Better Than Before

A few days into the new year, I, along with other Vocal writers, received an email from Vocal summing up my 2023 on the platform. The email also mentioned it was the best year yet for Vocal. While it may have been Vocal’s best year to date, it certainly wasn’t my best year on Vocal.

It may even have been my worst.

The only way is up

So, when Vocal asked what my intentions are as a creator on Vocal in 2024, it didn’t take me long to decide: my intention is to be better than before. I want this year on Vocal to be more productive than the last.

This should be easy since I only wrote and published 19 stories on Vocal in 2023.

But then, we are already nearing the end of another long January, and this is only my first piece of 2024 on Vocal. Not going to beat myself up though, because what good will that do? No beatings here, just the intention to do better.

What does better look like for me as a Vocal creator?

Saying I will do better is a vague intention. What does it really mean? How will I measure my success? Should I set myself a goal to publish a story on Vocal every week, or every two weeks?

I think not. And that’s not because I don’t have high aspirations as a Vocal creator. But neither do I want to set the bar too high. I want to be realistic in setting my Vocal writing goals and then I will be more likely to succeed.

Therefore, my intention is to publish at least one more story on Vocal in 2024 than I did in 2023.

At least one more than in 2023 means publishing 20 stories on Vocal in 2024. Of course, I’d like it to be more, many more, but best not to push it. I like to make myself happy and feel successful. And when I get to that 20, I can always revise my goal.

How am I going to ensure I do better than in 2023?

Looking back at my 2023 on Vocal, most of the stories I wrote were inspired by Vocal challenges. And so is my first story of 2024.

I enjoy the Vocal writing challenges because they often encourage me to write in styles or genres I would not normally write in. It's a great way to flex different writing muscles and learn more about myself as a writer.

So I’ll harness the power of challenges again this year. If I can enter (almost) every challenge, I will have sailed past my target of 20 stories in 2024 by the end of the year.

So keep the challenges coming, Vocal.

The other side of doing better on Vocal in 2024

The reverb email focused on my achievements as a writer, but I can also be a better reader on Vocal. After all, it is a community of readers and writers and the latter would be pointless without the former. Obviously.

I know that in 2023 I didn’t read nearly as many stories from other Vocal creators as I would have liked. There are so many wonderful writers contributing to the platform. This year I want to explore more stories written by other creators.

I love it when people show me love and I want to show more love to others on Vocal in 2024. I want to share more likes and comments to show my support.

I feel I should give this intention a target number, too, to make it easier to measure my success. The number I’m going for is ten stories per week. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but life can get very hectic, as we all know. But ten per week should be manageable.

I’m open to recommendations, so let me know in the comments who I should be following on Vocal in 2024. I will certainly check all those creators out and everyone who comments, too.

To put that all in a nutshell

My 2024 intentions as a Vocal creator are to publish at least 20 stories in 2024 and support other creators more by reading at least 10 stories per week. And who knows, maybe then I will see my name featured on Vocal’s next yearly leaderboard.

Fancy helping me to be better on Vocal? If you haven't already subscribed, press that subscribe button to see all my stories in your feed. And if it looks like I'm disappearing off the radar, post a comment on this or one of my other stories to remind me of my intention.

Thank you!