One Million Words

Louise Wilson at South Melbourne Beach,
taking a break from writing

A writer's apprenticeship is the first million words, right? Just as driving a vehicle requires extensive hands-on experience behind the wheel to become a safe driver, it takes a lot of reading, thinking, training and sittting at a keyboard to learn the craft of writing.

But the rules for learning to drive don't fully apply to writing. No-one ever took twenty years to learn to drive, surely! That's how long I've been honing my craft as a writer of the unique non-fiction genre of family history.

When I decided to check on my status as an apprentice writer (in all genres), I realise that I've long since graduated from my Ls _ to my Ps _ to my full-blown licence to write.

 

My word count goes to show the value of the BIGFAT maxim for all writers - 'Bum Is Glued, Fingers Are Typing'. The overall figures for my published non-fiction family histories total 1,092,000 words:

• 'Pierssené, a Huguenot family of London', 2007 - 61,000
• 'From Buryan to Bondi ....', 2008 - 112,000
• 'Robert Forrester, First Fleeter', 2009 - 123,000
• 'Paul Bushell, Second Fleeter', 2010 - 156,000
• 'Southwark Luck .....', 2012 - 118,000 (Winner of Alexander Henderson Award)
• 'Brothers in Arms, the Great War Letters of ......', 2015 - 169,000
• 'Margaret Flockton: A Fragrant Memory', 2016 - 91,000 (Winner of Don Grant Award)
• 'Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter', 2020 - 156,000 (Winner of Don Grant Award)
• 'Richard Ridge: Convict, Trader and Bailiff in Early Colonial NSW', 2025 - 148,000 (Winner of Don Grant Award)

Then there are my three fictional books, written as Louisa Valentine, totalling 220,000 words:

• 'Retreat into Paradise', 2019 - 84,000
• 'Trading Secrets, 2021 - 66,000
• 'Still Waters Run Deep', 2022 - 70,000

And that's without counting my 1994 book 'Brainboxes' and all the published articles, speeches, book reviews and blog entries of recent years, or the various articles and chapters for text books written during my earlier career in the finance sector when I wrote as Louise Jackson.

Still residing in my computer are many biographical works which have been substantially researched and drafted. 

WOW. I had no idea I'd been so busy. 

If you're one of my readers, thank you for your support and, of course, I'd love you to leave a feedback comment on the site where you purchased your book, or on Goodreads.

NOTE - Figures updated in 2026