credit that you have an ingenious element to your writing.
    I look forward to having such a dilemma.
    Keep up the great work!
    Kindest regards,
    ~Robyn Stafford~
    February 22, 2009 at 8:57 am · Reply
  2. Wendy Thanks Robyn! I think it's just the feeling that sometimes you're not taken seriously if you've written too many, especially if different publishing schedules mean they end up bunching up, as 3 of mine did in 2007.

    Good luck with your own writing!
    February 22, 2009 at 10:49 am · Reply
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Wendy Orr is a Canadian-born Australian writer. Her books for children and adults have been published in 27 countries and won awards around the world. Nim’s Island and Nim at Sea have also become feature films, starring Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin (Nim’s Island) and Bindi Irwin (Return to Nim’s Island.) Her latest book is Cuckoo’s Flight, a companion to the highly acclaimed Bronze Age novels Dragonfly Song and Swallow’s Dance. Read full bio