The Year Of Distribution

Come January, it is with great enthusiasm that myriad folks welcome the new year filled with ambitious resolutions and expectations. Many seek financial improvement, others to introduce healthier activities and habits into their daily routines while some may look to find more profound meaning to mere mortal life; marriage, for instance, or career growth and educational accomplishments. This year, I include myself amongst seeking aspects of life with more substance, of some conspicuous worth and value. In 2025, with a reinvigorated confidence in my writing and its worth amongst the abundance of written content out there, I am committed to broaden and grow my presence on Vocal while contributing to the national narrative by routinely sharing my work on the platform.

To provide some context, as of a few years ago, I had significantly dwindled fostering my personal writing and, thus, publishing of stories and anecdotes related to my experiences that might, in some way or form, resonate with others. I attribute the lack of productivity on the contemporary political and social zeitgeist we continue to find ourselves in, collectively. For added context, my actual job entails an excruciating amount of time and effort delving deep into national politics and crafting written and visual messages to relay complex bodies of information to a wide audience. While very satisfactory and important to my professional interests and growth, it created a complicated situation for me when it came to allocating time to also continue writing other bodies of work. I had used Vocal as a platform to share my thoughts, ideas, feelings and beliefs through the art of written content. This content strived to connect with others on a personal level and, thus, serve as a catalyst to spark conversation. I shared fiction, anecdotal pieces, prose, fragments of myself on a deeply human and candid level, such as when I wrote about dressing my father in my own clothes for his funeral.

The reduction in the amount of writing I was doing was a byproduct of the unexpected pandemic, social shutdowns and the plethora societal occurrences that followed; cultural and race wars, the rising of MAGA extremism and extremist far-right politics, the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and the spotlighting of economic and social inequalities in America. Amalgamated, this had me feeling overwhelmed and confused–lost, not only as a writer, but as a contributor to society, as a mere human being attempting to make sense of it all. As both a human and a writer, I was meandering through an array of thoughts and feelings. Consequently, my urge to write, my instinctive need to put thoughts into written form, was impacted by the scattered nature of my mind. I couldn't expect myself to construct a concise and thorough blog, article or piece of fiction while uncertain about whether or not it still aligned with temper of the times.

I found myself contemplating whether sharing my thoughts, ideas and feelings was even worth it, if they had any value amongst society at large. My writing pertaining to my experience as a human being felt obscure and meaningless. Where as before, I hadn't found it to be overly laborious for me to draft something, write it out on Vocal, and share it with others. Now, out of nowhere, I found myself staring at a blank screen; a reflection of the vapid landscape that had become of my creative provenience.

It wasn't until a close friend and an actual reader of my work asked what my thoughts were on Trump's second presidential term and how I was planning on writing about it through the lens of a gay immigrant-turned U.S. citizen that I realized that my writing had some worth. Whether minuscule or immense, it was worth writing down my thoughts to help convey a larger message; that people like me exist, that we have a voice, and that we are going to use it, one way or another. If I wasn't contributing to the national narrative of resilience and defense, it wasn't fair to ask others to join in. It wasn't fair for me to push for a progressive voice if I wasn't adding to said voice.

And so I began to realign myself with my own voice, one that adamantly suggests that I share my inner happenings with others in the hopes of influencing some kind of mutual connection and starting a profound dialogue. I decluttered my thoughts, discarded of the gloomy overhead that had been placed there by so many emotionally draining social events–one of which was the presidential results of the 2024 elections–and reignited my passion for writing. I rediscovered my place in the world of online content; one that conjures emotion, perhaps some discomfort, always in the interest of sparking debate and conversation that aims to connect us all on a deep, human level.

So so, by reactivating my presence on Vocal, I plan to share online written content that is designed to do what my writing has always strived to accomplish: inform, convey, connect and perpetuate our shared humanity. But it one thing to think it and write about it and another to strategize and implement a process to ensure that my writing doesn't go uninterrupted, and so, in an effort to do just that, I will:

1.) Commit to publishing and sharing one piece of content monthly.

2.) Work on an editorial lineup in advance. (I already have one drafted)

3.) Pre-draft content by building out frameworks for each piece two weeks before publishing to decrease chances of missed opportunities for posting.

4.) Mindfully and intentionally use Vocal resources to interact and engage with followers and audiences to leverage the insight in order to improve my content.

5.) Block out weekends on my calendar to dedicate time to writing.

While these may seem like simple and obvious steps most writers take to help them write, these steps are new to me as I have mostly always written on my own accord when ideas conjure and always on a whim.

Throughout 2025, my goal is to continue building connections with others through my writing while finding opportunities to improve my writing by better understanding audiences preferences and valuing their input. Yes, writing can be egocentric in that one does it to serve as an extension of one's visceral connection to human existence and our physical, and sometimes metaphysical world, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can be crafted and designed to be beneficial to others. That is something I, as a writer, am also committed to improving.

This being the first entry of 2025, I hope it serves to help others find the motivation to commit to their own growth and evolution, no matter in what aspect that may be. I find great joy and satisfaction in knowing that this point is meant to revive something in those that read it. We are all part of this journey we can life, and all journeys, however long or short of linear or angular, have their valleys and their pinnacles. But we haven't reached the end just yet.

2025 is going to be the year of distribution, not only of my writing, but of joy, of thought, of contemplation, of love, of provoking, of pondering, but mostly, of connections.

Stay tuned!