A Celebration of Writing

We love to celebrate special events in life. Key birth dates, achievements and historical events. We are almost obsessed with looking back and patting ourselves on the back. We want to embrace the concept of life in order to ensure that we walk away feeling as though we have achieved something. I do at least.

Writing

Writing is a core passion of my life. From the age of five I started writing. From stories for my Grandparents to writing for my fiancee and now today, online via the sources below.

• 363 entries on my personal blog (not including those that were lost in the great Google purge of 2019)
• 260 entries on Medium
• 50 entries on Vocal.

More than 650 entries over the course of three years (not including those that have been lost). I love to write and if there is one wish that I could have for myself, it is that if I can retire early, I will use my remaining years to write and enjoy life.

Whether you like my writing or are more turned off than at a Donald Trump rally, you have to admit that the number evidences my passion. Someone who wanted to dip their toes into the craft would not have kept going for as long as I have.

Passion and determination are my middle names (not really but it would be cool if that was the case). I do not care if I spend my life writing in silence, having no published work behind me. I will continue to push forward and write as much as possible as that is my passion (beyond my wife, friends and family).

What Have I Learned?

About writing in general?

• Always show your work. You may cringe at what you have written and no one may interact, but you will learn from it. You may also be surprised as I have seen 'my bad' pieces receive positive feedback
• You will never be satisfied. If you are, then you are in the wrong craft
• Consistency is key. If you truly want to make a success from this line of work then try to write every day, whether ten words or a hundred, just keep it consistent
• Tie in with events in the calendar if you want a higher chance of gaining attention and feedback for your work
• You are no longer battling personalities, you are battling algorithms. More often than not, your work needs to appeal to the code behind the scenes, as that is what trends.

About Vocal?

• The challenges are great but they will be spammed. What I mean by this is that people will simply submit as many stories as possible, without being fussed about new concepts
• If you want a top story then your best bet is to tie your story into a national or global event. The top stories that I have achieved have centred around Christmas and Easter
• You will not be paid as regularly as Medium. You need at least $20 in your account to withdraw...In a year of writing here, I have been able to make a withdrawal of my funds once
• Grammarly does not work well with the editor. It may be problems with the Mac and Vocal, but for me, when I edit a story in Vocal the Grammarly plugin highlights mistakes, yet when I click to change, nothing changes. The line disappears but the mistake itself remains
• The communication from the admins is sporadic. I only noticed my second top story after I checked my wallet and saw the additional $5 in my balance.

50 Entries

I am proud of what I have achieved. Over the last two years, I have ramped up the writing that I do online. From simply writing in my blog to Medium and Vocal. I have continued to branch out during a difficult time for humanity. My success has been varied yet I have no regrets.

Happiness is something that comes from within and beyond my wife, writing is my passion. My reason for getting up in the morning and the dream that will never quit. It is the constant, the thought that will not leave me alone and the one hobby I have that I continue to come back to.

Vocal has its detractors and it is not perfect, that is true, but there is a place for it. Amidst all the discontent is a platform with great ideas. The challenges are unique to Vocal and offer an added element. Whilst I believe that they should limit each entrant to one submission, the concept is great.

I love the challenge and the age of Vocal. It is a new commodity to the market, continually growing and whilst subscribers and comments have only arrived in the last six months, it is a sign. It is a positive endorsement of a platform that is continuing to grow based on feedback received, whereas Medium is turning into something almost unrecognisable.

A Final Thought

This entry marks my 50th on Vocal. Taken over the course of a year I have slowly observed and grown accustomed to what works and what does not work on this platform. I have seen change and whilst people continue to complain, as far I can see, it is growing. It is continually evolving to the point now, where it is offering the features that you want to see.

The challenges are great but they need further rules to keep the illusion of victory alive. What I mean by this is that there are thousands of writers on here and the odds of your work being chosen are slim. There is more chance of winning money from a scratchcard, but limiting everyone to one entry each would reduce the amount received. It would encourage others and lower the fear that a year-old article will win as it has the correct number of keywords.

I am very happy with what I have achieved over my fifty entries and am very excited to continue to expand my use of the platform.