Just for Fun

Susan by the numbers.

1: number of times I've been married
1: number of children I have
18-23: number of cartridges of peacock blue ink it takes to write a first draft
40: number of days it takes to write a rough draft
40: number of weeks it takes to turn the rough draft into a novel
14: number of books I've written with dogs in them
1: number of times a dog has died in one of my books (and trust me, it won't happen again)
11: number of years I worked as a schoolteacher, either full or part time
2: number of finished manuscripts I wrote before selling my first book
147: number of times my work was rejected by publishers (there were more; I just stopped counting after that)
26: my age when I sold my first novel
10: number of different editors I've worked with at various houses
6: number of writers in my local writing group
8: number of writers (includes a former bookseller) in my area writing group
2: number of times per month each group meets
178,000: number of words in October Wind (my longest book)
33: number of weeks my books have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list
0: number of times I've been mentioned in "Class Notes" of Harvard Magazine
50: approximate number of books I read each year
179: current number of unanswered e-mails in my in-box
400+: daily visitors to my blog
6: miles I walk with Barkis each day

Give me books, fruit, French wine and fine weather and a little music out of doors, played by someone I do not know. ~ John Keats ~