Well, for now, the highs we experienced in STEEM and SBD over the last month or so have given way to a general drop in the cryptomarkets. I believe that it is temporary. It seems past history has shown this to be the case and most of the stronger cryptos will come back and grow

Don’t panic, just keep on steeming and creating.

Been a crazy week. Not going into details but suffice to say. I’ve not got the writing done I wanted. But, I’ll just keep on steeming and get done what I can.

Onward to today’s rambling

TWB Sci-Fi Contest Top Five!

Not often you get the benefit of peer review by seasoned writers before submitting a story to a contest. This contest was designed for you to do just that. Write your story, submit to the Fiction Workshop on The Writers’ Block and get the benefit of comments and ideas to use to polish the story with before judging took place. The genre was Science Fiction and here are the top five entries. Congrats everyone.

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For...

This post was nominated by @dcardozo25

The many talented @molovelly releases her first claymation movie and celebrates her 1000th post on Steemit. Beautifully done animation for which she created the characters.

STEEMIT Card Game: Community Powered Laughs, Who's Your Favorite?

In the category of cute ideas, check out @spiritualmax’s concept for STEEM Trading Cards.

UPDATE: this post has been the victim of malicious flagging. Click to Show the post. Scroll down to where it states images aren't show due to low ratings and click Show again. Then you can enjoy the post as it was meant to be.

Hi there fellow Steemit users!

This post was nominated by @guiltyparties

@aeloshi is an 18 year old posting his introduction. He used to be a blogger but gave it up. Seeing the potential in STEEM he’s joined and hopes to be part of the community. His quality of writing indicates he has some potential and his interests something to share. Welcome aboard @aeloshi.

🌺 SEI - Steemit Education Initiative by @Cryptokraze and @Techblogger 🌺

@princessmewmew introduces a learning initiative created by two Steemians in Pakistan to introduce university students around the world to Steem and the blockchain.

The greatest #pocketsilverchallenge ever. Possibly?

This post was nominated by @enginewitty

@welshstacker takes us on a pictorial adventure while rhyming his way through his message to the Rothschilds about crypto. Follow along on his amusing diversion.

What The Alliance Means to Me

This post was nominated by @enginewitty

@michaeldavid opens up about his involvement with @thealliance and what it has come to mean to him. It’s honest and raw, it demonstrates how communities of meaning and value have formed here on Discord because of the STEEM platform. Beautifully written.

Muxxybot Voice Creation

This post nominated by @thestormrider

@gmuxx explores giving his @muxxybot curator bot a robotic voice and shares how to do so with the rest of us. Great work @gmuxx.

Easy Come Easy Go

@thebugiq is a new person on the platform. A musician, writer, designer and more. He’s been sharing some stories with us for about a week and each one is engaging and a great read. He includes the lyrics to one of his songs in each post as the song relates to the post. I suspect (hope) we’re going to be soon able to hear him performing them.

OH, yeah, he lives about 3km from me.

❓Answering Common Questions: What is Pimp Your Post Thursday?

@sykochica has taken the time to create a great information post about Pimp Your Post Thursday. Thank you @sykochica and you’ll find the post pinned in the General Chat channel on the Steemit Ramble as well is in the Reference Section of the discord.

My Frens, I Bring You BORK: My Heckin' Promise to Steemit

If @murphydog isn’t one of your favourite animal members of the platform yet, he should be. He’s made himself right home here and patrols it as his territory. Seems he’s found out some squirrel posts propaganda and he’s watching for that. Now he’s figured out that he can’t eat the SBD he earns, he’s happy with his hooman sending it to help support @TARC that helps rescue dogs and other animals.

My application to join The Alliance -- January 16, 2018

@enchantedspirit is another of the manual curators on the platform. She puts out a great post called The Magnificent Seven curating posts from thesteemengine discord. She’s posting her application to join @thealliance.

Not only is @thealliance once again attracting a great person on the platform but her post gives us some wonderful and amusing insite into the person behind the curation.

IANS: @surfknasen

@bex-dk introduces a teenage member of @thewritersblock who has impressed many of us not only with his writing skills at his tender age but the maturity level he shows. Hailing from Sweden, English is not his first language yet he navigates well using it.

IF you are serious about the craft of writing, you should be on @thewritersblock discord.

Hello, I'm surfknasen! (Late introduction post)

Even though @bex-dk has already introduced @surfknasen, I think his own intro post demonstrates what he’s like. Don’t forget to click through and check out his story The Unburnt Ranger. Welcome to the platform grasshopper :)

Wrap-up on Day 138

Some great posts here today. One of the returns I get doing the Steemit Ramble is the amazing variety of material available on the platform I’m able to uncover. Sometimes, choosing the content for the Ramble gets tough. I’ve also met some great people on the Discords. If you’ve not tried out those communities, you really should.

Supporting and Upvoting

Let’s not forget folks. I’m sharing these posts not only because I like them. I’d really like to see them get support and upvoting.

Nominate Your Favourite Post

With all the chaff that I end up trying to sift through each time I sit down to do the Steemit Ramble, I think it is time to give you dear reader an opportunity to nominate your favourite reads.

Just visit the Steemit Ramble Discord and post the link in the Nominate-A-Post Channel.

As much as you may love your own post, I am really looking for someone else to say, “Hey, I like this post, have a look”. When I post a Steemit Ramble, that is what I’m telling my readers.

Once you’ve shared someone else’s post, you’ll be given access to a channel where you can share your own posts for me to consider them. It’s only fair for you to have the chance.

Pimp Your Post Thursday

Don’t forget, Pimp Your Post Thursday takes place every Thursday at 11am and 7:00pm EST. Come and join the fun.

January 17th -- Steemit Ramble #138 -- Curating Great Posts for You