99 Down And 1 To Go

November of 2020, and I was looking for something more to do to fill my time during the pandemic. Along with a job that had been slower than anything in my life before the pandemic, I felt like I needed more; I wanted to do more than go to work and binge watch Netflix, Hulu, or Disney Plus. The monotony of it all was weighing on me and that's the time when we all begin to go a little crazy when we find ourselves unable to control our own existence. Then came the day I saw the ad for Vocal. It was on Facebook and then I noticed it on Instagram. I saw that ad every day for a week if not longer. Finally, I checked it out.

I'd always been able to tell a story and I could at the very least form relatively mature and adult-level sentences. Considering I dropped out of college to raise my son, not that I regret any of that, it's amazing sometimes that I communicated on paper as well as I do. Stepping into this world, however, has made me realize a few things about writing. First and foremost, there are some truly talented people writing on the internet. From the start, I read some really heartwarming, amazing stories. Some of them have been every bit as informative as anything I've read in the New York Times or People Magazine. I'd be remiss not to mention the books by Steve Alten, James Patterson, and Stephen King that I have loved all my life. Some of you are going to give the greats a good run one day.

So I wrote a story. It wasn't the best and only meant something to myself and the fans of Supernatural as the show closed out its' historic fifteenth season in a way fans were afraid was coming, with the death of the famed Winchesters.

Carry On is my story about the end of Supernatural and was more personal than anything else. I was hooked on this show for more than the writing, the actors, the action, and the adventure. This is something that even when my son lived in Minnesota we still watched at the same time and would talk about it afterward. When he came back to our hometown, he would come over and watch it on his day off. Sometimes, we were both rewatching it but it just meant we had time we wanted to spend together. Parents, if you have kids that want to spend an hour or so every week with you, you did something right.

Carry On only got eight reads but that's alright. It was my earliest work. I had yet to figure out how to make any headway to attract readers and was still in my early stages at just a week on the Vocal platform. Sure, it made me wonder if I could make a go of this. My own self doubts getting in my way. But, like anything else that has been thrown in front of me, I fought through it and continued onto my next idea.

After several ideas popped into my head and several lukewarm stories that told me I needed both to both practice and broaden my views of what to write about, I went to the communities page and read a few more from different authors. I intentionally looked at some sections to see what others' approaches were. Sure, sex sells well so we could all end up writing in Filthy if we don't have a decent idea, but that pigeon holes a writer. I didn't want to use vocal to pigeonhole myself if I was going to give writing a chance in my life.

Many stories after my first one I remembered something from a professor in college. It was on the subject of writing. He said, write what you know. Now, if you're going to write fiction, you know your story well because it came from inside you. But, in the case of reality or non-fiction, that means to write from your area of expertise or knowledge. The weird and bizarre has always been my forte'. I simply fell in love with it in high school when I was looking for books with stories about old explorers and stumbled into a book that delved into the legends of crossroads demons. From Lief Ericson to that bizarre little German that ran the Nazis, people throughout history have found themselves attracted to occult lore.

One of the things that I found was celebrity exorcisms so I did a story about the exorcism of Mother Theresa. It got a few reads on its own and a few from posting it to places and sending it to friends. It didn't do as well as I hoped but it did get nearly 30 reads and as I look back on it, I realize it still needs work. Call me self-critical, but I can see that while I enjoyed it, I should have waited a little longer. Perhaps if I put it aside, came back to it a day or two later, I might have seen the problems I see now.

Perhaps my most personal article was the Dash. This comes from a funeral service for both my parents in 2007 and 2010. One of my friends, a retired Illinois State Trooper and one of the best men you could ever meet, performed their funerals for me. During the funerals, he referenced the dash. We all get one at birth, he said, followed by an empty space. What we did with it was what matters. The dash represents our story because at the end of the day it's what was between the beginning and the end that counted.

I never forgot that favor, or that lesson, that the Reverend John Sibley taught me at my own parents' funeral. It wouldn't actually take me long to understand and appreciate it, either. As I stood at my mom's funeral, saddened, and confused, I noticed the dash on my grandparent's headstone and the dates that marked their lives together. The Dash got about 20 reads but that's alright. I wrote it for myself and shared it more than I wrote it for any fans I might have one day.

Looking at news articles from around the world can be fun but don't forget to pay attention to what's going on right here in the good old US of A. The sexual revolution ended a long time ago and now, in certain cities, on select college campuses, and even on hiking trails in Oregon, the girls get to show off the girls. Toplessness is now a part of a growing level of equality in America, which, for everyone's information, I'm all for. This one, however cool it might be, did surprise me however as I also am aware that the world is a very scary and dangerous place filled with dangerous and sick people. So, ladies, enjoy that newfound freedom and the ability to stay cool in the summer but might I suggest the buddy system when hitting those hiking trails? Or perhaps a can of mace...think about it.

Like I said earlier, sex sells. Our feelings on nudity may be changing but at the end of the day, the word itself excites our imaginations and gives us a special feeling. As was also the case of Two Little Words which wound up being my third most-read story. Two Little Words has 135 reads to date. This story is more about social commentary on nudity and how it might benefit us to be open about it. After a few psych classes and lectures, sleeping naked is definitely the way to go for a good night's sleep. So what is it competing with, you might ask.

I wrote a series in Filthy about a lesbian couple that finds themselves in the middle of the most adventurous and torrid affair of their lives. It was a multi-part story called Shelly's Fantasy and it was received pretty well, particularly part-3. In a section called filthy, a story about two good-looking women exploring their sexuality and their bodies in sometimes outdoors and very public ways was exciting? I'm shocked.

My most successful story was done, in my opinion, quite by accident. I was reading a post by a current correctional employee and it got me thinking about my years in the field and the way I saw calling in dealt with at times. I started writing and before I knew it I had a story that was something worth sharing. Most importantly, I tuned it enough it was relatable to any profession that I can think of. I shared it with the correctional officer pages and sites I was a member of. Before I knew it, literally one week later as it happens to have been a week ago that I published it, it's scored over 2,000 reads and counting.

From stories to poems, to challenges, to informational articles, this has been a fun five months learning my way around the Vocal platform and getting to read and work support some truly talented workers. I've actually had my first cash out, sure it wasn't much. It was enough to make me realize if I worked at it that I might be able to write as a sideline and who knows, maybe get to the point I'm good at it. In the meantime, Vocal keeps me writing at an almost daily pace and that's good practice. The more I'm here the more I get to read some talent-filled pieces of work and as the old saying goes, writers always read and readers always write.

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