Last year I wrote a million words of new stories, articles, and
opinions, and despite the enormity of this, I found at the end of it that it
was one of those things that left me feeling slightly down, a trend that has
continued into this year slightly, because when you have a grand purpose, you
can get up every morning knowing that you have that grand purpose leading you
forwards, your every move goes towards making that purpose, that promise into a reality.
And when it’s done, you wonder what you can do next, but the next thing
has to be something bigger, or you just feel like you’re doing not very much at
all. A thousand words a day was the target
I set for this year, and I find myself sometimes not writing for several days,
just so I’ve got a target to build up to, and that’s just not the way forwards.
Cheerfully, those who know me found the million words a little more
inspiring, and took the time to make this picture, made up of some of the articles
and stories that I did last year, as a reminder of the things that I did, and
the fact that it inspired them to do more themselves.
As I found myself reading the various subjects, I was cheered greatly,
because I can remember every line and what I was doing when I wrote it, and
that’s when it occurred to me, the reward I have for those million words is all
the effort that I put in, and the knowledge that if I could do that...
I could do anything...
The trick is in not being afraid of the grand purpose, not worrying
that you might be able to fail, because there were points last year (particularly
towards September), when I really thought I wasn’t going to make it, that the
several hundred thousand words I’d done would all be for nothing, and that the
year would be a waste as a result, but as I got closer, so the wordcount ceased
to worry me, and I began to just do
the words every day without having to think about them.
But when it was done, I had nothing else to do, and not reaching for a
massive target this year has left me down, quite severely, and I need to
recapture that mood, I need to be that person with a purpose once again, so the
offer is out to all those out there, I started last year with the intention of
proving that it could be done, and I did.
This year I may be too late to repeat what I did last year, but I’m
going to see what I can do without that target above my head, I need to edit a
number of books I did last year and get them out into the public eye, and I
need to finish off a number of projects that have been held back because other
things were more urgent.
Most of all, I need to make time for those who mean something to me, just
as they made time for me.
And here’s where it starts...
