The average novel is around 90,000 words.
That means that in my almost ten years here on Hive and its predecessor, I have written in articles alone just over 77 average-length novels worth of words. I know this because the other day I asked @seattlea is there was a way to get all of my articles and he worked something out. At that time, the post count was 7788, but I have actually published 5 more.
It is a bit of a problem.
Because I want to be able to sort through them, review them, take the best and perhaps use them for a personal project in mind for the future, but they are very unwieldy to handle. Because sorting through that many articles is a slow and painful process, and MS Word doesn't handle it at all well.
That is at 12-point text - 22,683 pages (and I cut all the images out) and almost 7 million words. The Guinness record holder for longest published novel is In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust, and that runs between 1.2 and 1.3 million words. So I am guessing that Word wasn't made to really handle this kind of volume. Still, it is only a 18.8M file, so I didn't think it would be too difficult to process, but it is. To make it a little easier, I am going to have to go through and add headings and subheadings to more easily navigate - because scrolling is not going to cut it. I have also exported it as a pdf, but that doesn't make it any more usable.
This aside, looking back at all this writing it makes me think, what if I had to look forward to it instead? While I have written and published daily for over nine years, what would I have felt if I was told that I would have to write daily for the next nine years and in that time I would write the equivalent of 77 novels.
That would be daunting.
But I guess the adage of "how to eat an elephant" comes into play as a reminder that even the largest, most seemingly impossible task, is just a series of very small steps. In the case of this, it is a letter at a time, a word at a time, an article at a time, a day at a time - over and over. Looking too far down the road is going to make the task seem impossible, but looking at the next task, the next piece and then building the habits required to keep on walking, makes the longest journey, no more than a step at a time.
We can all step toward our goals.
Everything happens through a series of miniscule movements that lead onto the next. It doesn't matter if we are looking at achieving our goals or observing the big bang that created our universe, it is just a series of actions and reactions and while repetition of the process is key, we can never actually repeat the same action identically. We can never set foot in the same water of a river, as it is always flowing by. Similarly, while one action we make might look identical to the last, we are constantly changing through the conditioning of our body through that repetition. We are getting stronger, learning new information, opening up our insight and improving along the way.
Every time we do something again, we do it differently.
Out of the almost 8000 posts I have published, there are many topics that I have revisited several times and each will have at least a slightly different me writing them. Someone who held one set of knowledge and beliefs in the first compared to someone who held a different set for the next. The topic can stay the same, but it has been added to through experience, and that repetition. We don't have to reinvent the wheel, to improve the wheel. The wheel is the wheel, even with improvements.
In reflection though, I have changed a lot since my first article, which was called Human. But not so much that I am fundamentally different perhaps. Many of my views have changed, my understanding of many facets of life have evolved, and I have experienced a lot of big and small events that have reshaped me. Yet, I am still me at the core, for better and worse. I am sure when I look back at many of these articles once I can sort through them, that I will get that sense of embarrassment and some kind of shame, like looking back at old pictures from high school and noting fashion and hair styles. At the time, it felt right, not so much in the rear-view mirror.
But going forward from today, while the process doesn't change, there are more steps to take, more perspectives to see, more things to learn and more shifts in what I am. I am still finding out what that may be, but perhaps that is the point of life and the changing experiences we face, where we are supposed to discover who we are, by facing what we Wouldn't face if we knew what was coming. And perhaps this is why I am not keen on the culture of today where we can control what we experience, because it limits us to what we want to do and very few of us will ever choose to do what would look like an impossible task, if looking forward.
Looking back, the view of the impossible was proven incorrect.
If we keep choosing what we will experience, we will never test our full potential.
Taraz
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I am sure there are a great many professional writers who wish they could be a as disciplined as you are in there writing. SEVENTY SEVEN NOVELS?!!! How long does it take you to begin and publish a post? I have so little time to do all the things I want to do, I'm tallying up all the time you must have spent on this. To Hives's betterment for sure, but how is it for yours? You wonder if, had you known, would you have done it so remarkably well?
It depends. Sometimes it takes three or four hours, sometimes an hour. It takes longer now on average because I don't get into flow very often. Before the stroke, I was always in flow.
This is a good question! I am not sure what the benefit is, but there are drawbacks. I think I have sometimes escaped into writing, rather than dealing with other things. Though, sometimes that is what I need to overcome or process also.
I can't imagine I would have. It would have become a job and just another task, rather than something I grow into daily.
I marvel that doing it for years on end hasn't made it feel that way.
Many of us cannot imagine living any way other than tethered to electronics. We are told which sites/entities are to be believed, and which are not. Our ability to control what we experience is arguably not a thing.
