2024 Writing Aspirations

Before I knew what being an author meant, I wanted to be one.

I grew up as an only child in a very traditional family – the sort that believed children are meant to be seen, not heard. Thinking about it now, it seems quite bleak, but it didn’t bother me back then. After all, I had books.

I’ve always been the bookish sort. I was known for bringing my friends books as gifts on their birthdays. I would read in bed instead of getting a good night’s sleep. I would read in class until the teachers would tell me to put the book away and even then, I’d sneak it out of my desk and keep reading. It got so bad they would write on my report card “Good kid, but needs to stop reading in class.”

It was a natural progression for me, I suppose, given the environment. No siblings plus not much a talker multiplied by blossoming imagination equals daydreaming. First there were fanfictions – a new character I’d come up with interacting with the same characters I’d just been reading about. Then there were poems, songs, heck I even loved writing essays for school.

As a teenager in high school, I found like-minded people in our school’s writing club. Sharing our short stories and new ideas was incredible to me – it filled me with pride when something I wrote affected them.

I can’t say when I outright declared to myself that I wanted to be a writer. That this would be the path most fulfilling to me. For a long time, it was hard for me to make that decision. I suppose it still is. I’m very much a realist and understand how difficult it can be to break out in this industry.

Despite knowing that and eventually going down a much different career path, I never truly stopped writing. I took breaks here and there, depending on what was going on with my life, but every night as I went to bed, I was worldbuilding. I was always creating a story I wanted to share with the world.

Stumbling on Vocal’s challenges has been exactly the push I needed to resume putting my words down on paper, so to speak. It has incentivized me to push myself; to make consistent writing a priority in my life. I find myself eager to check out the new challenges; to see if there’s something that catches my fancy or is in my realm of writing prowess. It feels like a great warm-up: stretching those unused bits of my brain muscles then working on my cardio – my personal projects.

I’d like to write every day if possible. At least 30 minutes to an hour, just dedicated to bringing my thoughts and characters to life. Being an adult with other obligations makes that difficult on some days, however. Nevertheless, I’d like that to be my starting point.

Eventually, I’d like to grow my postings on Vocal from just challenge responses to my own personal works. Seeing other established authors here inspires me to aim for the same; to use Vocal as a tool to grow and support other like-minded people, just like I did in high school.

When people read my works, I want them to be affected. I want my characters and their emotions to strike a chord with readers. Isn’t that what everyone here wants? Acknowledgement that their ideas have created a certain emotion in their readers? I want to convey my thoughts about the world – and life in general – in a way that makes people see things differently. Whether it’s through the eyes of a fictional character or through an journal entry.

I appreciate the opportunity the platform has given to writers – both the upcomers such as myself and the already established base. This year I plan to take full advantage of my time here: participating in more challenges, posting original works of my own and generally putting words to paper more often.

That’s what we’re all here for after all.