Healthy Ambitions

Reflecting on my first year at Vocal

Last year, 2023, was my first year on Vocal. I stumbled upon it in December of 2022 after a few different writing YouTubers that I started watching recommended it in some of their videos. I checked out the website for a few weeks before deciding to join and posted some of my short fiction content. I also decided to enter several Vocal writing challenges because random prompts definitely helped my creative juices to flow.

Taking in what I’ve done last year on this platform, I hope I can improve upon it this year. Last year I wrote and published 27 stories on the platform. I gained 6 subscribers and had a total of 65 reads. I was also lucky enough to be a runner-up in the Word Hunt Challenge, which was probably the highlight of my year, at least on Vocal.

My Goals for 2024

So, for 2024, my first goal is to enter most of the challenges on Vocal this year. Mostly the fiction ones, because those are my favorite. But maybe I’ll expand on it and enter some poetry and other challenges like I did last year, so I can grow my writing skills. Hopefully, I can also place again like I did last year, and maybe even get a second or first place win. It’ll be hard, but I’m going to try my best.

My next goal for this year is to write more in general. I posted a few of my own random works of short fiction on Vocal last year that didn’t pertain to the Vocal challenges. This year I’d like to post more of my own ideas that have nothing to do with the writing prompts and tap into my imagination again. I don’t know how many I’ll write or finish, but I hope to publish at least five stories throughout the year.

Another goal I have is to get a top story. That’s it. Not much more to add to this goal. I just hope to make something good enough that’ll get me on the front page and a top story tag. It would be a fun achievement for this year.

My last goal for this year is one that I probably won’t stick with. My last goal is to get more involved with the community. I’ve only read a handful of other writers’ work here on Vocal. But I rarely leave a comment, and sometimes I give them a heart if I remember to do so. I also tend to lurk in the discord and see what people are talking about, but I don’t contribute to any discussions. It may just be internet chatting through a keyboard and on a screen, but my social anxiety still gets the best of me. So, I might try to get out of my comfort zone, but I make no promises.

Conclusion

I’m excited to see what 2024 holds for me here on Vocal. I hope to carry out most of my goals this year and keep up with my writing hobby. I can’t wait to see my growth at the end of the year, and I hope I can look back at this and be happy about what I was able to accomplish.