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Side Quest Goal Achieved: Placing an Alien Claim
This is a post that has me quite ecstatic. It's funny, I thought it was going to be one of my usual, "Hey, I achieved another one of my goals and checked it off" type deals. And it sort of is. But it sort of isn't. And it's also one of my greatest writing accomplishments of late.
By Stephen Kramer Avitabileabout 11 hours ago in Writers
GRANDMA NELSON
Daddy pulled off the interstate, and I saw the all familiar red barn, and I knew we had arrived at Grandma Nelson's farm. I always had mixed feelings about seeing my Grandmother. It seemed she had as many Grandchildren as the old Mother in the shoe nursery rhyme. I saw her as different, but that is not why I hestiated. The truth be known I always got in trouble at her house, and ended up sitting in the car after I had been scolded.
By Susan Paytonabout 18 hours ago in Fiction
Rousseau's Last Tour
This was a strange comfort to me these last few weeks. Actually, more than a few weeks. I began this book at the beginning of the year, and put it aside as I realized that I was reading not a fictional account of a life, but the very true thoughts of a writer who has put his fingerprints over much of what I know of French thought in that era.
By Kendall Defoe 5 days ago in BookClub
Challenges
Enter themed storytelling contests to put your creativity to the test.
Say It Plainly
Write a poem that states its central concern directly without metaphor, indirection, or symbolic substitution.
$200 Grand Prize11 hours leftThe Rule Everyone Knows
Write a story centered on an unspoken rule that everyone in the story understands and follows, allowing the rule to emerge through behavior.
$200 Grand Prize5 days leftSomething Is Beginning, I Think
Write a story that opens at the edge of a beginning that feels uncertain, partial, or reluctant and avoid resolution.
$200 Grand PrizeClosed
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📢 Raise Your Voice Thread: 03/19/2026
Our “Raise Your Voice Threads” are hosted most alternating Thursdays at 12PM ET to offer creators more avenues to uncover exceptional stories on Vocal. As we are continuously searching for fresh creators and inspiring stories, this thread provides an opportunity to exchange and discuss the stories that have moved and motivated us on Vocal.
By Raise Your Voice by Vocal8 days ago in Resources
Everyone Is Acting Normally Challenge Winners
In the Everyone Is Acting Normally challenge, something is clearly wrong, but no one stops to name it. Across the shortlist, that wrongness appears as resurrections, surveillance, disappearance, and denial, each treated as part of daily life.
By Vocal Curation Team9 days ago in Resources
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