Waiting for a Challenge?

Many people first came to Vocal due to the Challenges and the hunt for a prize payout. (Those DO happen, no worries if that was your 'why'.)

As long as the Challenges keep flowing that tantalizing promise of treasure dangles before the creator/writer community, and together we churn and burn tinder for the bonfire of submissions.

What happens, though, to that spark of creativeness when the ~gulp~ Challenge pool dries? Such a time is (I am sure temporarily) here. There are no current Challenges from Vocal (I need to post this quickly because- Tuesday and this could change any moment). What to do when waiting for Challenges?

Honey- I GOT YOU.

Here's Three Things to do While Between Challenges.

Unofficial Challenges

Unofficial Challenges are spawned by Vocal creators. Sometimes there are pay outs, sometimes the gift is the glory of sharing your post. The fun of finding them is part of the challenge, but there are some shortcuts.

You can also try your luck with the Vocal platform Search bar and type in 'Unofficial' and see what happens. Even if their Challenges are finished you could subscribe to those authors and be in-the-know when they run their next one.

Find the Prompts

Vocal has HUNDREDS of prompts for every type of writing! At the top of your homepage on Vocal click on Resources, then Tips and Guides. You'll find 8 titles to get you writing, including:

Waste Some Time Not Writing

I know. settle down. I KNOW, OK? What is there to do besides writing, ammiright?

There's a lot to do, albeit some of it isn't fun (like cleaning out the linen closet AGAIN and folding towels the WAY GOD MEANS THEM TO BE FOLDED- AGAIN!) which is why we aren't doing those things in the first place. But if you do the humdrum and boring things long enough your brain will spring into action and you will think of something to write. (How do you think THIS article came about?!?)

You might also try something that is advertised as the most useless one of its kind: The website of One Million Checkboxes. It's an interactive website where you click on a box and either leave a check or erase a check... while at the same time EVERYONE ELSE is doing the same thing. You can search for a particular numbered box and check/uncheck that (it leaves a colored border around the box. yes; I did explore to see how I could get a colored box. Mine was green.)

Why would you want to do it? I don't know. But it's there, and it's not writing, and it's quirky. And you can bring it up in conversation. Show your kids. Whatever. (again- I made a box with a green border today!)

At the very least, like a boring job around the house, it's meditative and might allow your mind to float about and come up with something that you can turn into writing.

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I love to read your comments!

What do YOU do between Vocal Challenges? What color was your box?