How Many Books Have You Sold?

A while ago, our youngest son, Thing 3, asked the question: How many books have you sold?

It was innocent enough. (Although I think he was wondering if I was going to make enough money in royalties to buy him a new computer.) But I was curious too, so I said, “I don’t know. Let’s look.”

So we did.

For the month previous to the date Thing 3 asked, I had sold exactly four books. Four. F-O-U-R. I was excited. Really. After all, when we looked back three months previous, I had still only sold those...