Stories You Should Read Today - Part 1

Hello everyone!

When I joined Vocal, I did not know how much I would become attached to the community. I still have to find another bunch of people who want others to succeed like you, guys, here!

Vocal has a lot of room to grow. Many features are still missing, including RSS feeds, individual creator subscriptions, post / comment editing options, private messaging, and spam blocking features. With that said, my two years on the platform have been very rewarding. Several of my stories have been selected by the team as Top Stories. The Vocal challenges have given me much food for thought, allowing me to stretch my mental muscles and find ideas and concepts for future books. My writing output has increased so much in the last two years!

The most enjoyable part of the Vocal experience remains the discovery of excellent content written by others. Many of the stories that I have read have stayed with me and inspired me in more ways than one.

Today, I would like to highlight a few of them.

Ready? Set! Go!

• "You, Me and Us" by Dana Crandell - My favorite poem from Dana!
• "Moon Light and Bare Feet" by Julie O'Hara - The ending always makes me emotional.
• "My Love For You Is" by Natalie Wilkinson - One word: splendid!
• "the gift" by Ward Norcutt - You can tell Ward is a playwright. He knows how to leave meaning between the lines...
• "Love Signs" by Babs Iverson - An excellent entry for the Short and Sweet Challenge!
• "This Is for You" by Judey Kalchik - Judey does not need any introduction. We all know how talented she is. 😉
• "How Heavy Is the Burden You Carried Mother?" by Ronke Babajide - I really enjoyed learning about the inspiring life of Ronke's mother.
• "Music" by Ali SP - "Music is a universal language that even the birds speak" Enough said! 🙂
• "Wrinkled Hands" by Zakiya - If you really look at people's hands, you will notice that they tell stories too. Zakiya's poem is incredible.
• "Lennon's Breeze" by Lisa A Lachapelle - "There is an acorn in my pocket / The size of a little song." Lisa's enchanting poem will leave you wanting more.
• "Dear Grief" by LaShunta H - It is a fact that everybody will eventually have to go through grief. The simple, albeit profound truths of this piece moved me deeply.
• "Just One Night More" by Frankie Martinelli - The repetitions and the flow of this piece are wonderful!
• "A Day of Solitude" by Amethyst Champagne - Among the many memorable lines in the poem, this one really stands out: "Many people didn't understand the peace solitude brought me."
• "Some Haiku for Winter" by Crysta Coburn - Haiku are hard to master. So, I am always happy when I find some well written ones.
• "Girl in the Woods" by Sarah Loyd - This poem inspired by a painting is a treat!
• "Pieces of Pieces" by The Dani Writer - The Dani Writer is one of the most inspiring and talented writers on Vocal. Her piece is a great example of the depth of her style.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this list. What did you like reading the most?

NB: I have more great stories to share with you. So stay tuned!

If you feel like reading some more, here is one of my stories.

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Cendrine Marrouat is a writer, photographer, podcaster, blogger, anthology editor, and the co-founder of Auroras & Blossoms and A Warm Cup of Cozy. She has authored and co-authored more than 40 books, including The Train: A Short Story (2023), In Her Own Words: A Collection of Short Stories & Flashku (2022), After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine (2021), Rhythm Flourishing: A Collection of Kindku and Sixku (2020), Walks: A Collection of Haiku (2019-2020), and In the Silence of Words: A Three-Act Play (2018).

Cendrine's work has appeared in many publications. She is the creator of the Sixku, Flashku, Sepigram, and Reminigram; as well as the co-creator of the Kindku, Pareiku, Vardhaku, and Hemingku.