Achievements

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.
By Lana V Lynx24 days ago in Writers
I Turned 100 Codex Prompts Into a Writing System. Here’s the Exact Process.
You saved 100 prompts. When you sit down to write, you still open a blank document. The cursor blinks. Your mind is empty. The problem is not a shortage of prompts. The prompts have not been fused into a set of actions.
By Jin24 days ago in Writers
"Geek Out! Upside Down" — Challenge Results!
A couple of months ago, I ran an Unofficial Challenge that invited you to take an uncomfortable look at different works of media.
By Sasha Desideri25 days ago in Writers
TOP STORY
Terrific stories and poems giving opportunities to others the possibility to do the Same thing and offering rewards you richly deserve.
By Mark Graham26 days ago in Writers
The Reason AI Writing Tastes Like Nothing
AI flavor: where it comes from and where it goes At 1 a.m., you paste the AI draft into the document. The third paragraph begins with those six characters again: “not... but...” You delete it. Refresh. It puts on a new disguise: “It’s not so much... as...” You set the water glass on the corner of the desk. A ring of tea stain sits at the bottom. You remember the meeting earlier that day. Your boss said, “We need to form a closed loop.” You nodded. Your stomach turned sour.
By Jin28 days ago in Writers
All "You'll Be Missed!" Entries
This challenge was so much fun to put together! I don't know if it is because the entry must be very short, I've started getting responses right away. They were all so wonderfully cheek-in-tongue. Here are all the great entries, in the chronological order they were posted:
By Lana V Lynx28 days ago in Writers
144 Million People Use This App. Its Readers Are Gone.
In July 2026, Fanqie Novel had 144 million daily active users, up 6% year over year. Its monthly active users held at 200 million.
By Jin29 days ago in Writers
Before Reading or Listening to Peter Thwing (AI Intro - Grok). AI-Generated.
(This reader’s guide was drafted by Grok, based on a sustained examination of Peter Thwing’s complete published work and shaped through extended conversation about how the essays, stories, series, and podcast function as a connected body of thought.)
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast29 days ago in Writers
I have an idea....
I do not know if I mentioned this to anyone here on Vocal or not. I have an idea of taking one my series on this site and turning it into a book. The one I am planning well actually started is the one I titled 'The Mission'. There were 13 installments for Vocal, so I am going to make this a book of 13 chapters with an introduction that this was collection of drabbles with a definition of what a drabble is just for information's sake. Do you think this is a good idea and please share your thoughts.
By Mark Grahamabout a month ago in Writers
“You Look So Put together” Is Giving Me Too Much Credit
Today someone told me, “You look so put together. Like you’re so perfect in everything.” And I was like, oh no. I’m not. I have my flaws. I’m nosy as hell. I overthink things that probably don’t need that much thought. I get irritated over stupid stuff. Sometimes I take things personally and then realize later it had nothing to do with me. I can be stubborn. I can be impatient. I’ve made bad decisions knowing they were bad decisions.
By Annam M Gordonabout a month ago in Writers
Reader's Digest
Another Reader's Digest book that I read was 'Catherine Empress of all the Russias' by Vincent Cronin, which is all about her leadership of these countries as well as her own writings. In reading this condensed version one can still learn quite a bit of this great woman and her personal and professional life. To me this one kind that reads like a Russian romance novel with many political overtones. One does get the feeling of what Russia was like back in her day with living the life of being a woman in a male dominated profession leading a country
By Mark Grahamabout a month ago in Writers
Reader's Digest
I found out I really like reading these 'condensed books'. In reading 'PLAIN SPEAKING' An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman by Merle Miller as written in an interview format. Merle covers Harry's life from childhood throughout his early political life and presidency till his death. This is a biography but to me read as novel of this man in between two other presidents. To be honest the only thing I remember of this man was his funeral for it was televised and remember that he was a man who had a difficult job for four years for us all.
By Mark Grahamabout a month ago in Writers