One Year On Vocal! ♥️♥️♥️

I’ve officially been writing on Vocal for a year—woo! Time flies when you’re having fun!

I want to thank all of my fellow creators and readers. I’ve been so lucky and blessed to come across such talent and inspiration here. Writing is hard, but it’s so very worth it, and you all constantly remind me of that fact.

In particular, and in celebration of 1 year on Vocal, I want to shout out a couple of my favorite creators:

Caroline Craven was the first writer I ever came across on this platform. She had a top story around a year ago about this very tense assault case with a jarring twist at the end, and it utterly enraptured me. Thank you, Caroline, for being a wonderful entry into the world of Vocal! Your writing is amazing.

kp has some of my very favorite pieces on Vocal. Their boldness and openness, as well as their jarring commitment to vulnerability and honesty, make their writing absolutely phenomenal and second to none. Thank you, kp, for being such an essential voice for acceptance and justice on this platform.

The spirit and fun-lovingness of Tiffany Gordon is damn near infectious. She has some of my absolute favorite uplifting poetry on Vocal, it’s just remarkable! Thank you, Tiffany, for always putting a smile on my face—and for always being so lovely!

As a review lover, I am probably Annie Kapur’s number one fan. Her book reviews are so intricate and perfectly put together, straight to the point with the perfect amount of detail, and her poetry is amazing too. Thank you, Annie, for your awesome reviews—I eat them up every time. (Looking forward to starting Diavola because of you!)

I have been loving Paul Stewart’s writing as of late. His emotional openness and his eagerness to experiment with new things in his pieces always lead to such gorgeous creative journeys, and I feel honored every time I read his work. Thank you, Paul, for sharing your talents and emotional insights with all of us.

If you guys love intelligent, interesting, and witty opinion pieces on celebrity culture and general media, Jonathan Apollo is the writer for you. His work is always so well researched and incredibly detailed, as well as deeply introspective and knowledgeable. He makes you think and reflect on the values of the people we may often praise and look up to, and I find this reflective and critical tone both fascinating and essential. Thank you, Jonathan, for all your great writing! (I still love your Sailor Moon piece in particular so very much; I thought it was beautiful.)

Emily Binkley’s short and sweet poetry is just wonderful. It’s raw, it’s emotional, and reading it daily has become a lovely pastime for me. Thank you, Emily, for your consistent and amazing uploads, and for becoming a part of my daily routine!

And finally—you know her, you love her—Dharrsheena Raja Segarran is just the kindest, most wonderful soul, and her horror stories are both thrilling and chilling to the core.

I still remember being new to Vocal and posting this long, eight part series called Starlight Manor. Being very sensitive and perfectionist-esque, and utterly wary of feedback, I was so nervous about how people would take it—hell, I was nervous anyone would want to read it at all. But Dharr’s kind, excited comments on each and every part inspired me, and they made writing that series such a beautiful and exhilarating memory for me; I had such fun doing it.

Thank you, Dharr, for inspiring us and for being the beloved face, to me and to countless others, of our Vocal community!

There are so many more of you that I absolutely adore and appreciate. I am fans of everyone I am subscribed to here, truly and genuinely. There is so much talent on this tiny little platform, and I hope it continues to grow and flourish with even more new and diverse creative voices.

To be able to grace a platform with a piece of writing about something you want—anything you want—is awesome, and it’s such a gift. (Hint for an upcoming unofficial challenge—stay tuned!) I love that Vocal gives its writers the freedom to do that, and I love seeing the vastness of the human experience through everyone’s work on here.

Vocal is great because you guys make it great. ♥️