Writers Should Be Using Vocal+
If you're still on the fence as to whether or not you should sign up for Vocal+, then here's the reason you should jump down from there and join us
I very much doubt that I am the only writer this side of the universe or any other side for that matter that struggles to stay focused. A creative mind is a wonderful and beautiful thing but it has a tendency to buzz and run from one creative project to another. For the longest time I struggled to stay focused on any one writing project and even harder to stay motivated when I did. Writing like any other craft takes practise.
I have tried a variety of techniques to keep me focused on the written path but it never worked. Don't believe me?
List of tried, tested and abandoned methods to 'improve' written focus:
- Write according to a strict schedule
- Always write in the same carefully prepared space
- Write in different and diverse spaces
- Set a word count goal for every day/week/month
- Organise a writing routine, start with a cup of coffee and a prayer to St Jude
- Set an alarm when you write and refuse to stop writing until that alarm bell dings
None of this worked. I was beginning to give up hope that I would ever find something that worked for me, that would keep me writing even when life took over, and then I found Vocal.
During Lockdown the first, like many, I was spending more time than I should have been scrolling through Facebook and as I did, I came across an add for Vocal. It was asking me if I wanted to make money writing with Vocal by entering their latest challenge? Of course I did. I love to write and why wouldn't I want to make some bank from it? I don't normally pay for subscriptions right away but in order to submit to the challenge I had to be a Vocal+ member. I really wanted an excuse to write something and the lure of a pretty penny in the form of prize money called to me. So I paid up for the subscription, wrote my piece, submitted it and hoped for the best. I figured if I didn't win anything I would just cancel my subscription when the first month was up, No harm no foul.
I did not win.
Okay I'll admit, I was a little disappointed...alright fine...I was a lot disappointed. Creatives can often take what they perceive as rejection extremely personally and I am no exception but I had committed to at least one month of Vocal+ so I stayed with it.
Over the course of that month I found myself writing more and more. There were more challenges and I entered them and even though I still didn't nab a prize, it bothered me less and less. Before I knew it I was six months into a rolling subscription and I was writing more than I had in years.
I started entering challenges not because I wanted to win, but because it was giving me a whole new sense of motivation when it came to writing. I was enjoying myself and I finally had what I had been looking for; focus. Real and sustainable focus.
It's not about winning, it's about taking part. Being a highly competitive person, this was a concept that had for the majority of my life been lost on me, but becoming a Vocal+ member really taught me the importance of that well known statement. Every challenge I felt I could take part in, I did and when I acquainted myself with the communities within Vocal as well, like Blush, Horror, Criminal, Journal and realised that I finally had the platform that I had been looking for to write about whatever I wanted whenever I wanted I was writing more than ever. It kept me focused.
So; if like me, you are a writer that has struggled to keep your focus, trust me, try Vocal+. Enter some challenges, explore the communities and just write.
About the Creator
Clara Elizabeth Hamilton Orr Burns
"I was always an unusual girl
My mother told me that I had a chameleon soul
No moral compass pointing due north
No fixed personality...
...With a fire for every experience and an obsession for freedom"
-Lana Del Ray
Ride
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