Vocal Media

My anniversary of writing on Vocal Media has come and gone and like the rest of the summer is, I'm catching up a bit. Not that I am that bent on sentiment, but sometimes it is good to remember where we started before we get going, which has been my plan for almost as long as I've been writing on here and almost as long as this run-on sentence, haha.

I started writing on Vocal 2.5 months after my father passed away. He and I shared the house for around twenty years and no two were closer really. No matter what the age nothing prepares you for it. That was in July 2021, here in Canada Covid restrictions were not fully lifted until March 2022.

So, my dogs and I sat alone in the big old century home with just the radio. The television blew shortly after he passed away. Browsing through the internet, I didn't even know what I was looking for, I saw an advertisement for a Summer Fiction Contest, a writer's challenge with a whopping 5,000 dollar prize. After several clicks, I read about how Vocal worked, paid my 10-dollar fee and still in a state of shock of grieving became absorbed in writing my first fiction short story (link included at the bottom). I had already had two novels published by a traditional publisher in the US back in 2012 but they had closed a couple of years before and I hadn't yet re-published, except for a book of poems.

I must say that I was quite excited to be part of the Writer's Challenge, contest and to read all the stories. I was most impressed by the support of Vocal writers who were much like a little-big family of writers. It gave encouragement.

The Summer Fiction Challenge was quite a huge draw to the platform. Every month there was a 5,000 payout for the best story plus new challenges every week. It was exciting.

There were large factions of tight-knit groups of writers who all knew each other just from the platform (currently there are 75,000 writers on here). I remember on one Facebook group alone you could get dozens of Reads from one post. Everyone posted their stories in the comments and the thread would go on forever with a few hundred people adding over the weeks. It was like it's very own challenge to post your story and see how many other stories you could read just on one thread. That made it very quick to get many reads. In a year I had a couple thousand.

Things change. Platforms evolve, or should. Evolve as in progress to better. Now there is a CEO, gone is the Summer Fiction Challenge and I almost get a sense of nostalgia, I miss that writing challenge. It was a highlight for Vocal Writers for the summer. Then people imagined group rules and changed the open policy of adding stories in comments because a couple thought it rude, now it's taken two years to get as many reads, but Vocal also added an App and a Notifications button to keep constant on reading stories. Not to mention the regular updates to the platform, the new subscription avenue for example.

People have come and gone off Vocal too. Some burnt out trying to maintain an average of stories per day or week. Others, built up their profile and come and go occasionally having a good sample of their work on display. Others have platforms in a different industry and Vocal gives an opportunity to support that. Life gets busy for everyone at times. While more new writers pop up. Some thrive here. Others are diligently at it every day, keeping the words in spin and the cycle exciting.

Since starting here, I have published 7 books over two years. I tend to do that when I am upset, I work right through it. It's one way to work through grief. Since I am spiritual I have the inner sense of knowing I will see my father again. So for more than just the sake of writing, I am grateful for Vocal Media for the opportunity to work when nothing else mattered but to offset tears.

This summer has also been gruelling. The always hovering "Murphy's Law,(what can go wrong will go wrong)...indeed now I've lost just about everything else through a strange set of what seems contrived circumstances, though temporarily. So, through the heat waves this year besides hitting the computer keyboard in temperament at my next books, while waiting for my dogs who are in boarding, I decided to start my PhD (I'm working on my Thesis/Dissertation from home). Pile it on. How does that saying go? When life gives you lemons, give back lemonade - well here's spraying all over the place :)

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Lachapelle's Books: https://lalachapelle.yourwebsitespace.com/

My First Story on Vocal: Golden Summer

In Loving Memory