To Vocal With Love

First things first: Congratulations on the #200!!

>To Vocal for placing them and to all the participants. There are so many talented writers here that keeping up with the volume is tricky. There's so much great work exhibited that it's impossible to read everyone's posts. But we try. The challenges are excellent and exciting. I'm not the only member looking for new ones opening up. Although not new, the concept has the most exciting subjects. It makes it easy to take part in them and have a great time doing so.

In this New Year, there will be new ideas, new projects, and hopefully fantastic productivity.

On Vocal, I came up with a project off the top. I decided to write one-of-a-kind stories and link them together to form a novella. Something different from what I'm accustomed to writing; something fresh. Hopefully, it will make people think, send a message, or have the story be so entertaining that it would be hard to pass. Although there will be episodes with standalone chapters, they will always be written with the reader in mind. Always‌.

Storytelling is fascinating for both the reader and the writer. We can't get enough of it, which isn't new.

For millennia, we have been telling and listening to stories. Since before the Stone Age, we have been telling stories and entertaining our listeners. Sometimes for an eager audience, other times for our close friends, and sometimes for our family.

I have envisioned my participation on the Vocal platform in 2024 to consist of more than 50% of stories to continue in episode form. The rest will probably be essays or short stories on their own, with a beginning and an ending.

I can't wait to engage and start writing all those. I believe they could be exciting, engaging, and thoughtful.

Writers like to stay within the confines of their comfort zones because it feels… well, comfortable. But, sometimes, when we step out of said zones, is when we find ourselves producing our best creations.

It's an understandable compromise. Yet, the more we experiment with styles and forms, the better we'll be for us, and the benefits could be enormous.

After all, what's the worst that could happen? Most of us like to exercise our brain muscles with prompts that we find here and there.

Sometimes, surprisingly, out of one of those prompts, we end up with a beautiful composition that blows our minds because we weren’t even trying. It was just getting down to the page and letting the muse flow. It happens to all of us. Out of a prompt!

So, you never know. At least we try; that’s what matters. It's important, still, not to dismiss ideas too soon, or we could miss out on some of our most significant work.

It happens all the time, especially when something that ends up in the bin in a moment of disaffection could have been our finest achievement if given the chance. Not only that, but it also happens when we stop for a moment, take a break, and return to it later with fresh eyes.

That break time is essential to the WIP, and we should take them more often unless we are on a roll. The trash bin will always be there if we decide we are no longer interested in pursuing the story for whatever reason, but at least we give ourselves a chance. The literary world may appreciate it more than you ever expected.

So, here’s to 2024 and a new dawn at vocal tryouts.

As long as we're writing, the rest is secondary, story-wise.

Good luck with whatever method you choose.