1,000 Pieces Later: The Vocal Story So Far

When I joined Vocal in March 2021, I had no idea where it would take me. My first handful of posts, including my very first shared poem, trickled in slowly. It wasn’t until the end of that year that I truly began writing with a greater sense of purpose. What started as a slow burn quickly turned into a wildfire.

Now, nearly three years later, I’m celebrating two major milestones: this is my 1,000th post, and I’ve recently crossed 25,000 total reads. Whether you’ve been here for the whole ride or just a small part of it, I’m looking at these numbers with something that feels a lot like pride.

But who’s counting?

Oh yes, me!

In the past, when I've reached milestones like this one, I've completed weird challenges to myself, like:

Recycled Words - My 100th Vocal piece included two words from each of the previous 99 pieces I had posted.

Fibonacci Drift - My 200th Vocal piece that was written around parts of the Fibonacci sequence. It sounds weird, given my rather vocal dislike of Maths, but I love patterns and the band Tool, who did a similar thing with the lyrics to their song, Lateralus, from the album of the same name.

Other times, I’ve marked milestones with reflections, like these:

• From Zero to 10,000 Reads in Two Years
• 20,000+ Reads and Counting - Reflections
• The Numbers Don't Lie
• Do I Choose the Words?
• The Numbers Don't Look Good, But That's Not a Bad Thing

Initially, I considered using Amanda Stark's unofficial challenge as a base for my 1,000th piece, but I didn’t want to rush something out just to mark the occasion.

Instead, I thought I’d simply break down some key highlights from the past three years on Vocal and what I’ve learned.

Since joining and eventually publishing on Vocal, these are some of the significant numbers:

71 x Top Stories

1 x 1st Place Challenge Win

1 x 2nd Place Challenge Win

3 x Runner-up Challenge Wins

Most of my pieces have been poems, which is funny considering my idea when I started publishing on Vocal was to work on my fiction. But that's where the "Accidental Poet" moniker came from.

In the last three years, I have benefitted beyond the monetary gains. I have learned more about myself as a person and as a writer. For instance, I did not consider myself a poet before writing on Vocal; now, it is firmly and proudly in any bio I create. I would never have had the confidence to self-publish a book of poetry and have plans to self-publish more in the future without the encouragement and feedback I have received.

I have also made many great friends, who have become essential sources of support, feedback and rivalry. I want to just say a huge Thank You to everyone who has helped me out along the way. I would never have done the 1,000 pieces or reached 25,171 total reads and counting without you. So, Thank You!

What’s Next?

I’ve tried to slow down my publishing rate, so the following 1,000 pieces will likely not happen as quickly. I will still post poetry, fiction, and satire and will be continuing my ABCommunities Challenge. (The latest in this series can be found here -The Secret to Feeling Beautiful (That has little to do with makeup))

I also have the collaborative poetry collection I will work on during the first half of the year, as noted in this recent post (link here).

Then, there’s my next self-published poetry collection, Streams and Scratches in My Mind, featuring my scratches in my mind senryū series along with the best of my longer, often stream-of-consciousness-style poems.

I will also continue to enter most official challenges, hoping to win another one and as many unofficial challenges as possible. I also have several stories I’m figuring out what to do with. For example, my epistolary story, The Journal, follows Annie, a character I love and want to explore further. I’m also considering expanding my Future Fragments runner-up, Freedom or Fire, into a novella or novel.

After my experience entering the NYC Midnight 250+ Word Microfiction Challenge, I plan to enter more challenges outside of Vocal and attempt to get my work published in online publications.

So, there's no slowing down. I know I’ve written similar milestone pieces in the past, but I firmly believe in taking time to reflect, celebrate, and acknowledge both big and small achievements.

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Thanks for eeading!