Top Stories vs. Challenges

I was disappointed with a recent challenge. My entry had been given Top Story but didn't place and it made me a little sad, because I was proud of it and wanted it to feel loved. But I will be entering another challenge soon, with a story I love, that was borne out of love, and I just have to accept that competition placing is not the same as a story being loved. Keep writing. Keep publishing. Expressing yourself is so much more important that winning.

Outstanding work...bless people with your writing, let that be the focus; it will soon be rewarded.

Honestly I enjoy your stories a lot and I hope you keep going. I feel like money is hard to come by as a writer no matter where you are unless you are a ghostwriter or you are working a 9-5 writing job. I was a freelance ghostwriter and, while it was more, it still wasn’t enough to live on. The challenges can be discouraging but it’s nice to just treat them as prompts. Your writing is very good, and I’ve found that I get some more constructive feedback here if I post first drafts in the Critique community and directly ask for it with the ‘feedback requested’ tag if that’s what you’re looking for. ❤️

I think like a lot of comments before me Kendall, it depends on what you are looking for out of Vocal. If it’s to get your writing down into a tangible form, to craft and shape your ideas, and to have it be enjoyed by others, then it works pretty well, and the Top Stories and Challenges are bonuses. If you’re looking to improve your writing, I don’t necessarily know that this place works as a way to get truly honest and in-depth critique- most comments are positive and supportive but not insightful enough to help someone improve (if that’s what a writer is looking for). I don’t think (unless you’re spending hours and hours on here), the money from reads can ever be a viable earner, and so if you’re looking to earn from your writing, there are other platforms or models out there where you writing stands a better chance of being picked up. Just my two thoughts mate 🙌🏽

Congratulations on placing on the leader board This article sums up what I feel most writers on this forum and others feel. ‘WTF’ am I doing wrong.answer nothing. Writing is personal, you’re an awesome one and don’t stop

Congratulations for making this week's leaderboard's honorable mention for most discussed stories!

We all go through this, it's a form of imposter syndrome that likes to creep up every once in a while. But I think it also comes down to what drives you to right? Is it the community, the validation, the release it gives... or something else entirely? That might help you decide if you really love this or not...? I hope that's helpful??

I think, in the end, it depends why you write. If it's to make money, then Vocal isn't the place. You'll never generate a cash return that's adequate compensation for the time you spend. If it's for the occasional pat on the back from a challenge placement or a top story, Vocal will provide that from time to time but only on its own terms. I've little idea what triggers a top story award, although a mention in the Raise Your Voice threads seems to help. Personally, I do it because I enjoy writing about some topics that don't fit with my day job (which involves a lot of writing). It's a space where I can post things that nobody else would publish. And it's a space where, occasionally, I can experiment with fiction in a way that won't affect my professional life. Or I can throw out an opinion piece, or even a poem. Yes, it's nice to pick up a few pennies from reads, or a few more from a top story. But really, this is me sitting on a park bench muttering to myself for my own satisfaction. Sometimes, other people sit with me and join in, which is cool. So far, nobody has called the men in white coats, which is a relief.

Oh that’s for sure the truth ‘you cannot predict what the public wants’. You weren’t afraid to write what most of us are sometimes thinking and feeling, if I were to write something like this I wouldn’t know where to start and after the second word I would be sweating. But you through yourself into it and gave us something we could all relate to, I admire that. But I will show you why you should stick around by reading and commenting on some of your other work.

I genuinely enjoy your writing. I haven’t read it all, and some stories might grab me more than others, but I see quality and value in what you have to say and how you say it.

I feel you on this...Over 125 stories and not even a runner up. But, once I started doing the challenges to win, it wasn't fun anymore.

Write because you enjoy it, not to win something. The top stories, which I am always pleased with when I get one, or a contest win, which I have never gotten, is icing on the cake. I like reading your work and hope you continue. As for contests, I have submitted stories that have gotten top story recognition and they never made it to honorable mention status. Who knows what their criteria is for picking a winner?

