When It Comes To Vocal And In Life, I Remain Optimistic

I think I’ve already established myself as a positive optimistic person, maybe annoyingly so. Though I won’t apologize for it. I know we can’t all be optimists. If I could change you all into happy positive people, I wouldn’t. That would be incredibly boring. But perhaps a little insight from an optimist's perspective might help.

"Acceptance is the Currency of Love" - Teal Swan

I've always been one to accept people the way they are. I learn early on what I can expect from a person and I align my expectations accordingly when dealing with them. I have a friend who’s not really a phone person so I don’t bother calling her much. If I do call her I understand that there’s a good chance she’s not going to pick up the phone but she’ll text me later. This is what I’ve come to expect and so I don’t get annoyed. As someone who is a phone person, I don’t really like that I can never get her on the phone but I accept that’s how she is. However, I do know that if I text her and tell her it’s important she’ll be the one to call me.

I have another friend who suffers from depression and so she goes completely off the grid sometimes. It sucks. I hate it. I miss my friend and I want to be there for her, but I also understand her need to work through her depression alone.

I love them and I've come to understand and accept their ways. Do I love it? Hell no, but I’m not going to get myself worked up over it. I know what I can expect from them and I don’t upset myself expecting more. Those things are minor in my eyes but of course, not all behavior is acceptable and that's a threshold only I can determine and handle in a way I see fit. That's not what we're talking about here. I'm talking about accepting those tiny, annoying little imperfections. With that said I’m sure there are things that I do that they don't like but have come to accept because they love me. Besides, I do have other friends who are phone people, who I can expect to pick up the phone, who will call me when they’re depressed.

When it comes to Vocal I take the same approach. I’m here to develop myself as a writer and make some money while I’m doing it. Do I expect to get rich? Absolutely, eventually I will. Will it be from writing on Vocal? Probably not. For me, the best part of Vocal is the community of writers that I’ve been able to engage with. It’s turned Vocal into something more than just trying to win prize money. Though that is 100% still the goal here.

There’s a ridiculous amount of talent on this platform. I’ve read stories by so many different people in so many different styles and have literally come across only one writer that felt inexperienced (and that’s okay). I didn't love every single story I read but I absolutely respect the beautiful ways in which a lot of the writers on this platform use language. Everyone’s style is unique and sometimes those styles draw me in completely and sometimes they’re a little harder to get through, but I take something away from most of the pieces I’ve read.

"Nobody's Perfect, But All Of Us Can Be Better Than We Are."- Jackie Stewart

We all know that Vocal isn’t perfect. There’s a lot of things that they could work on and many people have written their Vocal wish lists including myself. You can read mine here. But of course, at the same time Vocal is trying. This is a site run by human beings, it’s never going to be perfect and they’re never going to cater to our every desires. That’s just life. It isn’t always fair. Do they need to work on their transparency? Absolutely and I think they will eventually figure that out. They’ve already given us a nice nugget on how the contests are judged and I appreciated that article. You can read that article here.

I was satisfied by that article, yet I acknowledge there are still questions that need answers. And I do agree that if Vocal wants to thrive as a writing contest site, they need to give us more in terms of what they are looking for. Most of us I’m sure would love to win but we need a little insight from Vocal as to what makes a story a winner. So dear Vocal please tell us the specific reasons that drew you to choose those particular winners. We writers want to know who you are, what you love, and what made you choose those winners. Tell us everything!

"Well, You Know I'm The Forever Optimist."- Arnold Schwarzenegger

My best story was the one I entered into the shark contest (Mirielle), which was separate from the summer fiction series. I write a lot of relationship/romance stories and so I challenged myself to write something completely different. I remembered the movie Losing Isaiah with Halle Berry and a brilliant idea was born. To me, in my eyes that story is a winner. Honestly, I assume there were arguments amongst members of the Vocal team, some pulling for me, some pulling for another writer, but ultimately the other writer won and my story landed in the 4th place spot. This I’m certain of. I live in this reality and I love it.

I see a lot of people openly stating they don’t expect to win and that’s fine if you don’t actually care about winning, but I refuse to join that camp. I absolutely expect to win-- eventually. I focus my thoughts and intentions on what I want and know that eventually at some point I will get it. But I also know I’m up against some seasoned vets and naturally talented individuals so I’ll never be upset that I didn’t win. Each loss is a chance to improve my skills and become a better writer with each story I submit, whether it’s for a contest or not.

Don't get me wrong though, while I want to win and I expect that I will, I'm also not obsessed with it. My wanting to win is very lighthearted. It's a goal and that goal is influencing me to become a better writer. I know I have room to grow, but writing is one of the few things I'm fairly confident about and if I never get chosen on this platform I doubt that would change.

What’s better than winning is getting amazing positive feedback about something I wrote from other Vocal members. Some of your kind and beautiful words have meant the absolute world to me. And the first time I got a tip from someone who wasn’t my best friend I almost cried. I think that dollar meant more to me than any prize money will. It's an honor that someone would send me their hard-earned money because they enjoyed my story so much. That to me is a true win.

If Vocal was my boyfriend I’d be nagging him about not opening up enough. The question is how long am I willing to stick around while he’s working on it. I mean he’s got so many other excellent traits, why wouldn’t I give him the benefit of the doubt? I’d wait because I want to see the shift as he grows into an emotionally intelligent man capable of expressing his thoughts and feelings. Forever the optimist I have faith that he will grow into that man. And that’s how I feel about Vocal too. I absolutely have faith that Vocal will figure out a way to give us more transparency. Their track record shows they've been listening to us and want to give us what we want. We just need to be patient with them. I know some of you have been on this platform a while, but for me, this relationship is still new and I’d like to see where it goes.