It took me twenty-five years to write one-million words, ten more years to write two-million words, and four more years to write three-million words (“My Own Size,” December 15, 1997). All told, it took me thirty-nine years to write three-million words, which I will reach by the end of this year. I am referring to my Residua alone, of course. All the other books to my name are of no interest to me any longer. But, as I just wrote in the last addendum to the above piece, which is dedicated to Marco Polo, I very much hope that this is my very last million. In my remaining years, I would like to add at most half-a-million words to my magnum opus. This would be roughly the same as the number of words written in the first twenty years into this project. As I have a reasonable chance to live to be ninety, everything is just as I like it. A three-million-words man! And a happy one at that. Pace Marco Polo, but my nickname may end up three times that of yours.

Addendum I (July 15, 2016)

Sadly, only a year and a half after this piece was penned, I have already added a third of a million words to my magnum opus. That is today’s count. At this rate, I will become a four-million-words man in three more years. I shudder. Although I am doing everything in my power to curb my writing, it keeps piling up at a clip. No matter how much I manage to reduce my output in the years to come, I seem to be destined to reach the four-million words mark within five or six years at most. Would that five-million words remained unreachable for me till my very last day. Lucky Marco Polo, to be sure.

Addendum II (August 4, 2017)

A bit more than a year after the first addendum was penned, my Residua already boasts of half-a-million words above the three-million mark. To be a bit more precise, another thirteen-thousand words need to be added to the sorry record. I am getting ever more successful in controlling my writing urge, but words keep piling up at a clip nonetheless. By and by, I am realizing that four-million words is a pipedream. Indeed, I seem to be destined to become a five-million-words man by the end of my life. Boo-hoo!