Stephen’s 2023 In Review

This is the third or fourth attempt I’ve given at writing a reflection piece on the previous year. It’s getting to the point that I’m wondering why I continue to bother when my mind is clearly rebelling at the idea.

Yet, the reason behind it is clear and evident. I am a task-oriented person:

• Draft story
• Edit story
• Proof story
• Send to magazine/anthology/the wolves of Vocal
• Repeat

Nowhere in that loop is there time etched out to reflect on progress and achievements. And make no mistake, there are things to speak about (or I wouldn’t be doing this, lol).

I think the real umbrage my brain is taking with this article is that I despise the types of articles where the person is unabashedly promoting themselves and dropping links to their own stuff left and right. Unless it’s a library or pillar post, in which case we all know what we’re signing up for.

So I’m not going to do that here.

I also really dislike the “look at how great I am, clearly I have it all figured out” celebration posts. Even more so when that person is drawing that conclusion from one achievement that may not be as momentous as they think (e.g. Top Story).

Yet, if we are our own greatest critics, it’s also important to be our greatest supporters. Part of that is recognizing progress and celebrating perseverance.

So I’m going to attempt to strike a balance here. Optimistic while realistic.

…which probably means this is going to be a pain to write.

I’ve divided this reflection into three sections:

1. Achievements You Might Care About
2. Achievements You Probably Don’t Care About
3. What does 2024 hold?

The “you” above is the hypothetical Vocal everyman. I’m making a blanket assumption that Vocal creators would care more about milestones on the platform than outside it. If you come from another camp, then you could probably swap those first two headings.

Let’s get after it.

Achievements You Might Care About (The Vocal Stuff)

Five things that happened on the platform this year that felt noteworthy. Felt cool, might delete later.

1) I hit 69 subscribers. I don’t remember what we started the year at, but it was probably around 10-12. Now we’ve hit the cap. It better not increase by a single damn person or we’ve blown it as a Vocal society. I’m counting on each and every one of you, here. Do NOT subscribe to me.

2) I broke out of the Runner Up category and netted my first-ever contest win. 2nd place, anyhow. Will I ever grab the top spot? Honestly, I kind of doubt it. But I’ve started building a pipeline for generating value from these challenge entries outside Vocal (see next section), and that’s almost as great as $250.

Almost.

3) I spent more time than ever responding to comments. Now, I have some mixed feelings on the activities around my writing (like maintaining relations with fellow Vocalites) versus the activity of actually writing, but it is a positive sign that folks are finding my content and responding to it. The tricky part is I want to honor the effort demonstrated when the person has read and written out a thoughtful response with an equally thoughtful reply.

And oh my goodness some of you blow me away with your insights. I might have a generated a short novel’s worth of content just in responding to these threads.

4) I spawned my first-ever Vocal beef with fellow creator Paul Stewart when he erroneously set the ending for his Unnerve Me challenge outside the bounds of Spooktober.

Naturally, I set out to correct the record and bring everyone back into compliance. It didn’t quite pan out the way I had hoped with Paul retconning his audience, but at least we can take good natured shots at each other now. I appreciate someone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously:

5) I saw my first-ever spam commenter on one of my Top Stories. It was my first taste of the big leagues, and I couldn’t help but mark the occasion:

As they say, it’s an honor just to be nominated. The real test will be when a non-Top Story gets bombarded with unsolicited links. That’s how I’ll know I’ve ascended to the next tier of the Vocal hierarchy.

Achievements You Probably Don’t Care About (The Wild World Outside of Vocal)

Yes, there really is such a place! And, yet, what a commentary on how my writing has changed to incorporate Vocal that even some of my non-Vocal achievements have roots in this site.

1) I sold my first-ever reprint. A story I had published somewhere else was published again. For additional dollars 😋. As the very first story of this particular anthology, to boot. By a publisher I’ve really come to admire and enjoy working with, to boot. Honestly, seeing the “Previously published in Abyss & Apex in January 2022” tagline was almost as cool as the money.

