The Voice

I joined the Vocal Community right around the end of 2020 (I think it was November/December).

From there, I posted here and there; maybe urged on by a "Challenge" or Several.

I was either writing something tongue-in-cheek about music or a fictional dream sequence/"Bachelor"-segment; or I was being real and writing an open letter to a late grandmother or outgoing president. Other times, I wrote about my home town, or introduced myself, or wrote about thrift store adventures.

I'm a fiction author by art form and am still working on the narrative voice for anything else.

Anyway, I had a "Vocal" membership and decided to USE it (again, usually, if a "Challenge" that caught my fancy came along). By some point before the start of April, I had about 12 different posts; and was floundering at around 150-some odd reads/hearts.

I was attempting to share most of my content with my Facebook friends (and, on occasion, I copied the correct link to the actual post). However, at best, I had a single post with 30-some reads (I guess people liked my "Singles Awareness Day Setlist"); and about 5-6 posts with 0-5 reads. (It's a lot like posting when I release a new Self-Published Work. After my third novel, people to this day demand to know how many books I have and, to their shock-and-awe, I answer about 12-13. The conversation ends with me saying "...They're either up on Amazon; or for your convenience, I have BOX LOADS of them just begging to be signed and shipped off to a new home...")

Again, the conversation ends THERE and, for all that I know, they went to Amazon (for friends and family, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt).

I've lost track of where I was going here and this was about my "Vocal..." experience.

I needed a GIMMICK to make a Vocal Membership cost effective (and, as a sensitive artist from the writing standpoint, to flex my own ego and self-worth connected to my art).

I discovered the "Vocal Creators Lounge" and a core group of individuals boldly sharing their works with the world and asking for reads/"hearts"/comments. How COULD I say "no, thanks; but while we're here, I wanna talk about MINE!"?

Soon, I was not only receiving real reads and honest feedback from people just like myself; I, in turn, found a lot more entertaining reading material to pass my own time. This is a TALENTED social circle of writers here with some great works to share and I thank you all for sharing them with me, along with supporting my own craft.

By now, I'm at 227 reads, and 75 in the last 30 days, almost 5 days after finding the "Vocal Creators Lounge," daring to share my content (in return for paying it forward/back with some brand new reading material to peruse and enjoy), and learning to put myself out there as a writer again.

I want to thank the "Vocal Creators Lounge" community for truly helping me to find my voice again, to discover a new audience, and the encouragement to keep the writing dream ALIVE.

Cheers/Salut/Write-On/What-have-you.

See you all again soon...