Grin! Me too!
Which is odd, because some of his own modern poetry is actually pretty good! I love the vers libre in “Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns.” Now, it’s far from his best writing…but it’s really quite pleasant. I, too, am not the biggest fan of a lot of his writing, but a good many of his stories are surpassing brilliant.
I think the “million words” quip should be taken as a generality, just as Theodore Sturgeon’s famous “Ninety per cent of everything is crap.” Most certainly, some authors will find their mastery in only 50,000 words – and I’ve mentioned, upthread, that a great many do not find their mastery, even well after their millionth – or two millionth – or ten millionth! – word.
The general lesson it teaches, and I think it is valid, is that almost no one (there are some very rare exceptions) starts out writing well.
Most of us are just like you – and me! Our first efforts were… Um… Well, not even good enough for the Bulwer-Lytton contest, eh? 