It’s Thursday, December 31st. Sometimes known as New Year’s Eve. Sometimes known as the drunkest day of the year.

This year, I know it as the day I conquered death a seriously hard challenge. To be the very best, like no one ever was.

Except people have done this before. Of course they have.

I have written a minimum of 1,000 words a day of fiction. Every single day. 365 days in a row. No breaks. No cheating. No padding words intentionally to make the day.

It’s the last week of the year and it’s time for the last update!

Stats for Days 361 to 365:

Day 361 – 1563 words
Day 362 – 1580 words
Day 363 – 1332 words – this is the day I finished Savage Duty!
Day 364 – 1010 words
Day 365 – 1015 words

My average daily word count for the entire year is 1,294 words per day.
WIP Savage Duty is complete at 117,906 words, just shy of the 120k estimate.
Total count for the year is 472,452 words!

I have a lot of things on my mind, but look at that number. Just 28,000 words shy of half a million. That’s incredible. It’s 100k over what I needed at a minimum for a successful year. I missed no days. I struggled with job woes, family woes, friend woes, sickness, death, feelings of helplessness brought on by terrorism, being so busy I could barely think straight.

I managed to write every single day despite the many days I just couldn’t even imagine doing it. I managed to write on days when I was in pain, or when I was sad, or when I was suffering empathetic depression because those close to me were suffering.

So the final Motivational for you this year? If I can do it – me, a silly, overweight, hyper-opinionated, stubborn jackass – then so can you.

And maybe it’s not writing every day. Maybe it’s art practice. Maybe it’s whittling. Maybe it’s learning a programming language. Maybe you want to play the didgeridoo. Whatever it is that you’ve always wanted to do, you can do it.

I proved to myself that, whatever else happens, I have it within me to be a writer. I did it every day. I said to myself, “This is a thing I want. This is what I need. I can do this.” and I did it.

You don’t need motivationals, you don’t need inspiration. You don’t need accountability to your friends and family. You don’t need special, dedicated tools or charts or graphs or spreadsheets.

You don’t need those things. They’re useful, but they will not make you successful. Only you can make yourself GET IT DONE.

That’s really what I have for you. You are good enough, you are strong enough, you are dedicated enough. You just have to break through those negative thoughts, those naysaying emotions.

Fuck the naysayers. You might remember that from last week. Well, that even includes yourself. If you tell yourself you can’t do it, you never will. If you tell yourself it’s hard and that you should give up, you probably will.

If I Can Do It, So Can You.

So get the fuck out there, chase your dreams, and always remember to WRITE THE HELL ON. Whatever that means to you.

_____

Stick around through next week, when I will drop a more indepth post about the year, with my musings, some other fun stats, and anything else I come up with, plus I will unveil the author plan for next year. Tonight, I celebrate a much-deserved victory!