Concerning Chesterton and The Prophecies

Well!  It's been an interesting few days.  How's it all going for you?

Currently, I've just finished reading two books by Chesterton, and I've also been musing about my writings.  Shall I begin?

First things first.  Chesterton is amazing.  I've just finished rereading Orthodoxy, and now that I'm a bit older, more intellectual, and not skim-reading it, it's really a treat of paradox and imagination.  Here's a few quotes that I found particularly meaningful and/or funny.  (Feel free to skip ahead to the writing.  Few share my love for Chesterton XD and I completely understand.)

"The word 'good' has many meanings.  For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man." (G. K. Chesterton)

"Actors who can't act believe in themselves; and debtors who won't pay.  It would be much truer to say that a man will certainly fail, if he believes in himself." (G. K. Chesterton)

"The poet only asks to to get his head into the heavens.  It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head.  And it is his head that splits." (G. K. Chesterton)

"A madman is not a man who has lost his reason.  The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason." (G. K. Chesterton)

"The commonest kind of trouble is that it is nearly reasonable, but not quite." (G. K. Chesterton)

"To be sane is more dramatic to be mad." (G. K. Chesterton)

"Seriousness is not a virtue." (G. K. Chesterton) 

"For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point - and does not break." (G. K. Chesterton)

"There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied it was His mirth."  (G. K. Chesterton)

Also, the honorable Whisper the Spy introduced me to another of G. K. Chesterton's books, this one fiction: a tale known as The Man Who Was Thursday (A Nightmare).  It's a fantastic story of spies and plots and humor and philosophy and....weirdness.  The end is so deep/weird that I didn't really get it. XD  But the first three-fourths were fantastic.  Here's one quote I found rather humorous:

"What are we going to do?" asked the Professor.

"At this moment," said Syme, with a scientific detachment, "I think we are going to smash into a lamppost."

Now, on to writing!

A few nights ago, I decided (on a whim) to look at some books.  Only, these weren't ordinary books.  These were the books about which I had told my sisters, "I will never look at them again."

In other words, my first three novels.  Some of Ye Olde People can remember the days when I wrote those: the days when my writing was young, my technique inexperienced, and my plot a terrible mess.  Thankfully, I've improved.

But, back to the story.

I broke my own promise and took a look at the books.  (It was a nightmare, I assure you.)  One thing led to another, and I decided to count up all of the words I had written in my entire life.

Of course, I didn't have "all of the words I had written in my entire life" on this computer, so I sufficed to count up MOST of the words.  It includes all six of my novels, my poems, and my short stories.  However, it doesn't include the stories I had written on other computers and the handwritten tales of my childhood.

So, in total, I've written

284,712

words

in the last few years.  Which means that I've probably written over 300,000 in my life.  Over 200,000 words of that is in completed novels.

Much more than I expected.  It's no one million, but it's almost a third of the way there.  (They say it takes a million words to write a great novel.  Or a publishable one.  Whatever the quote was. >_>)

In the past few weeks, I've also determined that, after I finish the Prophecy of Einarr, I want to go straight ahead and write the last book in the series, instead of continuing with my rewrite of the Book of Shaldu.  So many things changed in the Prophecy of Einarr that need to be included and forshadowed in the Book of Shaldu; so I want to knock out two birds with one stone and make sure that, if any more plot twists come along, I don't have ANOTHER rewrite to do.  I'll also have a better perspective of what the Book of Shaldu needs to be like after I actually finish the series. 

And once I finish the series AND the rewrite, I'll revise all three books.  And after that...who knows.  But "after that" is a long time coming.  I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

How are your writings going, folks?  Good?  Bad?  If you're not a writer (and even if you are), have you read any good books lately?

If you aren't a writer or a reader, how in the world did you find my blog? ;)

And also, if you wanted me to write a blog post about one writing topic, what would it be?