How I believe Vocal and Memberful will make my dreams come true (I am Bexley hard-back novel!)

(Y’all, I got some new plans to add! Check it out!!)

In High-school, I remember being in my Psychology class and a fellow classmate tapping my shoulder. I knew she was a writer for our school newspaper as I had heard her talking of different articles she had been writing periodically to others.

She asked me this, "What makes you stand apart from everyone else?"

This was a very big question. It took me a moment to recollect my thoughts. Then, I answered confidently:

"I write. I write short stories and poems."

Ever since I had learned to read---I had this insatiable, unending need to write. My love of reading--Harry Potter, Bridge to Terabithia, Ella Enchanted, Dear America series, Stephen King, Dean Koontz---everything---had spilled over into realizing that I also loved to tell stories.

I told too many stories, sometimes to a fault---even my teachers would relay to my parents on Parent/Teacher Night on how I liked to tell stories to them about things too fantastic to be true(I would try to say it was true!)---and my mother would just laugh and say, "That's Melissa for you!"

I write everything: poetry, short stories, non-fiction, romance, science fiction, historical fiction, drama and sometimes--fan-fiction.

I had ideas of being a professional writer ever since I was in elementary school. I didn't want to be anything else.

Added author note: I added More to this because I have an additional passion project about my zombie series I am Bexley that I absolutely am going to finish no matter what!——but——-if I had the extra funds necessary, my dream can come true to an even Bigger extent! See below for details!!!

I had dabbled in science, specifically Entomology, the branch of zoology concerned with the study of insects--- a hobby I love to read about and write about at times. I even considered wanting to be a chef as I loved to cook and bake.

But I never got that same incredibly euphoric, crazy, amazing type of joy that came from writing. Nothing compares to it.

I especially love to write romance. Any and every type of romance. I usually write in the male perspective---I always have and I always will. Vocal helped me open up and write more in other perspectives I never thought I could. I want to open up the way I see my audience and seek out a broader audience in general as well. I explained it a bit better in this article:

So, moving on to how Vocal and Memberful can help achieve my writing career dreams.

1. I am a stay at home mother of two. My oldest is eleven, and my youngest is four. I mainly try to get my writing done during a specific time of the day when I am in between chores, errands, cooking, cleaning, doing schooling and reading and activities with my very active and sweet four year old son Noah and my creative and fun eleven year old son Ismael. I try to keep up with it diligently, steadfastly---keeping it in my mind almost like a scheduled job. Vocal is a great platform to do this already, and I feel that Memberful is also an excellent way to get your content out there to gain traction and grow your brand and name.
2. I want to make this my life-long career. With the membership and the funds, I will have more tools and resources available to do this with more flexibility and more room to grow my craft.
3. I have several drafts for series and novels that I would love to publish as well as all of the short stories and poetry I have published on Vocal.
4. I have an undying, burning passion for my characters and their ongoing development. I usually write my characters first. The story comes next--through their backgrounds, their actions, their reactions and the way they see the world(also the world they live in). My characters are always important to me. I love them and I feel like they are an extension of me, and my life. I care about them, and I want you to care about them too. I hope to convey this in the way I write the plot and the narrative to create something original, fresh and not self-aggrandizing.

I had written a top article on Vocal (that came as a huge surprise to me as I had just started out here! I called everyone to tell them about it!) and it was a short story called He Was Everything.

This was a written on a whim within a few hours based on two characters I had been developing for over ten years; their relationship, their childhood, their lives together---everything to the minute detail, I know it by memory and by heart. They are almost like my other children---that only exist on paper. These two characters, Josh and Ben, actually have a much longer and more detailed first person perspective novella written out---something I had been wanting to publish but I haven't yet.

I wrote He Was Everything to see if anyone would like it. Mainly, I wrote it because I missed writing about them.

It made me so happy to see how many people loved them---I hope they could see the warmth and joy I put into writing their interactions, their personalities---their burst of life that I try to have pop out in between the black and white and all the noise and distraction of the world.

Here is that short story:

Another story I’ve been really proud of and have been diligently working on, is a zombie horror/romance series called I am Bexley. I’m up to 13 chapters now, on Vocal’s Fiction and Poets platforms, and it’s not done yet! I usually write a chapter or two a day.

When I first got the email from Vocal of a new Fiction group going live and they wanted me to be one of the first writers to curate a story for it, I was so exited and honored! I also did the curation for the live opening for Vocal’s Pride group! I was very nervous for that launch but I was proud of my results! Here is that story for the Pride group:

I had been thinking of writing a horror story about a couple that couldn’t quite be together(social reasons) anyway, and I wanted to try and write a full story with the main character being a female, and in the first person perspective. As I’ve stated before, that was the most difficult thing for me—-up until I started up with Vocal and these challenges really opened up how I see myself as a writer. Keeping myself confined to only writing in the male voice was bringing me down(as it was my comfort zone), and I knew I had to break away from it.

I am Bexley really was that turning point for me to do this in a satisfying and productive way, because I wanted to make a full-fledged three dimensional person. Bexley is one of my favorite characters I’ve ever created—-she is shaping up to be at the top of my own personal list, because I adore her almost in a parental way. She is strong, sarcastic, has a good sense of humor, has fears and a good sense of her limitations but doesn’t let it put her down—-and she does things on her own to keep her loved ones safe.

I am Bexley ended up being a collection of “doomsday” type of diary pieces of all of my characters, each telling their own unique perspective on the events (either in the past, present, or of what what they want for their future) of the ongoing conflict.

If I win this pool for Memberful, I do absolutely want to create a hardback book for sale on Amazon for I am Bexley with full colored pages of art work and of pivotal scenes of the story. I have an artist friend I’ve collaborated with in the past who is looking into giving me character designs as well that I want to share with the Memberful and Vocal team!!! I will be so excited to see them even in black and white!! Ahhh!! ❤️❤️

I feel that Bexley represents a part of humanity that feels constantly dragged down by a disability (by society making them feel that way)or something that makes them different, either by a physical thing they cannot control, or for how they act or feel, and she stands up and says that yes, differences matter. But, they do not have to bring you down, they can help you understand a situation that others can’t. Your differences make you beautiful—-make you special—-can even give you an edge. Other times, yes, you feel down or exhausted. You feel like giving up, but there’s always a way to keep on trying.

And Bexley makes me feel like that, too. I hope that she makes you feel the same.

Give this thirty year old mother of two sons living in the Midwest a little spark----something to churn up these old dusty words into something everyone can enjoy.

I love writing, I will never stop writing no matter what. Even if I make nothing from it.

I will end with a quote by the lovely, talented, amazing Stephen King:

"Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open."

Happy reading and happy reading!

-Melissa Ingoldsby