I'm Getting Close to My 1,000 Reads Mark

1,000 reads.

What does this even mean for me? For others?

It's quite the achievement for writers on Vocal, I feel.

At least writers like me who are quite invested in our little Vocal life.

And Vocal has become a significant part of my life.

I find myself reading through articles, commenting on good stories (poems mostly - I admit I'm biased - I only mostly read poetry!), and thinking of ideas to write on Vocal in my spare time.

Even now, while my mother in law sits across me, watching her favourite Indian serial, I'm looking at my Vocal stats (tell me, who doesn't?) and thinking wow - so close to 1,000 reads.

What does this mean for me?

It means I'm grateful.

Grateful that my random ramblings - or what people call poetry - gets read.

Grateful that people actually support me on this platform. Some more regularly than others.

Grateful for all the other achievements on Vocal. Yay to top story awards, bonuses, and well... reads!

*pauses to check how long I've been around here...

Joined in September 2022

That's almost a year and a half.

Since then, I've written over 70+ stories. I've gotten at least 300+ subscribers.

While all these numbers are GREAT. There's something more to Vocal website that keeps pulling me back.

It's the freedom to write whatever I want, I feel. I don't actually THINK about "oh, who's going to read this?" or "oh, who's going to like this kind of work?" and all those imposter syndrome things that happen when I write for clients or on other platforms. I just write.

Free. Easy.

My random ramblings sometimes are appreciated more than others. A nice bonus, top story - all act as icing to the cake.

But seeing familiar names comment, or people like and give insights to my stories just makes the heart flutter a little.

Sure, I don't write as much as I do on Vocal than I do on other platforms. Vocal is the "fun" that I have over the weekend when my husband is busy partying with his cousins. Vocal is the "calm" I have when I've had a long day but my short attention span doesn't quite allow me to focus on what's going on on the TV in the background (my mother in law just left the TV on to HBO and eww, did Harrison Ford just puke all the food that he chomped down? what movie is this?), so I randomly scroll through Vocal and click on poem titles that sound like fun to read.

Or write this article at this moment.

That's Vocal for me. How it's a part of my life right now. I talked about how this could change, but I'm liking how I feel right now.

What's that got to do with me hitting the 1,000 reads mark?

Nothing much.

But maybe just another vanity metrics that I appreciate. That make me feel appreciated, validated and grateful even more than I usually do. Another reason for me to keep coming back - knowing that something is working, versus coming back to something fun but also not "responsive". Because which writer wants to write for only fun - we do want / need some kind of validation, right?

Rightttt?

Haha.

So many emotions, really.

For those of you who have stuck around, subscribed, commented, and duh, read my stories and poems - thank you so much!

For those of you who have helped, pointed out support, made it fun, written amazing poems and stories for me to read - thank you even more!

Here's to another 1,000. IF possible.