Vocal Challenges: We All Win

It’s always exciting isn’t it? As a Vocal writer we see a new challenge posted and we can’t wait to get those home keys rolling so we can type our way into winning a challenge. It’s actually very fun to me. I love entering these challenges as much as I can to go for the gold, but naturally there is a big dose of disappointment that comes with these challenges. Let’s be real, 98% of us have never won a challenge, another 80% of us have never even been a runner up. As much as it seems like a big let down when you don’t win a challenge, I’m here to tell you why no matter how many times you don’t end up being a finalist in a challenge, you are still winning.

When I say we are all winners when it comes to these challenges I don’t mean it in the politically correct “I don’t wanna hurt everyone’s feelings” way. I genuinely feel like are all winners when you examine the subconscious gains we obtain.

You Become More Open Minded

These writing challenges often give us assignments to write about dealing with subject matter that we may not have prior experience with and in the process we get our feet wet in waters we have never tested. Before Vocal challenges I was never interested in writing a love story, but I wanted to give it a shot and participated in the “Improbable Paradise” love story challenge. I spent a few days crafting a story I titled “Storm Of Life”. With all the effort I put into writing this story it probably on garnered like three reads and was nowhere near even making it to a runner's up position, but after reading over it a few times I felt really impressed with myself. I actually enjoyed my own story and discovered that I did in fact have it in me to write a love story and if I wanted to, I could write plenty more. Perhaps one day I will write another, one that will captivate many and bring a level of accomplishment that I could not find even on Vocal.

You Gain Knowledge Of Different Writing Styles.

When I was in elementary school I briefly learned about writing Haikus and Limericks. In the long run of life these styles of poetry and writing did not resonate with me because I never had to practice them again. Ever since Vocal has started incorporating these writing styles with their challenges I have been practicing them more and more. I have come to find that I actually have a knack for writing Haikus. I even enjoy reading them as much as I do writing them. It is safe to say that in writing Haikus for Vocal I have discovered a strength I did not previously realize I had.

You Build Up Your Profile And Resume

As writers for this site we are always constantly trying to raise our reads and subs. This is all dependent on how much work we write and put out. Every now and then we can develop a sense of writer’s block on our own ideas and end up not being able to come up with something to write about to keep our profiles in the conversation. With these Vocal challenges we are being given good ideas on what to write about and this comes in very handy if we cannot think of anything to write by ourselves.

You Learn From Your Peers

When every challenge concludes we waste no time running to view who are the winners and the runners up. Even if you are not on the list, and this applies to most of us, it is good to study the stories of the winners and runners up so you can learn what exactly it is you may need to work on in regards to your own writing skills. Iron sharpens iron, and the best always learn from the best, so if you want to be your best it’s good to evaluate what your peers are doing so well and you may find yourself in the same boat or possibly somewhere better if you allow yourself to learn from their accomplishments.

I hope everyone in the Vocal community reads this article and views their participation in these challenges with a little more optimism. Do not be discouraged by not being a finalist because as long as you take something from a challenge you can learn from, then you can never lose.