March 23rd, 2021 – 909

~ Sam Shuttleworth

Today is a bit of a special day, mathematically speaking. To understand why, you have to understand that my average daily wordcount, minus journalling, is about 1,100. This is not the exact day; that likely happened a while ago. But I’m calling it today. What do you get when you times 1,100 and 909?

One Million.

One, Million, Words.

Now, the real festivities will be in 91 days. And believe me I will find a way to celebrate that milestone. If my new desk – ordered today – arrives in 13 weeks it will be there in time to commemorate the day. I’ve already decided in my headcanon though that as I ordered the desk today, it is the Million Desk. When did I decide that? Half way through this paragraph but come on that’s a badass name. ‘Oh where am I? Oh you know just doing some story notes at the MILLION DESK. Damn right I am. In the future I mean. It deserves a cool name after emptying my non-house savings in a single hit like that. Also ouch my bank account.

Mahogany partners desk with cupboards and drawers. Green leather top.
I went for thism though mine will have a slightly smaller leg gap as it’s 1600mm wide rather than what I think in the image is the large. But yeah, look at that, look how cool it is. The Million Desk works as a name for something that awesome. I know I’m gloating about expensive furniture but hey no one who isn’t Imaginary is reading this so I’ll fawn over it if I wanna. It’s so beautiful. I can’t wait to lose hours sitting at it with horrofying migraine-inducing writers block. Ahhh, bliss.

Can you tell my mood is better? Well, it comes down to one thing: meeting the people in my single household bubble. I do not do that enough and wouldn’t you know it, I now feel mentallly refreshed. I am starved for human contact and as soon as I get it, I feel fantastic again, at least for a while. I just needed that so bad. Now I have home testing kits via the college it’s going to be a lot easier to justify going round there, and for my sanity I really need to ensure that I do.

Life could nosedive again at any moment. The lesson I learned from this messed up 12 months is you never know how long any part of your life will last. I’d learned that before, but this time was different. This time, I learned the urgent need to treasure life and all it has to offer while you can. Be grateful for the good, and in the face of the bad be grateful you had that to lose. I still hurt; I think we all still hurt. But sometimes, sometimes the hurt helps you appreciate the bigger picture.

Stay safe my Imaginary Readers.

Published by Sam Shuttleworth

I’m Sam, and I live to write. I spent most of the first 8 years of my adulthood trying to balance writing with a large amount of crap in my personal life, until towards the end of 2018 I threw everything out and started afresh with just my writing. I built the new me around one goal: I have to write at least 1,000 words a day. I called this goal 1K, and it changed my life. So long as I write a thousand words a day, the day is a success, and atop that I've managed over time to build the life I wanted all those years. My greatest flaws as a writer is I still use too many adjectives, adverbs, connectives as openers, accidental passive voice and I don't force my work down people's throats enough on pain of extreme and unusual torture. My greatest strength is I know my greatest flaws and I'm working on them.