Literary Unproductivity

Joyce Carol Oates

   I am the unproductive one, not Ms. Oates.  I was aware of her many literary activities since it is hard not to notice them. One week she publishes another book and the next she reviews a book published by someone else. I have not written even a short post in about ten days, so it was irritating to receive an email from The New York Review of Books, offering me a free essay by Oates (on boxing!), which served to remind me of how literally lazy I have been. There are seventy-seven other essays by her in just The New York Review of Books and according to the Wikipedia entry,  "Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction."

   It is true that I don't attempt to write every day, don't get paid if I do and don't have any readers, but if I did I would would still struggle to come up with something to put down. Apparently Trollope would time himself and write 250 words every fifteen minutes and continue writing on the train on his way to his job in the Post Office. Other examples of prolificity are easily found (too easily) and while they make one feel inadequate, searching for and reading about them provide more excuses for not writing. 

   Additional productive authors include Isaac Asimov who wrote more than 500 books and around 90,000 letters. And, like Oates, he had a full time university job. Barbara Cartland authored 723 novels and published 191 books in one year (and she wrote biographies of Metternich and Christina of Sweden.) James Patterson is currently writing a lot, but apparently he has a lot of help.  I will get to work producing more, right after I look for some sources for you.

Canadian Content

   Ms. Oates was born on a farm next door in upper New York state, lived in Michigan and taught, for a while, here in Ontario at the University of Windsor. She and her husband started The Ontario Review. 

Sources: 

  The Wikipedia entries for all involved will be enough for most of you. 

  The deceased Cartland still has her own site. If you prefer one in pink, see Literary Hub. 

   The Ontario Review: A North American Journal of the Arts, ceased publication in 2008, but, like many artistic Canadians now resides in California. You can read the complete archive at the University of San Francisco. 

The Bonus:

   To make this more topical, you should know that Asimov was apparently a dirty old man and, like most of them, was guilty of sexual harassment: 

"Asimov would often fondle, kiss and pinch women at conventions and elsewhere without regard for their consent. According to Alec Nevala-Lee, author of an Asimov biography and writer on the history of science fiction, he often defended himself by saying that far from showing objections, these women cooperated. In the 1971 satirical piece, The Sensuous Dirty Old Man, he wrote, "The question then is not whether or not a girl should be touched. The question is merely where, when, and how she should be touched." [From the Wikipedia entry for him.]