Vocal and a Moleskine

I stared out of the window on the passenger side of the car. Snow covered mountains stared back at me as we drove in silence down the road. It had been a rough year. One that we would hopefully look back on and say, "Never again."

The list of things that happened in 2020 were far too long to write out. It would be easier to write what didn't happen that year. Sadly, this was probably the norm for most people right now.

"Vocal and Moleskine ... First Place $20,000."

A notification popped up on my phone, happily taking my attention away from those solemn thoughts.

I gazed down again at my phone. I was instantly intrigued.

I had been a writer all my life. From the time I picked up my first book and read the carefully drawn out words on the pages, I had never put one down.

I constantly compared myself to Matilda. The scene in the movie where she checked out an enormous amount of books and the librarian insists that she can't read them all in the timeframe allotted. But she could and she did.

Yeah, that was me as a little girl.

Books took me to places I had never been.

Stories came to me and as I began to write, I realized that there were so many stories ongoing in my mind, that I didn't have enough time to get them all out. The struggle of a writer. But that didn't stop me from trying.

I mainly wrote fiction, which was exactly what the contest was asking for. It needed two inclusions, a little black book and someone coming into money.

"Why not?" I thought. I gazed down at the notification one more time and spoke the words aloud, "Why not?"

"Did you say something?" My fiancé gazed over at me from the side of his eye as he drove.

"Did I?" I asked. Surprised I had spoken the words aloud.

"You just said something." He laughed a little.

I had a habit of speaking out loud without noticing it.

I looked over at my fiancé and said the words, "We can win $20,000 for a short-story."

"Do it." His words resonated quickly off the tongue with no hesitation. "You can write this."

"But what about?" I spoke aloud again. Half talking to myself. This habit coming in handy when he replied, "This is your story."

"This is my ... That's genius." I exclaimed excitedly.

So, I set out to write it.

I reached in the back seat and grabbed my black Moleskine notebook. It was worn from the many times it had been opened, closed, folded and opened again, to get just the write story, to get just the write poem written down.

None of that mattered. What mattered was the substance of what was about to go into it.

Writers can take you away from reality or throw you into it, if only just for a moment. Fiction can become that drive down a long winding road when you are just sitting in your living room staring at the wall. It can be that relaxing day at the beach when you are in the middle of a snow storm.

The rush of a mystery coming together or the serenity of a love story to pull at your heartstrings when you almost gave up on love.

We all need that from time to time.

Once the story was submitted, we prayed that it would be chosen and waited. This money could mean a life changing venture for us and contribute to the start-up money for our business plans.

Life went on. Our goals never changing. We continued to plan for the best.

Several weeks later, the notification sounded on my phone, the same as it had the day I was notified of the contest, and I saw that an e-mail had arrived.

The winners were posted. I took a deep breath and opened the e-mail to read the names.

#1: T White

I blinked and looked again. Attempting to compose myself as I looked over at my fiancé.

"We ... We, won," I stammered. Struggling to get the words out. Attempting to fully process it in my mind.

His words will forever resonate in my mind as he simply said, "I knew we would," with a casual smile and an assured gaze.

I knew this would be the start of something great. A chance for us to give back to our community and share the great news of our advancements with the Vocal community along the way.

No one ever said fiction can't turn into reality.

At the end of the day, isn't that what we all hope for sometimes? For those words that we read on those pages to jump out and become our reality?

Our lives had forever been changed with Vocal and a little black book.