I say put your best foot forward. Don't worry about it so much. To be honest with you it's all subjective. The people that choose the top stories and the people that determine the winners and the challenges - it's all subjective and it basically boils down to their personal preferences and I think they often times just choose their favorite people for a lot of these things. It's kind of sad that it is that way but that's the perception among a lot of us.

Your skull and crossbones sign at the end gave me occasion for a good laugh! The biggest problem I have here is finding time to keep up with all the great work I see. None of us knock it out of the park every time, but there are a lot of distinct voices of all ages and backgrounds speaking to their own personal experience in creative ways, and this in itself is a highly valuable thing. I don't write for the audience, or for myself, but for reasons beyond the scope of my temporal understanding, so I may not be the best to answer your questions about how to best serve those drives. I was gonna write anyway and figure I might as well publish. But your work is consistently good, and I encourage you to keep on truckin'! As for all avenues of publishing, from traditional to zines to contests and social media, it has been my consistent experience that I often, though not always, think something should have placed or placed higher and the winning entry should not usually place number one, but this just goes to show how diverse subjective experience really is!

Kendall, I relate to this. But my advice (and this might be good for me to hear too!) is this: do not do it for the likes, the wins or the comments. Do it because you enjoy it, because there's something in it that you love to share, and because you know it's fulfilling something inside you that nothing else really does. Take the feedback and the comments and use it as a bit of a boost to your passion, but not the only source. Your writing (*our* writing) comes from your soul, your mind, your heart. And it is unique to you <3

Keep writing and entering challenges! We just never know when our pieces would grab the attention of the judges.

I've always enjoyed your work when I've read it. I mean in my opinion, challenges are awesome to win and all... But for me personally, if I could know my writing entertained, or had a positive effect on even just one person, then I'd be content in knowing I at these helped someone escape from the stress and worries of every day life. I always appreciate the reads that give me that moment of mental escape, and those that remind me I'm not alone in what I'm feeling. Don't quit, you have people here who look forward to seeing what you have coming next 😊

Kendall, I have similar doubts, especially under the pressure of my day job. But this platform is good for staying sharp in writing and getting encouraging feedback. So it’s really up to you if you want to continue, but I’ll tell you that you’ll be missed if you don’t.

I don't get Top Stories of Challenges. I had a challenge placement once but sure that was an accident. Because of my criticism of Vocal's Exclusive thing and others I don't think I will be ever considered for another Top Story but that is maybe slight paranoia. I have extreme confidence in my writing as does my audience. Challenges are just prompts for me, a Top Stories are fine for everyone but me 😊🤣🐱

Stay with it. Keep in mind that just because a piece may not pick up traction here does not mean it is not outstanding work. Each of us must balance our writing with our reading, and the volume of stories posted each day is overwhelming. I suspect the judges are also overwhelmed. Write for you first. I know you already do this. Don’t let yourself be disheartened if a piece does not pick up the traction you expected or hoped for. Keep up the great work, Kendall!

I sympathize with your consternation, but I think it is important to see writing as an end in itself, rather than a means to some other end. I am never sure if anything I publish will garner praise or secure a prize, and having entered a "publish or perish" contest devised by L.C. Schäfer, I have been duty bound to publish something (a poem or story or essay) every day since January 1 and will continue to feel that obligation until December 31st. I was sure that quantity would quickly compromise quality, but I find myself turning a moment in a class I am teaching or a scene I witness en route to campus or a line from some text I love into the raw material of literary praxis every day. I enter most challenges, sometimes two or three times, without any expectation of success, simply in order to keep rust off of my imaginative and linguistic machinery. Keep writing. No one else can write just the way you do, nor can anyone experience this increasingly strange world as you do. I enjoy your work, and look forward to more of it!

Keep doing!!! I enjoy your writing style and the fresh ways you approach your work. I have pretty much the exact same thoughts. I have no answer to the Vocal challenge question, but I do know that if you enjoy it and others do too, then keep going :) Thanks for writing what many of us are thinking.

The answer is yes. Keep doing what you do, because you do it well.