Vocal Media has helped me develop as a writer, no matter how much money I earned

It's November 2021; I've been on Vocal for seven months now. I'm a Vocal Plus member, which means I pay $9.99 per month to participate in the writing Challenges and earn money as a Plus paying member, which comes down to $6 for 1,000 reads.

Let's fast-forward to the good stuff now.

In June 2021, I won third place in the Social Shock Challenge with my story Once a Tormented Girl in Russia — Now and Forever a Graceful Ballerina in America -- the prize was $250.

Thank you, Vocal. In addition as of November 2021, that story earned 20 hearts, 127 reads, and $0.76 in reading, which is just for the entertaining record of it.

My second modest success.

In September, my poem My writing is my Home was selected as one of the top poems of the day. That gave me an opportunity to be featured at the top on the Poets page for a few days.

If you are curious, I received 50 hearts, 302 views and earned $1.81 from reads, plus a $5 bonus from the Vocal staff and $6 in tips.

We all understand that poets do not write with the goal of making money in mind.

Poets write in order to tell a tale, to pour their feelings out. Here, on Vocal Media, I am honored to be given this chance and I also appreciate the aesthetics of the platform. Being an artist, the presentation of the work is very important to me.

Even if I earn here just a few dollars each day from my writing, it's still worth it. When I consider that each penny is one of my poems or stories being read by someone because they wanted to do so, then it's not a small amount at all.

In addition, it is simply gratifying to be chosen once in a while as the best writer of the day in a certain category.

For example, the Poets category has over 27,000 writers. It has amassed over 75,000 poems according to the Vocal Poets page. I'm not sure how many poems are published each day; perhaps a few dozen, but I can see that the quality of writing is very high, and because of that being chosen as the top of the day is very satisfying.

My next humble win came in October.

Another of my poems, A Halloween Fable, October 31, was chosen as the best of the day. It has now been 18 days since it was published and it is still on the front of the Poets page.

If you are curious, it has earned 12 hearts, 92 reads, and $.55 in reading cents, and a $5 bonus from Vocal Media.

For those writers, who are not familiar with Vocal, the platform also offers a variety of incentives valued at $5, $10, $20, and $50.

Just got my latest $50 bouns and it is radicoulos how this little things make you feel happy!

That said, there's something more important than the little financial rewards.

The most notable advantage I derive from publishing on Vocal is this: My interest in creative writing and the quality of my work has improved significantly in the last seven months because I enjoy the fact that at least the editors are reading and carefully evaluating my work and to me, that's a reward in itself.

I also love that I can go back and read my early stuff. It's really embarrassing for me to read it, of course, but it's encouraging to see how far I've come.

That's it for now. Thank you. You may read my other Vocal stories here.