Sometimes “choosing the impossible” isn’t about believing that we can actually win—it’s about refusing to let fear decide what we’re allowed to try.
But here’s the uncomfortable question: how do we know when we’re being brave enough to pursue the impossible, and when we’re simply refusing to accept reality?
Maybe the real skill isn’t choosing the impossible… it’s knowing which impossible is worth sacrificing for. That distinction can change everything.
This is a good question also. I think often we have been told "don't give up" when we actually should do just that. Many times we fight for what we aren't actually made for and if we changed our focus and learned more about ourselves, we would redirect.
I really like that distinction. Maybe the hardest part isn't knowing when to keep going, but having enough self-awareness to recognize when persistence has turned into attachment.
So here's another question: How do we know we're changing direction because we've grown wiser—not because we've simply become afraid of failing?
I remember the tool someone built not too long ago that listed your writing level and a few other metrics. It was interesting to see how mine had changed over time. I definitely think I have grown as a writer, but who knows. You could always load your .pdf into AI and have it do the work for you :) Just kidding.
It is still there:
https://holoz0r.github.io/HiveReportCard/
This is actually part of the plan. I often look to reference something, but can't find it with search :D
That's right! I couldn't remember who it was that had made it. I have a bad habit of not bookmarking sites like that when I come across them. Ah, so just load it into an LLM then you can ask the chatbot questions. My posts are so random that might be a lesson in futility.
I try to bookmark the good ones :)
I was joking with Seattlea that I will make an agent to become me.
I still don't totally understand agents at all. I'm just starting to get into some of the coding stuff.
I don't think I am smart enough to code anything - even with AI :)
You would be surprised. I mean, you aren't really doing any of the coding anyway.
Its wild looking back at massive projects like that If someone told me upfront I’d have to write 77 novels worth of text Id probably just close my laptoo and walk away lol but breaking it down step by step really is the only way to get anywhere Hope you find a decent way to sort through that huge word doc without it crashing constantly
I would have too! :D
😅
Your consistency is incredible. Especially considering the fact that most of your posts are probably the same length or longer than my longest posts. Few days ago a few of my gaming posts were a bit longer than 1k words. But it seems that for you that is probably just average length of a post.
I feel for me that around 1000 - 1200 words feels right. I don't aim for it, but it seems to roll out that way.
I do love writing but novel-writing is far different from what I used to write. I guess I will be out of words if I try to write a novel. 🤣 I usually write short stories, feature articles, and of course, my favorite, poem composition.
You know what? You're one of the Hivers here who write/post beautifully. Every time I read your blogs, I'm learning new things/words/topics and I am able to react/share my opinions, which I guess is helpful to my interpersonal skills.
I have never written a novel either, but I would like to one day. Obviously, the amount of words isn't the problem!!
I am glad that you enjoy my writing. I think it is great that we can get so many perspectives these days and still be open to differing opinions.
Publishing a post everyday is not easy, especially for someone who has stayed this long on Hives, like how did you do it? At some point don't you feel like missing a day, maybe because you're sick or you had a rough day at work?
Rarely. I have a thing where I test myself in different conditions. I have written with high fevers and drunk, while in hospital with a stroke and while my daughter was being treated for seizures. While I write about many topics, they are all attached to my journey through life.
That's deep. Being consistent no matter what comes your way can be challenging sometime. You know, your words are like motivations and I really appreciate them. Thank you sir.
I think looking back can also show us that some of the things we once thought were impossible were actually just things we had not started yet.
And some of the things we did - were just silly :D
"77 average-length novels worth of words" is a whole lot, do you make it a goal to always write about something everyday? How do you find the time to be always this consistent? cos i think you post almost everyday
I post every day and haven't missed a day in 9 years. It isn't difficult, though I have published through very difficult days and weeks. I see it as a part of processing my world, like a meditation, but it is also like brushing teeth. Mental hygiene.
I guess you've done it so often its like a habit now.
This is good to know how many days you've spent Online by sharing your thoughts.
Where and How did you get this information?
I asked someone to find it for me. However, there are a few apps that can at least give some insight.
https://hivebuzz.me/
Ahh Okay Okay, thanks.
!BBH
!MMB
!ALIVE
Did you just...try to cram nine years worth of daily posts into one Word doc?! O_O Can I recommend any given notes organisation app instead?! I personally use and love Obsidian but am keeping eyes on open source ones (Obsidian is free and proprietary).
I hit this every single time I migrated my blog through different systems; because I could never figure out an automatic migration due to the systems being so different I would end up doing it manually and try very hard to speedrun through my self righteous early 20s era XD You have my condolences :D
whoa.. 8000 is such a great acheivement already. i appluad u sir.
be water my friend. always changing.. always flowing.
do you feel like a completely different person now compared to ten years ago