How vocal paved my future.

Dear Vocal.

This might be one of the most positive articles I'll ever write.

In April 2021, I had a nervous and psychotic breakdown in which I lost my home and a job I loved doing. I lost friends after isolating myself due to confusion and my entire sense of being.

The result of my mental health difficulties left me struggling with my first episode of manic depression and psychosis (a condition in which hallucinations and delusions are prominent). I'd first started hearing voices in April. By October, I was picked up by police following a call from myself about a domestic abuse situation I'd also found myself in. Overnight, I was placed under the care of a team of nurses and in a psychiatric ward where it was safe enough for me to declare myself homeless.

I began recovering from stress induced anorexia, to which I was a mere seven stone two at my lowest. I began to grieve the loss of my cousin, who had passed away following a suicide attempt thirteen years earlier, and I also met my partner. A partner who has been my rock ever since.

You'd be surprised to know that not only did this happen in a year, but that I've struggled severely with a creative block during that time.

I could enter story after story into Psyche or family... or even earth after finding a newfound love for quantum field theory but... nothing.

I'd write a title only to be stuck at a sub-header. That was at least until the creative writing challenge was presented on vocal+.

Finding the creative writing challenges on vocal+... I figured it would be a fantastic opportunity to be a part of something bigger than me. It gave me the time and option to dive into the deepest depths of my imagination and see what I could come up with.

Fast forward a couple of months, the creative block is entirely gone. I have seven stories awaiting their endings; some fiction and some reality.

The main reason they've gone un-finished is that I haven't been able to find the time to apply their endings. I haven't been able to find time, while collaborating with several publishers interested in working with me on a children's book I've just finished.

Theres a cheetah in my garden is the first and only book I've written, but I have no doubt there will be many more to come.

I currently have roughly seven or eight ideas for books I'd like to publish, which are in the early processes of development. All of which focus on child development, speech milestones, and emotional regulation. All of the things I struggled with as a child.

To say Vocal+ has paved the way for my future is an understatement. They provided me with the opportunity to deep dive into my own imagination as an adult, they gave me the opportunity to connect with my inner child in a way that allowed me to not only heal but to also help, which is all I've ever wanted to do.

So, all that's left to say... is thank you.

Thank for giving me the opportunity to remember who I am before the noise. Thank you for giving me the chance to remember what I needed as a child and thank you for giving me moments in which to remember just how much love and creativity I have to share with the rest of the world. Thank you for allowing me to turn to you, in my darkest and weirdest of times.

Yours sincerely,

Billie Whyte. Future children's author.