An embarrassing Vocal story changed my life

They reckon every time a door closes, God opens a window.

I used to wonder if that window was being opened to let out some of the stink. But I get the general sentiment of the saying.

So, who would have thought that from a highly embarrassing and potentially career-limiting incident that something positive would come?

What happened?

You should all know the basics by now, I was talking with a young, cool female co-worker about writing and I sent her a copy of a true crime story I’d written about a train robbery. She then tracked down my Vocal profile and discovered that I also write stories that, let's say, would not attract a PG rating.

If you haven’t read it or feel like laughing at me again, please follow this link:

Anyway, I wrote about it. In all of its embarrassing honesty, then I published it on Vocal. Now up until that point, the most reads I had for any story was ten. I think I had probably published about fifteen stories by that point. I was questioning my talent as a writer and questioning whether to keep trying.

Then my embarrassing story dropped and overnight I had over 100 reads. I had my first ever Top Story. I had written a story that captured people’s attention and for whatever reason resonated with them.

What changed?

This gave me the push that I needed to write more. I came up with other stories about my life, about embarrassing things that I had done, and some more of my “adult content” stories as well. In time some more top stories came, and then I scored a runner-up prize in a challenge with a tale about all the things I hadn’t told my Mum.

Maybe I did have a talent for writing. Maybe I just needed to find my inspiration.

I also found that I needed some other things if I wanted to enjoy a little bit more than just fleeting success.

What else did I need to do?

I needed to read other people’s work. By seeing what else was hitting I could understand what stories of mine would pick up reads and maybe even get me winning more challenges. It remains a steep learning curve, but I’ve identified some genres and styles that seem to hit better than others. I’ve also read some funny, uplifting, and heart-breaking stuff; the Vocal community is full of some amazing authors.

I must promote my work. I found that after I’d give a shout-out to one of my stories on Twitter it got a lot more reads. I have now started promoting on Twitter as well as Facebook. It allows me to engage with my readers directly and especially some of my “may contain sexual themes” stories have attracted some positive feedback from my audience as well as new story ideas. I’ve even engaged with some of the other visual content creators who’ve made me realize some of the similarities between the way we approach our work.

I even wrote about that in the below story:

The biggest plus?

I made an amazingly good friend out of this experience. Not only did the subject of my original story encourage me to keep going with my writing, but she’s also become someone that I can confide in and trust. I always feel blessed to meet great people and to have them in my life and she is no different.

In a year that's had a lot more downs than ups, it's been a blessing to have someone else in my corner.

I ended up writing a follow-up story about her and our interactions on the days that I give her a lift to work. Another top story about a top individual.

Who knows what excitement will come from my next twelve months on Vocal? But I’ve certainly been enjoying the ride (as embarrassing as some of the adventures have been).

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I hope that you enjoyed reading this little reflection. If you did, please give it a like or comment or even leave a tip (the sooner I make my fortune, the sooner I can write full-time).