My Short Vocal Journey

It's 2:39am. I've been awake for over an hour and a half. My son has gotten me up at least 4 times, and my sweet, precious, aging chocolate lab had to go potty. I've tried hard to get back to sleep, to no avail.

So here I am, ruminating on my Vocal journey thus far.

I first saw Vocal in a Facebook ad. They were promoting a contest with Moleskine, The Little Black Book Challenge, and the winner could take home a $20,000 prize.

Having spent the majority of my teen years writing everything from poetry to half a book before my computer crashed taking all the hours of typing with it, and borderline desperate for additional income at a time when trying to make a dollar out of a dime, this intrigued me greatly. Ever the skeptic, however, I kept scrolling.

I saw the ad probably another four times before I gave in. Way to go, Vocal! Again, I was skeptical, but I thought, if they keep promoting this, it has to be genuine, right? So, like I do, I started researching.

Vocal seemed like a legit place. Moleskine was legit. The testimonials seemed legit, though those can be faked.

In order to write for the challenge, you needed something called Vocal+ and Stripe. Well I'm not signing up for anything, I thought, so I let the challenge go.

Some time later, I saw yet another ad for The Little Black Book Challenge. The challenge was close to being over, but this time, I created a Vocal account and started writing.

Only, I've had writer's block for approximately 18 years, give or take. Although I had a great idea, I couldn't put it into words. Eventually, that challenge closed and I moved on.

For several months I would peek in on Vocal, see what challenges were going on, think a bit on them. For several months I was unable to "feel" the challenge so I would close Vocal and forget about it.

Until Death by Chocolate.

I read the rules.

I opened a blank page.

And my writer's block broke.

Words flowed from my fingertips like water out of the side of a broken pool. It felt good! I stayed up late writing. I was in my zone. I was a teen again. My passion was alive once more!

I wish I could describe the feeling I had that night. The euphoria. The rush!

The old me was back!

I hadn't felt like this in years. It felt like I'd found the missing piece, buried so long ago under the weight of broken hearts and life.

And all it took was a challenge to write about my favorite thing. A challenge to combine two passions: baking and writing.

Who knew?

I signed up for Vocal+ that night.

I made a Stripe account.

I started writing again.

Sadly, I did not make the challenge deadline. Try as I might, I couldn't get my story under the 2,000 word limit and still be cohesive. But I was not discouraged. I decided to expand it, take my time, develop the characters and storyline a bit more. It's still a work in progress; I still pick it up occasionally. I will publish it one day.

Since that story wasn't going to make it, I began another. Sadly, that was the night of final submissions and the hours just kept creeping closer to midnight. I couldn't pull off that one either.

Even though I was slightly disappointed in myself, the feeling of being able to write again was far greater.

I've been part of the Vocal community for just under a month. I've written and submitted a handful of stories since. To date, none have been a top story, and I am pleased. I am pleased in myself for writing again. I am pleased in everyone who has had a top story. I try to read them, and other submissions, when time allows. I already have a favorite author.

I've heard it said of one country music artist that if you can't be happy for others' successes, then you're doing it for all the wrong reasons. Obviously you want your stuff heard (or seen, in our case) and out there, but to share in the excitement of other authors' successes is a great feeling! I'm happy for the contest winners. I'm happy for the top stories, top authors.

If I never get there, that's okay.

If you're reading this, please know that I am rooting for you and your success.

One day, I feel as if I will have a book published. Maybe it'll even be that little chocolate cake challenge that started out as a 2300+ word story that I couldn't shorten.