Top Stories
Stories in Motivation that you’ll love, handpicked by our team.
Failure
"If he made me in his image he's a failure too" Laura Marling, Failure, Alas I cannot swim I have been thinking a lot lately about how I am objectively a failure. Now, hear me out, before you try to pump me up I'll give you a good argument why it's true and also a pretty decent argument to why it's okay.
River JoyPublished 12 days ago in Motivation
I’m Entering Every Vocal Challenge for a Year
I’ve had this Vocal account since January 2022, but didn’t start using it until a few weeks ago. I paid $49 for a year of membership. I submitted stories to two challenges. Already, it has changed my life.
NaomiPublished 18 days ago in MotivationSigns of Life
My daughter came home from a friend's house and told me, “That was the cleanest house I’ve ever seen and they kept talking about how messy it was.”
Leslie WritesPublished 26 days ago in MotivationThe Craft of Cinematic Prose
One Arabian summer, a notorious street rat cons his way into courtship with the local princess. Between swaths of Robin Williams one-liners and cultural stereotypes, he offers the princess a world tour via magic carpet. As they take to the skies, the suitor serenades his love with a now-iconic ballad, beginning with these words:
Addison HornerPublished about a month ago in MotivationThe Value of Web Presence
The Breakdown I’ve been writing on Vocal for eight months, and the experience has coaxed some of my best short fiction out. They reeled me in with their unique short story challenges. I spent a couple of months submitting and losing in contests like the Runaway Train and The Aquarium – but I caught early spirits with a Runner-Up placing in the New Worlds challenge.
Zack GrahamPublished 2 months ago in MotivationWhy Haiku?
So, if you’ve been on Vocal for a while now (or at least since November ‘22!) you may have noticed, what Mike Singleton - MikeyDred lovingly refers to, as the “Plague of Haiku.” Since November, Vocal has announced three separate haiku challenges, the most recent one even being the chance to write a “Quadru-Haiku.”
sleepy draftsPublished 2 months ago in MotivationPost #1: Death
This Week’s Topic: Death Answers to Last Week’s Question The question that was posed last week: "Think about a time where you have lost someone you loved or imagine that you have. What would your initial reaction be upon hearing that you lost someone?"
InnominairePublished 2 months ago in Motivation
The Life of Danny Trejo- From Ten Years in Prison to Superstar
Danny Trejo looks like he came straight out of a crime story. He wears leather clothes and has tattoos all over his body. The permanent lines on his face and the fact that he has a criminal record prove that he has had a hard life. When he was young, Danny Trejo almost died in prison.
ChukwuebukaPublished 2 months ago in Motivation
Destined Piano Instructor
Have you ever ran away from life’s destined path? Wondered why something keeps coming back over and over again? This has happened to me and why I ended up with this career today.
Stina JourneyPublished 3 months ago in MotivationNew Year; My Favorite Holiday
The cliché question of; "What's your favorite holiday," has always thrown me for a loop. Sure there is Valentine's day or Christmas, but when I tell people New Year's Day they are a little confused, let me explain.
Karli LawPublished 3 months ago in MotivationWhat Writing a 100,000-Word Novel Taught Me
THE END. Typing those two words in a Starbucks on December 22, 2022, lifted a burden from my shoulders. The story that latched onto my brain nearly two years ago finally had a home on my computer’s hard drive. Every character and every moment had been extracted from my gray matter and regurgitated in the form of a million messy keystrokes. That may sound gruesome, but writing is a violent art, and I emerged from battle that day sore, sweaty-fingered, and still alive.
Addison HornerPublished 3 months ago in MotivationWhy Bukowski didn't try. And why you shouldn't either.
If you’re like me, then chances are that at some point in your life, you’ve come across Bukowski’s wild, wonderful, and often, incredibly wise words. Chances also are pretty great that you’ve either been thrilled by his acute observations on human life or perhaps, horrified by his utter lack of respect for the conventions of poetic expression.
Sayak MondalPublished 3 months ago in Motivation
