Not Now I'm Writing

Not Now, I'm Writing

by Cleve Taylor

During the early months of the pandemic we hardly ever left the house. With two highly vulnerable people in the house, person to person contact was kept at a minimum. Food and household supplies were ordered online and left at our doorstep. A daughter found a fleeting supply of masks and sent some to us. My wife retreated into BritBox streaming video, and I continued my lifetime activity of reading, though more and more of my books were digital. Although the library brick and mortars were shuttered, it seemed like they double downed on digital offerings.

With so much free time I wrote a couple of poems and posted them on Facebook. I was surprised and pleased with the feedback on my poems, but not enough to let it distract me from my reading.

Then one day my other daughter saw a notice for a short story contest to include a Little Black Book and $20,000. She was well aware that years ago I used to create stories for her and her sister and that even today I regularly would see or hear something that would cause me to create a story line and wonder aloud how that idea would work in a novel. Occasionally I would even scribble down a few words. But in recent years nothing ever got completed. So, knowing I needed a stimulus, in this case in the form of a challenge, she sent the vocal.media contest information to me suggesting I might want to write something for the contest.

She was right. The cost of joining vocal.media as a plus member allowing me to compete in the contest seemed reasonable, and a couple of story ideas popped up in my head, so I was off and writing. The combination of the contest, the word count rules, the fun of figuring out ways to incorporate the challenges into stories, all seemed to be tailored for me.

My first story and currently my most read story, "A Really Good Friend" did not win the contest, but I enjoyed writing it so much that I sent in multiple entries to that and almost all the vocal.media challenges since that time. I enjoy sharing my stories with friends and any other readers who run across my offerings, and as of mid-October I have over 140 stories on vocal.media to share with them. None of them, however, have won a contest.

Interestingly enough, milestone bonuses, one Top Story in Fiction, "Reading and Righting", a cowboy shoot 'em up, and other awards, have added up to over $150 which I have transferred to my banking account. That is not enough money to keep me writing. However, the occasional positive feedback I get from readers, when coupled with vocal.media' s challenges and platform are enough to start my mind racing. Writing brings a smile to my face as my characters reveal themselves and their stories to me as I peck away on my keyboard.

Vocal.media's most recent challenge not only offers prizes, but will be the source for a book of vocal.media stories. It is open to the end of the year, and is the biggest challenge they have offered up since I became a member nine months ago. Already I and probably everyone who has had a fiction story accepted by vocal.media are scouring through their existing stories to find stories to enter into the challenge.

New, perhaps better, stories will also be written. We all like a good challenge. I look forward to reading the ones vocal.media selects to put in their book. They will have a lot of good material to select from that deserves a wider audience.

My wife just called to me, something about dinner being ready.

My reply - - - Not now, I'm writing.