Good evening folks. I’ve written about 1100 words today, despite a few hurdles that tried to get in the way of words being put down.

What I’d like to talk about tonight is the picture below. That notepad has had recorded in it almost every word I’ve written since early 2014. That’s over a million words of fiction. Stories published in five anthologies, and a lot of words that will never see the light of day. I was going to say there was a lot of failed stories amongst those words, but although they may never see the light of day that doesn’t mean they failed. They taught me lesson after lesson about my craft. I’m a touch shattered right now (head cold), so I’m not going to start listing those lessons. No matter how crap you may think your writing, or painting, singing, or whatever passion you have. Those hours of practice will make you better.

Keep at it.