What the F was I thinking!

What the F was I thinking!

Really?

THAT was my master plan?

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Trying to win bits of competition cash from VOCAL?

What the hell am I?

A delusional 12-year-old?

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I am Not, in any way meaning to be throwing ‘shade’ (as the kids are now calling it) at VOCAL.

VOCAL is a good site.

The only so-called “Shade” I am casting, is at my own dam self!

How stupid am I?

The same applies to any other competitions put out there, by ANY other site.

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Having “Winning Contest” as part of your overall business earning plan is sheer madness!

Not cool “SPARTA” type madness.

Instead, the much sadder, sticking your head in a blender full of acid and calling yourself Napoleon style madness!

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For some reason, as part of my effort to be a successful freelance writer,

I felt that paying a membership fee and entering contests was somehow a good idea.

Winning at least a few hundred a month on average was the basis of my solo earning strategy.

(Deep embarrassed facepalm!)

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DO NOT GET ME WRONG!

Supporting sites like VOCAL is an admirable thing!

It helps support the site and the writers or artist that use it.

Entering site competitions (Either VOCAL or any other similar site) is a great way to stretch your skills and push yourself into genres you might not normally be comfortable with.

Membership fees to such sites are a good and great thing!

… As a Hobby.

And ONLY as a hobby!

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Not as a freelancer “Earning plan”

Even IF you happened to be the best possible writer in the entire living world

EVEN IF you were some ungodly half mix love child mutant of Shakespeare and Terry Pratchett combined…

(Which I am not)

The odds are stacked so heavily against you… it becomes silly!

Because it is not about the best writing,

Is about most commercial writing.

Which is not necessarily, always, the same thing!

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Then round two…

Even if you were the best AND the most commercial writer in the living world,

(Of which I am neither.)

Then you have to be “popular” and have a following…

Which means being “Nice”

And nauseatingly enough “Charming”

The lifeblood of the future of a site is its various followers.

It only makes financial sense to prioritise and favour writers that can bring in loyalty and followers.

I would ruthlessly do the exact same thing in those sites’ shoes!

It is the right call and the correct thing to do.

That is how business works in the real world, (And rightly so…)

Electric bills don’t pay themselves!

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I am not the type of person that courts popularity well.

Quite frankly, If I liked people that much, I would not be trying to become a shut-in writer and artist to avoid both all of them and all of you out there!

To be even franker, I don’t like people at all!

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So, the chance of me winning ANYTHING Vs the thousands of contestants who may be more commercial AND who might enjoy being “Pleasant” to people, is very, Very, VERY, VERY unlikely!

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This is even before we touch on the dreaded quality question.

There are limits to how good (however hard I try) a mentally ill dyslexic person can be at writing.

Such as there are limits to how effective a physically disabled person could ever be vs an able-bodied counterpart!

As heroic, fantastic and genuine as their achievements may be, there is a valid reason that they have their own Olympics!

There is a reason why I will never have an “Even playing field” vs All other writers.

AND I DO NOT WANT ANY TOKENISIM!

I insist on failing on my own two feet rather than tick a box that magically gives me extra sympathy points when I compete.

I will always choose to die an honest loser than being patronised and baby coddled like that!

That would just be far too humiliating to bear!

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TO SUMMERISE!

DO joins and pay fees to sites like vocal,

DO support them and help them grow!

As a hobby…

But NEVER EVER as a key to personal success.

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If like me, you are just such an unmitigated skutter, trash rat, unsuccessful failure in life, that you struggle to afford the mere $10 a month…

Then stick to the free version of such sites.

And for goodness’ sake…

DO NOT be delusionally foolish enough to base paying your vital bills on winning competitions!

For that way…

… Only sheer madness lies!

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