At The Writer's Almanac a couple of days ago I read that novelist Georges Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of all time, best known for his detective novels featuring Inspector Maigret. He wrote some 400 books, which sold more than 1.4 billion copies from 1935 to 1997. Each book took him on average eight days to write.
Georges Simenon
So, I did some online research and found that, at sixteen, writing for the Gazette de Liège, a newspaper edited by Joseph Demarteau, he wrote more than 150 articles under the pen name "G. Sim.". Also, writing as "Monsieur Le Coq", he published more than 800 humorous pieces between November 1919 and December 1922.
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms.
WOW!
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On Writing: Heinlein's Rules is a webpage written by Robert J. Sawyer and when I read it I was stunned by the insight presented in the Rules. The piece is short but tremendously informative. It was for me, anyway. I was shocked to recognize myself, my own behavior, glaring forth from these Rules.
The Rules:
Rule One: You Must Write
Rule Two: Finish What You Start
Rule Three: You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial Order
Rule Four: You Must Put Your Story on the Market
Rule Five: You Must Keep it on the Market until it has Sold
Rule Six: (Contributed by Robert J Sawyer) Start Working on Something Else
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer Information Page
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HISTORICAL CLIP
On this day, February of 1933, a deranged, unemployed brick layer named Giuseppe Zangara shouted, "Too many people are starving!" and fired a gun at America's president-elect, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Roosevelt had just delivered a speech in Miami's Bayfront Park from the back seat of his open touring car when Zangara opened fire with six rounds. Five people were hit. The president escaped injury but the mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak, who was also in attendance, received a mortal stomach wound in the attack.
Zangara was initially tried for attempted murder and sentenced to 80 years in prison, but when Mayor Cermak later died of his wounds, Zangara was retried and sentenced to death. Zangara died in the electric chair on March 5, 1933.
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WORD FOR TODAY
Author [AW-thur]
noun
1.
a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work, as distinguished from a compiler, translator, editor, or copyist.
2.
the literary production or productions of a writer: to find a passage in an author.
3.
the maker of anything; creator; originator: the author of a new tax plan.
4.
Computers. the writer of a software program, especially a hypertext or multimedia application.
verb (used with object)
5.
to write; be the author of.
6.
to originate; create a design for.
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility for what was created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.
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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Born Feb. 15, 1927
Died May 29, 2008
Died May 29, 2008
Born Feb 15, 1951
Age: 61 years old
Age: 61 years old
Jane Seymour, (born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg) is an English actress best known for her performances in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973), Somewhere In Time (1980), East of Eden (1981), Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988), War and Remembrance (1988), the ill-fated queen Marie Antoinette in the 1989 political thriller La Révolution française, Wedding Crashers (2005), and the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993–1998). She has earned an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2000.
Born Feb. 15, 1964
Died Dec .18, 1997
Died Dec .18, 1997
Christopher Crosby "Chris" Farley was an American comedian and actor. Farley was best known for his loud, energetic comedy style and physical comedy, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theater and cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live between 1990 and 1995. Farley and Chris Rock were introduced as two of the show's new cast members in early 1990. Similar to his idol, John Belushi, Farley died of a speedball overdose at the age of 33. On August 26, 2005, Farley was posthumously awarded the 2,289th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Born Feb. 15, 1820
Died Mar. 13, 1906
Died Mar. 13, 1906
Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President. She also co-founded the women's rights journal, The Revolution. She traveled the United States and Europe, and averaged 75 to 100 speeches per year. She was one of the important advocates in leading the way for women's rights to be acknowledged and instituted in the American government.
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Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.
--Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
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