You Are Not a Statistic

According to the official website, the odds of winning the Powerball are 1 in 175,223,510. In 2012, only 44% of people applying for med school got in. Hippos kill 2,900 people every year. Most articles I’ve read say the odds of getting a novel published are 1-2%.

Bullshit.

That doesn’t apply to me. It doesn’t apply to you. You know why? You’re not a statistic. If statistics mattered, nobody would play the lottery and we’d have a lot less doctors.

Also, hippos are cool. I have nothing to say about that one. Just…you know…try not to piss one off if you’re in Africa. Keep lots of marbles in your pockets so you can toss them off the boat into the hippo’s mouth. Hungry hippos love marbles.

The point here is that when I was starting out on this wild, hippo-less ride, nearly every article I read told me how badly the odds were stacked against me. Time was not on my side. Even if I did succeed in getting published, it would take long years of submitting my manuscript, waiting, collecting a bazillion rejections. It meant writing at least five terrible novels before I’d have a decent one worth shopping around. It meant heartbreak, struggle, disappointment, and probably failure.

You’ve probably heard all that, too.

I’m here to tell you, it’s all bullshit.

I am not a fluke. I am not a number. And neither are you.

There are so many paths to success now. Write something. Edit it so it’s good. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Educate yourself so you can make informed decisions. Then just do it.

Because seriously, you are awesome. You’re different from everyone else out there. You don’t belong heaped in a pile of numbers with everyone else.

Whether you’re an artist, a writer, a nursing student, a filmmaker, a grower of hothouse flowers, a golfer — numbers mean nothing.

Be you. Be awesome. Go succeed.