Becoming a writer

and not just someone who writes. I was trying to figure out the logistics of writing a three volume YA masterpiece that would sell million of copies and allow me to retire to a Greek island, and I came up with about 375,000 words, or 1200 pages, or 60 twenty-page chapters. That's not just lunch at the diner, that's solid beating on the keys for a long time. But that is my goal, even the Greek island part, though I might make due with a hut and pail. This is not the work of a weekend dabbler, any more than being able to shoot par or run a marathon is something you get every other Saturday. I do have another job, or a real job, but it's pretty much adjustable to however much time I feel like putting into it. But if this project is to be done, then the job, the teaching and being-part-of-the-community part, have to be back-grounded. And I've not ever been able to do that sufficiently, even when my other writing was academic. It suffered seriously from half-assed-ness. In concrete terms, I must plan my teaching etc around my writing, and not the other way, though of course my teaching takes place at certain times on certain days. But it must not leak out and fill every other crevice of time.