The Vocal Challenge

I started off the year with two thoughts about writing.

1. I was tired of thinking being a published author was just a faraway goal; this year I would be done with being told it would be nice if I could write for a living.

2. I love writing, but I need more practice. I need to figure out my style before I can make any of my new ideas come to life.

Occasionally throughout the year, I've dabbled in some classes, info sessions, and really any tidbits I can get on the craft from people who, like the new me, refused to let writing be "some hobby". There are days I have the confidence to compare myself to a young Steven King, walking down train tracks, brooding, getting into trouble for our raw and unapologetic wit. There are also days where I feel completely intimidated by the surprising craft behind 40-50 word sponsored social media posts and wonder if I'm any good at all. So instead of comparing, I've spent the year just trying to learn and add tools to my own toolbox.

Perhaps one of the writers I respect the very most, my dear cousin Shelley Eriksen, gave me the best advice I've received so far in my still short (and promising?) writing career:

"Butt in chair, words on page. It's all about forming habits and finding your voice."

I needed to spend this year just writing. Even if I didn't love every single piece. Even if I was stuck. Even if I thought other people wouldn't like it. It was time to just write. I'm not going to become a published, working writer without writing. And so, I challenged myself to the best way I could think of to keep my butt in the chair and words flowing onto the page: what I so creatively referred to as the Vocal 2020 Challenge. I would write for all 34 Vocal communities, one published piece per community, in one year.

I took my time and took the entire year to complete the challenge. I started out with my screen capture of the 34 squares, each representing a different community, and began chipping away, checking them off with a big green checkmark for each completed. I began with communities I immediately got ideas for; I had the easiest time writing comedy pieces, though most times I'm pretty sure I was the only one laughing, so I stuck to a lighter comedic tone with the ideas that came easiest to me, which began to flourish into my signature tone. I wasn't just "having an easy time with funny pieces", I was learning to incorporate my comedic or satirical take on topics I didn't even know I could turn into a laugh. I was being recognized by Vocal for my ridiculous takes on political involvement in climate change, the bleakness of the human condition since COVID, and Thelma and Louise, despite much of it being my opinion. What I said was making people laugh, and it mattered.

I did not anticipate the ease at which some communities seemed to fit into my "voice"; the poetry, horror, and erotica flew out of my fingers and onto the page as if it were all being released from a depraved, Roger Rabbit/Wonderland style prison. As the year went on, the voice I was developing was one with layers, harmonies, and depth. The goofy, sometimes snide satire writer could certainly take a horrifying, sexy, or poetic tone when she wanted to. I didn't have to sound like one thing all of the time to have a voice or a style. Sometimes the Vocal challenge was just as much about trying on other voices as it was developing the one I call my own.

I did anticipate there being a handful of communities that left me stumped for what almost turned out to be the entire year, and, as luck would have it, I was absolutely correct in predicting something for once. I would visit each week to read through and see what the other members were writing about, but still I was so lost for ideas. I was so lost, in fact, that I resorted to writing one or two articles about how lost I was, wondering if I could engage readers in these communities by at least giving them a laugh, or giving them an outsider's perspective. It didn't work, but I tried. Butt in chair, words on page. They got published.

Of course, the introduction of vocal challenges just as I began my own personal challenge was some of the better luck I think anyone has experienced this year. Week after week, a fountain of writing prompts sprung before me, oftentimes for communities I didn't yet have an idea for, and so my butt stayed in the chair, and the words kept filling the pages. Vocal really helped me out there-- thanks, everyone.

I would hate to be that person that now transitions into the nice 60's sitcom trope-esque summary about how surely there must be some lesson to come of the shitty year we've had, and I would also hate to use the cliché introduction where you say you don't like what you're about to do but do it anyway. I hate a lot of things about conclusions in my writing, so here we are.

A year filled with so much unrest just has to lead to some growth. I can't raise a son or work in healthcare or continue to pursue my dream of making people laugh for a living if I don't tell myself that the shitty things happen for a reason. During the tough times this year, I escaped to my Vocal page, and I wrote. I grew. I learned. Vocal enlivened me. Vocal filled me with hope and helped me to bring that hope into every aspect of my life, but especially into my relationship with myself. The Vocal challenge created confidence I could have never imagined as a writer. I had no idea my goals for my writing could be as big as they were until I started this challenge, and now I am so ready for more.

I didn't just learn about myself and my own style on Vocal this year, either. Vocal communities are growing at an impressive rate, and the talent that you can find in everyone single one of the 34 communities here is beyond belief. I now know a little about stocks thanks to the many incredible creators from the Trader community, scared myself frozen skimming chilling tales through my fingers from the talent on the Horror community, observed brilliant and original art on the Photography and Poets communities, and waded deep into the Swamp to listen to the creators changing the world of politics (to name a few). I honestly learned from and admired a handful of creators each time I entered these communities to try my hand at joining them, and I now have so many incredible creators to look up to and learn from in my journey forward.

I hope that many of you will take part in a new challenge for 2021. I will be moving on to a few new ideas for series here on Vocal, but I know you'll catch me in some more challenges, and very soon, thanks to Vocal and the support of our readers and creators, I'm pretty sure you'll catch me on the best seller's list.

Happy New Year, everyone. Stay safe, and keep writing.