The Ambitious Dream of 2024

To My Fellow Writers,

Happy 2024!

Here is a quote that has become lodged in my mind:

“A good story should always have a beginning, a middle, and an ending.”

Those were the instructions given to the class by my fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Bailey, as she brought out the brightly illustrated children’s book to calm our energetic minds. Considering that most of our writing (and I stress our because most of the stories are created in tandem with my talented co-writer and love) consists of mere glimpses into our emotional states with no real thought to how the story will end.

Planning would certainly make the writing easier, but for me, writing has always been an adventure, a form of deep self-expression, and a deep-dive into contemplation. Our focus is never on how the story will end, but instead, we concentrate on character development and descriptions. My co-writer is an amazing poet, and I am immensely proud of how his prose is weaved together to form an emotionally driven scene. I, on the other hand, lean towards vivid descriptions, though, as some critics have rightly pointed out, perhaps a bit too much.

My goals for vocal this year are simple:

Collaboration with my talented co-writer, Raven, will be on-going. Many of you realize this without any reminders from me. He is my teddy bear, my constant companion, and my love. I am beyond thankful to have him in my life. For the past three years, our relationship could be found scattered across the pages of our writing together. Sometimes, it is thinly disguised as fiction, but the keen observer knows the truth. Our creative and personal relationship will continue for years to come.

I want to publish more on here. My concrete and realistic ambition would be to publish a well-written piece at least once a week. This will be no small feat considering my 2024 is off to an extremely busy and exciting start. I’m smiling now because I just realized that I could write while flying thousands of feet in the air. What could be better than combining three of my passions: My Raven, traveling, and writing? Realistically, I understand that I will simply be too excited to apply the mental focus to write while I am flying, so I reiterate my previous goal, I simply want to publish once a week on Vocal.

I also want to indulge in the talented creations of others on this platform. I am more than happy to have found this platform of such creative souls. I am so honored to have the opportunity to read so many intriguing stories from varied and distinct people. I am making a very well-intentioned goal to devote an hour a week to reading and commenting on other people’s stories. From what I have heard, a good writer always reads more than she writes, and I intend to be inspired by the many talented writers on Vocal.

My last goal is an extremely ambitious one. I want to place in one of the many challenges presented on Vocal. Notice that I just said place and not win; runner-up would make me thrilled. I correctly call it ambitious because there are so many amazing creators here, and the challenges always have so many entries. The first step in achieving something is taking actions towards that monumental endeavor, so my final goal for 2024 is to enter more challenges on Vocal.

I will close this letter, which is briming with ambition and excitement, by wishing my fellow writers a very creative 2024. May your year be full of enthusiasm, happiness, and of course, love.

Sincerely,

Isabella (“Little One”)