Quarter 3 Performance Report

Trying to be consistent and faithful to my own promises, here's a short report on my Vocal achievements in Quarter 3:

July tally: 30 stories published in 13 communities (4 new added), with a total of 39 communities covered; 2 Top Stories; entered 2 official challenges and 2 unofficial challenges, won Raymond Taylor's One Work challenge that was a lot of fun; placed in 1 official challenge; 683 total earned reads; 157 stories of other authors I liked and commented on.

July was my last month before I go back to a full-time teaching mode, so I wanted to see if I could consistently write at least one story a day. Turns out, I could, even though on some days I would publish nothing and on some others - 2-3 stories throughout the day, but I was working on something every day. I wish I could do it every day without worrying about how to pay my mortgage. So far, July has been the second most productive month of the year for me, after March when I wrote 34 stories.

In July, I hosted an unofficial challenge "Raise A Glass To America," with all the submitted toasts compiled here:

August tally: 11 stories published in 7 communities (0 new added), with a total of 39 communities covered; 2 Top Stories; entered 2 official challenges; placed in 2 official challenges; 410 total earned reads; 80 stories of other authors I liked and commented on. August was a busy transition month for me, with a lot of projects I needed to complete in my Atlanta home before moving up north for my job. In my migration, I also caught a cold that I was not able to shake off for weeks. Therefore, it was not a very productive month for me on Vocal.

September tally: 12 stories published in 6 communities, with a total of 39 communities covered (0 new added again); 2 Top Stories; entered 3 official challenges; got my first official challenge win in the "24 Hour" challenge with a story about Tbilisi, which was incredibly meaningful to me; 656 total earned reads; 93 stories of other authors I liked and commented on. Still limited presence on Vocal due to the work load, and I am falling behind on my own plan to write for 2-3 new communities every month. Have yet to cover 9 communities.

Even though a little later than usual, I still hosted an unofficial challenge, "An Inappropriate Retirement Send-Off," all entries for which are compiled here:

I am a little concerned that I was not able to publish in any of "new" communities in August and September, still leaving me with 9 communities to cover. Even if I do three for each of the remaining months of the year, it will be quite a strain for me because these are the communities that I have most trouble with, starting with coming up with an idea and ending up with writing.

But I do want to achieve my own goal for writing at least one story for each community in 2026, so I'll try to do my best.

P.S. I'd also like to take this opportunity to highlight my Igi the traveling book project. If you would like to participate, please write in comments and we will connect for a mailing address for you.