From Vocal Challenge to Published Anthology

I originally joined Vocal for the Challenges, even if I'm not very good at them.

I'm a Planster sort of writer, leaning more towards the Pantster side of things. I may start my stories with an outline, but they quickly take on a life of their own.

In my coming up on five years on this site, I've entered nearly every single challenge (barring a few missed deadlines) and placed as runner-up three times, and I get a Top Story maybe once a month. I have yet to break the $100 mark from story reads. Not the most inspiring of records.

But winning Challenges, while certainly a goal to aim for, isn't the only reason to enter them.

Vocal Challenges, even with their often short turnaround, are a way to keep myself writing consistently, and give me something to work on when my novels are experiencing a bad case of writer's block.

Vocal Challenges are also often done along a theme, which can be useful in a number of ways. Shortly after I joined, there was the 'Inspired By Classics' challenges; 8 challenges inspired by different works of classical literature. Knowing that, I thought it would be fun to see if I could make a consistent story like the old newsletter serials, with one 'chapter' per challenge. Once the challenges were over, I took those chapters, added an epilogue, and turned it into a novella.

In 2022, there was the Fantasy Prologue Challenge.

Of my seventeen entries, three are now published novels, and five more are Works In Progress. Four more became part of at least one Themed Anthology.

My very first Vocal Challenge Entry, Doomsday Diary (back in the days of yore when we sometimes had to wait days for approval) was entered into an Apocalypse-themed anthology by Sea Lion Press, and is currently being expanded into its own novella.

I currently have three In-Progress Anthologies, waiting for me to have enough short stories to publish them. "Here Be Dragons...", "Myths and Legends Retold" and "A Multitude of Microfictions". Four, if you count the second anthology for my Superhero Series, mostly consisting of stories written for an assortment of Vocal Challenges, including Shark Week, Mysterious Package, and the Crimson Macaw.

The last one might take a bit longer than the others. Microfictions are, by nature, extremely short, so it takes a lot of them to have a big enough page count for an actual book. (*hint, hint*, whoever decides upcoming Challenges...)

"A Multitude of Microfictions" currently stands at just under 6,000 words. The other two are at around the 4,000 - 5,000 mark, despite having far fewer stories than the 21 currently in my Microfiction Anthology.

I try to get all my Anthologies to at least 10,000, but no more than 20,000 before I publish them. Too long, and the people who are looking to read short stories are turned off. Too short, and people wonder why you even bothered in the first place.

Depending on how many Microfiction Challenges we get this year, and how many entries I get in, I may even reach my goal before 2026!

I challenge anyone reading this to go back through your own Vocal Challenge entries of the last year, especially the poetry ones. You'll probably find far more than you think you entered.

The final book in the series spawned by one of my Fantasy Prologues-Turned-Novels is due out this Valentine's day, and even I'm not crazy enough to try and release two books on the same day, but I'm hoping that by the end of 2025, I'll have enough love poems to think about a 2026 release.

Especially if I space them out with some QVV Unofficial Challenge entries. Love isn't just hearts and flowers, not is it restricted to Romantic Love. Love can be grief, or yearning for something you miss, or haven't experienced yet. Love can be laughing with your bestie, or sitting quietly with family, or holding hands or sharing a meal with your Beloved.

Trust me, I celebrated Singles Awareness Day on Feb 14th for several years. I know the importance of platonic love and familial love (including family of choice) and self-love, as well as the joy of finding somone to connect with.

That said, I'm planning to back down from my goals of previous years, where I entered every single challenge, often multiple times.

Some of them, I can admit, just aren't for me. There was a Humour challenge, some time back, where we were asked to recall a joke from our childhood and the story behind it.

As someone who was more frequently the butt or punchline of any jokes told in my vicinity as a child, I genuinely couldn't think of any that I could look back on and call funny.

My grandfather had some genuinely awe-inspiring (read: funny but awful) puns, plus a plethora of Dad Jokes that I refuse to sully my profile or cure the next generation by writing down. Believe me, I've tried to forget them. They're seared into my memory, but I can at least spare the rest of you.

I'm also a bit lackluster when it comes to pets. My fictional characters might have animal companions, but I haven't had a pet since I moved out, and certainly not since the family Border Collie died of old age in my early 20s.

There's just not a lot for me to write about, in that respect, unlike certain other Vocal Creators....

Likewise with Cleats, Proof and Potent Challenges, though I admit I haven't seen many of those. I bear no judgement toward those who indulge, but I'm genuinely not interested, so I'll give those ones a miss.

That's not to say that I'm quitting Challenges all together, just that not every Challenge suits every Creator, and sometimes a long streak of Not-Winning can get to you, and you have to take a break before you burn yourself out.

So, here's to the New Year, and the many creative Challenges ahead of us all!

May we meet them with grace and good health, and perhaps some of them will lead to welcome surprises.

Even if you don't get the outcome you hope for, every Challenge has something to teach you, and sometimes the lesson learned is a stepping stone to greater things than your original ambition.

I may not have actually expected "Remember the Past..." to win the Fantasy Prologue Challenge, but I really didn't expect the resulting book to earn over $1,000 in royalties in the first month. Or for the second book in the series to smash my vague hope of 100 pre-orders and keep going! I wonder what surprises book 3 will have in store...