Vocal Gave Me A Virtual Home

Dear Diary,

The pandemic was quite a challenge for me, but there were heaps of positives to reflect on. One of the positive things I remember about the pandemic was the spontaneous discovery of Vocal. I was scrolling down Instagram when I saw an advertisement for Vocal, and I figured it would be a fun, simple, laid-back and engaging way to spend my summer. I wanted to make a little petty cash and do something purposeful while I was spending many hours at home. There's more to the story than just the random discovery of Vocal on social media!

Since I was in elementary school, I've always dreamed of being an author. As I started maturing and exploring other pastimes and industries before and during the pandemic, my aspirations would always change. Although they would always change, my love for writing never ended. I didn't want it to end, because it was not just a pleasurable hobby I kept for many years, but also has been a method of therapeutic self-expression for me. Writing has saved me from many things such as loneliness and self-hatred. There were times in my life when I was disappointed, dissatisfied and infuriated with myself, but writing helped me get through these tough times. The fact that life kept getting better for me was because I decided not to relinquish my love for writing.

When COVID-19 conquered the world, I was flabbergasted. I had no idea that I would spend many days at home and I also had no idea that I would be laid-off from my summer job as an arts and crafts instructor at a day camp. Grieving the loss of opportunities that has kept me out of trouble and brightened up my days was a challenge I had to tackle with for the rest of 2020. Luckily, I started adapting to the surreal changes to my routine and began brainstorming possible ideas of purposeful activities that I could make money doing while I was spending many days at home. I knew that writing was the most ideal thing to do, because I could make some money, stay at home, do something meaningful and finally pursue my dream as an author! Vocal gave me a chance to start my career as a writer. I had a heap of poems to publish for pay, so I started out by publishing a small collection of my poems that were written a year before the pandemic occurred. Then, I tried different kinds of writing such as lifestyle writing, travel blogging, leisure blogging, recipe writing and personal story writing. After trying out those kinds of writing, I decided that my main writing/blogging niches were going to be poetry, travel, health, lifestyle, leisure, nutrition, food, recipes, culture, languages, visual arts and music, because these are topics that fascinate me the most. It wasn't until this past winter that I revisited diary writing, because it was nice to share parts of my life story not just by writing poetry, but also by writing diary entries that the Vocal family can read. I didn't want to only write informative pieces, because I believed it would be boring and too time consuming. Change is more interesting. Same is boring. That's just my theory of the beauty of writing.

Since 2020, I've been nothing but grateful and honoured to be a part of the Vocal family! It's quite difficult to find free, affordable and inclusive writing opportunities for writers with disabilities such as myself, and Vocal definitely provides these unique and exciting opportunities for writers with disabilities. Many creators with disabilities experience cyberbullying, hate, discrimination and are denied opportunities, because of the thought that "they are not capable enough to contribute to society", which makes these creators feel discouraged from writing and creating. Vocal allows writers from all walks of life to freely articulate their thoughts and share their creative talents with people around the world on a secure, properly-formed, bias-free and inclusive online platform . Since I've been a part of the Vocal family, I've never felt biased, discouraged, discriminated and insulted for sharing my beliefs and creativity. Not only have I been able to start my career as an author, but I've also had the time to meet and network with various creators from all over the world, which is quite special. Many of the creators I've interacted with made me feel welcomed, encouraged, confident, included and a part of the Vocal community. From my point of view, Vocal is not just an online community for people to embark on their creative journeys, but also a place that people can call "their virtual home".

Thank you Vocal for giving me an opportunity to begin my career as an author and to connect with great people! Because of the tremendous success I've had and the beautiful and privileged life that you continue to give me, I'm not leaving the Vocal community anytime soon. I'll work part-time, but I'll still be a part of the community. You've saved me from depression, anger, boredom, sadness and have made it easier for me to ride smoothly through the hardships of the pandemic and my life overall.

Stay tuned for more awesome content!

Sincerely,

Talia Devora

Thank you for taking the time to read this diary entry I've been planning on writing for weeks now. It finally happened and I'm glad I took some time out of my day to write this out! If you enjoyed this piece, please give it a heart, share it with others, comment and send me a tip/pledge to show your appreciation and support. To find and read more exciting content, please consider subscribing and visiting my public profile. Stay tuned for more awesome content!

Please feel free to connect with me outside of Vocal!

IG Profile: @tdwrites24

FB: Talia Devora