Dear Vocal 2024

Dear Vocal,

I am not sure how meta it is to address the writing website that I am currently writing an article for, but it feels right, at least to me. Because, as I enter into your 200th challenge(Congratulations by the way!!) I have to say something to you. Thank you. Honestly and truly, thank you.

Did you know that you saved my writing life? Well you did. I think it is safe to say that without Vocal I would have quit years ago. Without me finding you guys back in 2021, there wouldn't even be any 2024 writing aspirations to write about. Don't believe me?

Let's take my short story series, "The Cal and Mel Adventures". Without you guys holding your Summer Fiction Series Challenges back in 2021, those two crazy kids probably wouldn't have been written, and they absolutely wouldn't have a second season coming out this year if it wasn't for your Whodunit Challenge that you held.

What's that you say? The Whodunit Challenge is closed so I can't still have a story to enter? Well, you're right, but I still tried to write a story for it. I tired to make it the return of Cal and Mel, but it ended up being a little too dark for those characters. After a bit of rewriting, it will be ready to go for 2024, but it was still your challenge that got the ball rolling.

What about Horror? Now that was a genre I didn't think I could write. Enter The Unexpected Uncovering Challenge. You know what you guys did? You gave me the push and platform to post a story that had been floating around in my head for a while.

Married Machina was a strange idea I had about a husband slowly finding out that his wife is a robot. It never really clicked until I saw the challenge prompt. I channeled my inner Jason Pargin(David Wong) and suddenly, a horror story was born. Because of you I now believe in a new dynamic of my writing and I already have a few horror story ideas cooking for 2024.

Let's shift gears... quite a bit. Let's talk about Moana. Two years ago I wrote an article here on Vocal about the Disney movie Moana called, "The Strange Message in Disney's Moana". You wanna know something? It's my most read story.

You wanna know something else? I want that to change this year. Not that I don't like Moana, because I love that movie, read the article to find out just how much, but I want a competition. You hear that past David? I am coming for you! 2024 is the year that I finally beat my personal record.

What's better than a series, a new genre to write, or a two year old article about a Disney movie that makes me cry? The fact that you guys are still going. Vocal, you have given me such an amazing reason to keep writing these past few years... Can I get a little vulnerable for a sec?

I probably would have quit by now...

Sounds dramatic, right? It's true though. You know what they say, "Life happens," and life certainly did happen. With a wife, a couple of kids, a job three cities away, and a business taking up all of my spare time, writing became near impossible.

For a few years there, I pretty much didn't put fingers to keys. I even tried to quit writing a few times, but writing wasn't ready to quit me. There were one or two false starts, here and there, but nothing really got traction, nothing felt right... until Vocal.

You ever look back and see how something you thought was just a small part of your life, turned out to be kinda huge? That is Vocal to me. It is an easy way to present my stories to the world in a professional way. It gave my writing a purpose and will for years to come.

I never would have told the story of Agent Dover or C. Wallace. The time I accidentally pooped on the top of a toilet seat, would have just stayed a funny story I told from time to time. I wouldn't have written about being a home-schooler... I probably wouldn't still be writing at all.

I hope you know just how important you are,

Sincerely,

David B.