My Vocal Drafts Folder

Looking through my drafts on Vocal is always an interesting process.

I've been on this site for a good few years now, and I'm glad to say that the ratio between finished and unfinished stories is pretty good. With that said, there are still plenty of unfinished stories in my draft folder.

Some of those unfinished stories are a title and a few dot points. Others are a random collection of scenes waiting for an over-arching (and as yet undiscovered) plot to pull them together. Some are Challenge entries that missed the deadline and I never got around to finishing them.

Some are incomplete novel drafts kept on Vocal because between hobbies, professional stuff and Google Drive hating my login email, it's just that much more accessable between devices. There are several half-written pieces on mental health, burnout and being female and Autistic. There are several drafts on the creative writing process, and advice to other writers. Wrapping up the list are a few pieces on media and character analysis.

The majority are under the minimum word limit for Vocal non-poetry pieces. Some are very under the limit, being only a handful of lines.

There's nothing actually stopping me from finishing any of them, just a lack of time and motivation. Time is the big one; I have two bookstalls coming up in quick succession, only two weeks apart. My free time is taken up by embroidery and non-book craftwork. What free writing time I do have is spent on last-minute edits of a collaborative work that is due to be published at the end of the month, and the next instalment of my time travel series.

(The Time-Traveller's HR: the thin black-and-white line that stops Agents and Support Staff from murdering each other...)

Additionally, I just got reading glasses, with anti-glare protection. Prior to that, when getting home after 8 hours in front of a computer screen, I wasn't really up for more of the same. I'm slowly getting back into the swing of writing each evening, but it's going to take me time before I’m back in the groove.

While motivation is less of a factor, it still exists. All writers have to prioritise to some extent, even if it’s just which project they want to work on first, or what they feel motivated to write at the time. Most of what I write on Vocal is for the various challenges, but even then, it requires me to feel inspired enough to enter.

With how repetitive some of the challenges have become, and the complete lack of a Pride challenge this year, I don’t think I can take the entire blame for not feeling the vibe lately.

Many big name authors will say that it’s better to develop a writing routine, and that writing anything is better than writing nothing. But just like you can’t force inspiration, often the “anything” you write becomes another idea that you swear you’ll come back to. One day. Someday. Eventually…

You probably will. It just probably won’t be soon, and you probably won’t finish it quickly. Or maybe you will, and you can feel good about one less draft on your TBC list.

But the important thing is that those drafts exist outside of your head, so they are there for you to come back to.

One or two of my drafts have been sitting there from the time before Vocal had a word counter, and approvals often took days instead of minutes. Those are ones that got bounced for word counts below 600, and then the challenge they were meant for ended and I put them on the back-burner.

One day, when I’m stuck for inspiration, I’ll go back and look at those old drafts, and perhaps it will spark something.

Until then, I know that those old drafts are there, waiting for me.