Almost.

2) I placed so many stories that I’ve actually started limiting my print copy purchases. In the beginning, contracts were so few and far in between that I would buy every anthology or magazine by default. Now the frequency has increased to such that I’m running up against both physical and financial limitations.

To be clear, some of the financial limitations are due to the fact that I’m either selling these stories with no contributor copy included or because I’m placing them for free in the case of reprints. So, to buy the book instantly pushes me into the red. Which goes to show: if you lower your standards, you can find a lot more opportunities.

Whoo…

3) I placed a reprint on a website, in an anthology, and on a podcast for the first time ever. Digital, print, and audio: the literary trifecta. Sadly, only one of these placements is actually paid, but it’s still quite the vindication considering this story is some of the best horror I’ve ever written, only to flop in the Vocal challenge I wrote it for and never gain much traction on the platform. This experience proves it’s all a matter of finding the right audience.

4) I resuscitated my long-dormant podcast with the help of the star talent, Jonathan Kilgore. This podcast is another vehicle for driving additional value from my Vocal content and reaching new audiences, and it’s wild how much has changed from Season 1 where the five episodes were literally all I had live on the platform. Now, with Season 2, I could look over 40-50 stories and pick out which ones I felt could form a coherent theme. Themed seasons, who would have thought!

Now I’ve got five new episodes uploaded and ready to launch, simply waiting on the audiobook recording for my upcoming novel to be finalized so that I can align the podcast release to the launch of A Bloody Business and cross-promote to my heart’s content.

Which leads us to the final achievement of 2023:

5) I wrote a novel. The content actually stretches back to 2022, but this year I finally knuckled down and pulled it all together, including writing new chapters to fill out the chronology and moving A Bloody Business through multiple rounds of editing. Along the way, I’ve learned a hell of a lot about Kindle Direct Publishing and the other processes around self-launching that will help me make some informed decisions about where and when to use this approach again.

Because, let’s be real, unless you’re willing to do it all yourself, these things cost money even with systems like KDP that don’t require any up-front payment. And what you save in money you then lose in time, which I also spent a lot of in this process even while I left formatting and book covers to trusted associates.

All that, and I harbor genuine fears that I’ll only end up moving 20-30 copies. Not that I care about recouping costs, but all that effort to fumble in the red zone? Frightening.

But, uh, still an achievement, lol.

What does 2024 hold?

Honestly, I’m just as curious as you.

If I had to guess (which I suppose is the corner I’ve written myself into with that heading), my energies are going to shift in the coming year. Point in time writing like I’ve been doing, following my inspiration wherever it leads me, will likely decrease as I attempt to focus more on strategic initiatives like my debut novel and the series I’m currently writing.

My hand may also be forced a bit by changing circumstances. I’m embarking on a couple new initiatives in the interest of my health (physical and emotional) that will likely mean I have less time for writing, at least in the short term.

The real hope is I just might break out of the current cycle of maintenance of chronic injuries sapping hours a day to simply hold the line and return to a full functioning human being that doesn’t need to stretch and strengthen constantly.

Whether or not it works out like that, I’ve got to try, damn it. I’ve let these things hold me back too long while accepting them as “the way it is.”

Even so, it pains me to think what opportunities might slip by while I’m investing that time in other areas. After all, writing takes time. Editing takes time. Submitting stories takes time. Publishing books takes time. Maintaining an active presence on Vocal takes time.

Which brings us to the final consequence of the dual personal initiative and drive to get my book out into the world: I may not be on Vocal as frequently.

Unlike others, I doubt I’ll release some triumphant “I’m out” post, because this is not the end of the road, more like a détente. A time to regroup and focus on other goals. Point being, if you read something of mine and comment but it takes me a while to reply, it’s not personal.

All right, reflection completed ✅

Here’s to all the new year holds!