I Am A Winner

Introduction

I joined Vocal for the big prize money. That never happened. I have two challenge placements, an "honourable" mention, some Top Stories and a couple of Resource pieces, but Vocal and a lot of creators see me as a thorn in Vocal's side.

What I actually found was some incredible friends who have provided advice and support, and without them, there would be a big Vocal-shaped hole in my life.

This is just to say what my friends do for me and what I try to do on Vocal.

The music is "Success" by Iggy Pop, a superbly uplifting song.

What I Do On Vocal And What My Vocal Friends Do For Me

Although Vocal provides constant, usually interesting challenges, Vocal creators also provide challenges which often come with financial rewards. I do one a month and also gather these Unofficial Challenges in a Vocal story and they are the first two of the pinned stories on my profile.

This story was inspired by me actually winning an unofficial challenge that you can read about here:

This was another unofficial challenge that I won:

This one gave me a second place

This was one which I got a third place

This was another that I placed in

I will stop there (there are many more, though, so apologies to those I have not included; these are the most recent), but my Vocal friends and audience rate my creations very highly, and I will admit that any placement is a pleasant shock.

For my part, I give five of the participants a dollar tip. They are chosen at random, as I appreciate everyone who takes part in the challenges.

In the Vocal Social Society, we have a number of threads, "Community Adventure", "Dynamic Duo", and "Old, New, Borrowed, And Blue", and they result in me sharing a dozen stories by other creators.

In Voices in Minor (ViM) (Vocal.Media Writers) there is a weekly Readers' Circle where I share another two stories by other creators.

Then on the Vocal "Raise Your Voice" I share a list of five that I think should be Top Stories.

While I often point out faults with Vocal (and then get criticised for daring to do that) I almost always offer a solution or alternative. Vocal is the best publishing platform and does prioritise creation over chasing followers, and they have included two of my advisory pieces in their Resources Tips section here (though nothing has been added there for two years):

This gathers together a few of my advisory pieces:

Drawing Toward A Conclusion

Every Vocal story I produce draws a positive response from my friends and audience, which makes me feel good about what I am doing.

I try and encourage others by commenting on their stories and giving advice when it is asked for (if it is not asked for I publish it as a Vocal story, like this one 😹).

My involvement with the Vocal Community is a lot more than I expected when I first took my stumbling steps into becoming part of the community.

There are a few bad apples and plagiarists, and AI are a nightmare, but together we can deal with those, and togetherness does make us strong.

The Vocal community has made me believe in myself and made me strong and successful. With over three thousand stories, I don't know how many Top and Awesome Stories (remember those?), and seventy thousand reads, I feel I am justified in calling myself a winner on Vocal.

Thank you for reading and putting up with me, you know I appreciate it and I love you all.