I Have A Problem With My Writing On Vocal
And I Find It Ever So Slightly Worrying
Introduction
Last December (2022) I published (slightly early) by thousandth Vocal post which you can read here.
Now that had taken me 21 months to do so I expected to hit two thousand posts towards the end of December 2024, but, here's the problem.
The Problem
I have difficulty when creators post lots of stories simultaneously. The haiku and microfiction challenges exacerbated this so much that I had to unsubscribe from some creators because their posts just flooded by Vocal notifications. This is a problem with the Vocal mechanism, not the creators because we already have a feed of subscription stories on our subscription feed. I raised this with Vocal and their solution was to add the unnecessary latest stories feed. Each community has a latest stories feed which is more focused, but putting them all together was deemed a necessity.
Anyway less of that, sometimes I wonder what to do when you hit a goal. Seven Days In just hit a million visits after fifteen years, that was a great feeling but I now only want to hit a hundred thousand visits this month and then I am not too bothered. I think most of the visits are actually robots from Singapore. At this moment in time, it has had 1.03m visits with 91K so far this month, but because the robots don't click through and buy stuff it doesn't make me any money (£2 last month for 97K visits).
The Actual Problem
If I were to post three stories a day (this is my third one today) then I could hit my two thousandth pose by New Year's Eve 2023.
This issue is that I would feel that I would be flooding some people's feeds and that may result in people dropping their subscriptions to me.
I also am not sure I could mechanically keep up three posts a day for that long, and also I want my focus to be the writing I do, not the number of posts that I publish. If it becomes about hitting targets (number of Vocal stories) then I would feel that I am little better than a spammer, and I could not live with that.
I sometimes post more than three a day, but that is an exception, and generally, two a day is my norm (although it may seem like more) but I don't write to hit targets, but I do keep an eye out for milestones as I documented in this recent Top Story.
You may have noticed that I also do a lot of self-referencing when I write pieces like this, one of the reasons is so that people can see what I am talking about and the other is the nefarious trick of getting people to jump down the rabbit hole of my writing.
So Where Am I At?
To be honest I am not sure. I will write and publish when I am inspired and I feel like it but I am certainly not going to try and hit two thousand Vocal stories before we see the year out. If it happens then that's fine, if it happens in 2024 that's fine as well.
People have been really nice about me hitting fifteen hundred stories as they were when I hit a thousand stories.
I don't feel writing so many stories makes me special, because it is in everyone's grasp, but I am happy to have written so much. There are six hundred poems so at a rough estimate that is sixty thousand words and the nine hundred and eight other pieces clock in at about five hundred and forty thousand words so overall I have point six of a million words on Vocal. I doubt I will notice my millionth word on Vocal but if I do I will let you know.
Thank you for reading and listening to my problems.
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Reader insights
Nice work
Very well written. Keep up the good work!
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Heartfelt and relatable
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More stories from Mike Singleton 🌜 Mikeydred 🌛 and writers in Confessions and other communities.
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Comments (39)
Hi everyone! My name is Michael. I really enjoyed this story! I am a new vocal storywriter. Please check my stories and be sure to rate them in the comments section so i can improve in anything. Hope you nothing but greatness. Big thanks to you in advance! https://vocal.media/authors/michael-stephens
Completely agree Mikey! There r so many stories. It would be nice to have a library of stories you can save to for future reading. Since I like so many stories the “liked stories” folder doesn’t rly serve this purpose.
Thanks for sharing your insights. I will write and publish when I am inspired and I feel like it too! I am however soon going to set a goal for myself. I am so glad I came across your article.
Interesting thoughts. I don't allow notifications from Vocal to interrupt my day, but they pop up in the notifications menu. I think I would only notice one story being put up and would go to check your author page, seeing the rest. It's too bad Vocal doesn't have a better way of handling multiple submissions for one day.
✍️ Hello Mike! Regarding your 2000th post, I hope you work out what is best for you. Many people enjoy your writing and will continue to do so. ☺️ BTW, I think I shared that I will be away from Vocal. This is just to confirm. Occasionally, I might pop in to see how you or others are if I get the time. Take care of yourself! 👋
I think less than I feel. My writing is an outlet for my creativity. Write on as you are, I for one find your work or "self expression" of self quite engaging.
That's a mighty nice conundrum to have as far as writing goes Mike. We are all writers and we definitely have our unique ones. I've got quite a few that I don't like to dwell on unless they cause dysfunction. I'm sure if I focus on growth, solutions will emerge. I'm enjoying the journey but maybe there's a prompt there in and of itself. Well, writers, what do you do to celebrate writing milestones? Impressive job on the milestones Mike and congrats on this and a boatload of top stories!
https://vocal.media/journal/the-united-states-of-america-exploring-its-rich-history-culture-and-economy
Write for yourself, and not so much for what you think others might want … and that’s the problem right there: you cannot ever know what any particular person wants. If people like your writing, they’ll stick with you. The ones that fall away aren’t necessarily judging. None of us knows where another person is at. I’ve reduced my reading and publishing on here due to I’ll health. While I’d love to peruse everything the folks I follow publish, and all the top stories, it’s not physically possible. Especially as Vocal grows (which is wonderful). Be you Mike. And write you too. Hugs, Harmony 🤗💕🙂
Jaks
Congratulations on your 💥Achievements, Mike ❤️💯😉👍You Got It❗❗❗
If You have a goal for writing multiple stories in a single day why not write a series. Stories can be written in poetic form. I made an entire fiction story out of haikus. You could do that, or You could write a bunch of micro/flash fiction stories as a series. Explore, dabble, mess around and find out.
Hello Am blessed and I love the way write your vocal contant
I definitely feel you in this, I used to write feverishly on some other sites years ago. My biggest fear was that I was pissing people off. But I guess the reality is that if whatever we do works for us, then we should just stick at it… right?
Good thoughts and congratulations on your top story. 🦉
100% true
Yes, agree. I suddenly received ten stories posted by the same person within five minutes which I felt overwhelming. Maybe Vocal should only accept 1 entry per person per challenge And I feel some people might be posting ChatGPT news summaries as stories which shouldn't be allowed. 3 stories a day seems very reasonable. Congrats on the TS and on successfully writing over a thousand stories!
Quality over quantity is important, yet I do think if someone needs to journal for mental health or free form their emotions into poetic ways it's more than ok for it to be published in bursts. Fake content by AI that isn't designated as such is a issue. Great honesty here brother! Congratulations on top story👌💕
Marvelous!!! Congratulations on Top Story!!!❤️💕
Post what you want, when you want ;) I enjoy reading when I get the chance! Great article to share. Congratulations on Top Story!!
You just do Mike, and we will come along for the ride. Congratulations on your accomplishments and your Top Story 🎉
I think people should post as much or as little as they want. People can choose whether to read or not. Congrats on top story!
I don’t think anyone should feel pressure to post more or post less. People can decide to read it at their leisure or not at all. The notifications are a nuisance, and I’m hardly following anyone because of that. But I still check out the work of the people who check out mine. Congrats on Top Story! 🥂
“If it becomes about hitting targets…” What is this, the Vocal Weekly Bonus Leaderboards monetizing engagement? 😉
Even if you did post three stories a day I’d be happy to be “spammed”. I love the creative outlet here, I’m not so much worried about too many posts as I am too little. I’m so excited for you to write more and like you said if you do it this year or next we are all just waiting for the next one! 🥂