Is it Really 2024?

Writing about 2024 feels surreal. I still catch myself writing 2021 when I have to date a paper. The past few years have flown by with no remorse. Lately, I have felt the hand of time moving more quickly, making me aware of how finite time is. With such little time on this planet time is our most valuable resource. Growing older, times seems to move faster, making me aware how special it is.

I have been conscious of the idea that time moves faster and faster as we age since I was a kid. I vividly recall telling my dad one summer when school had just ended that, “Soon it would be school again and the summer would be over.” He told me, “As you get older, time only moves faster.” While he reminded me not to worry about time passing so fast, I couldn’t help it. The idea stuck on a bulletin board in my brain ever since.

Stop Overthinking and Start Writing

While the idea of time passing quickly can be motivating to some people, it is terrifying to me. Rather than using this idea to motivate my writing, thinking about it has often stunted it. Sometimes I start to think “If life is so short how can I even decide what to focus my writing on.” Or I think, “I have to hurry up and write something, otherwise I will have wasted so much time and written nothing.” Over the years, overthinking has killed my creativity. I’ve often missed opportunities because I have spent so long thinking about how I should approach something. Usually, by the time I have made a decision the opportunity is gone. This year, my biggest goal on Vocal is to stop overthinking and to start writing. This goes for participating in challenges, writing poetry, fiction and whatever else comes up. I know, this is something easier said than done.

The first step I ever took in this direction was signing up for Vocal. When I first signed up for Vocal a little over a year ago, I was writing more often. I submitted something to most of the challenges and was writing daily. Signing up for Vocal had me giddy with excitement. I thought about the platform a lot. What challenges were going on, what authors I might discover next and the opportunity for feedback on my own writing. All of it was so exciting! Over the past year and a little bit, having Vocal has forced me to focus more on my writing and given me the opportunity to read other people's work. Overall, it’s been a very positive influence in my life as a writer.

Writer’s Block

As much as I love to write for Vocal, there came a point last year when other areas of my life demanded more attention. I quickly forgot about the platform. After the first few months on the platform, my honeymoon phase was over. Not because I didn’t like the platform anymore, but because I wasn’t putting in the time. Between moving, getting a new copywriting job, experiencing health issues, and dealing with the loss of two important figures in my life, my creativity hung out to dry. In other words, I experienced severe writer’s block.

At some point, I’m sure every writer experience writer’s block. At different times in my life, my creativity doesn’t always flow so easily. The past half a year I have experienced a prolonged writers block. The kind where everything you write doesn’t sound quite right and it takes you six hours instead to write something that would’ve normally taken you two. Some days I write paragraphs only to scrap them all the next day.

While I’ve neglected the Vocal challenges over the last few months, I am going to start using them to power my way through this bout of writer's block. I’m hoping if I force myself to work on them every day, my creativity will start to flow more freely again.

Beyond Vocal

Beyond my Vocal goals, I have some other writing ambitions for the year. I’ve been thirsty for some hefty critiques and advice for my writing. Outside the Vocal platform, the best place I can think of to get this kind of feedback is school. I’m hoping to take a creative writing course, to level up my skills. Whether it’s a full fledge certificate or workshop, I’m just looking for opportunities to improve my writing.

I also have a couple personal projects that I want to poor some love into that aren’t meant for Vocal (sorry to deprive you all). I'm hoping writing more on Vocal will help my creativity flourish so I can work more on these.

All in all, I'm looking forward to the year ahead. The past year I read some incredibly pieces from Vocal writers and met some wonderful people. This year I can't wait to read more amazing stories and write a few myself. Here's to another great year with Vocal!

------

Thanks for reading :)