Writing a bite at a time

"Dr. Francl," teased my colleague, stopping in on his way to class to borrow a piece of equipment, "your door says you're writing a lot.  But how much do you write?"

I keep a spreadsheet of completed projects, in part to help me plan how much time to budget for a writing project, so this is a question to which I know the answer.  Between thirty and forty thousand published words a year, I told him.  The equivalent of a 120 page book each year for almost the past decade.

I don't think he expected an actual number in response and I must admit that when I think about it in that way (which I generally don't), it's a lot of writing.  On the other hand, at roughly 650 words a week, it seems like not very much.  Which I suppose is a testament to my mother's advice about large projects:  "How do you eat an elephant?" she would ask.  "One bite at a time," we'd moan in response.