Seven days ago, after taking a few weeks to explore Steemit and learn more about how all of this stuff works, I finally decided to get active on my account and I posted my #introduceyourself post. I initially stated that my main goal on here was to spread awareness about the EDM culture and lifestyle, to showcase that we are real people who enjoy going to these events, with real goals and dreams and aspirations in life. However, realizing that my next festival was still weeks away, I decided that I had to start writing other things first to start getting me into the habit of producing quality content on a daily basis.
What could I possibly write about other than EDM, though, I asked myself. I remembered a short story that I had written a few years ago that I really loved, so I decided to test the waters with that story and I posted it on here. It didn't blow up (not that I was expecting it to, of course), but it did receive some love from the community, so I was emboldened to keep writing.
I decided to go into further detail about Saipan, the island I come from, since I had only briefly mentioned it at the beginning of my #introduceyourself post. So I sat down and gathered all of my pictures of Saipan and began to write about my home, the land that I will always love and always hold near and dear to my heart. I wanted to show people Saipan because hardly anyone knows we exist, let alone that we are part of a U.S. territory. That post didn't receive as much attention as I had hoped it would, despite what I considered to be a title that could draw people in. But that was ok, what was important to me was that I continued to write.
Then I remembered that I wanted to also talk about the concept of friendship and how important it is, and how we have strayed in modern society away from what true friendship really is and what it means and entails. I wanted to delve deep into the need for vulnerability and intimacy between male friends and how developing true relationships with our friends could improve all of our relationships in general. So I established my Friendship In a New Age blog on here and began to write my heart out. Those posts also received some love from the community, so I was happy about that and I felt more motivated to continue writing posts every day.
I eventually discovered The Writer's Block through @rhondak's post and joined their discord channel and started chatting with the community. After it had been established that I was brand spankin' new to Steemit, they then referred me over to the Minnow Support Project's channel. I joined that community as well and began to make connections, which I would have to say has been one of the most rewarding parts of this whole first week. The people in this community are so amazing and they truly support you and give their input and feedback, and they really want to help you grow and succeed! As a result of my participation with @minnowsupport, I've managed to stay motivated to write and post on here every day so far. I've posted more short stories and more blog entries over the past few days, not really expecting anything big to happen, just doing what I love and continuing to pursue my passion for writing.
Then, on Friday the 13th, I came home from work and saw that one of the short stories I had posted had blown up while I was away. I was so excited that I even made a post about it! I came to find out that it blew up because @curie had upvoted it, which completely blew my mind. I jumped for joy and couldn't contain my excitement as I yelled in disbelief repeatedly for the next few minutes. I can only imagine what the neighbors must have been thinking :P
Having that first great boost to my post really did wonders for my self-esteem and confidence in my writing ability. I acknowledged that it was just beginner's luck that I had been discovered by Curie, and I told myself that from that point on I would keep on writing just to write, not focusing on the numbers because it wasn't about the numbers for me, it was about pursuing my passions in life and building a daily writing habit so that I could eventually transfer that habit over to my novel and finally finish it.
Last night, I posted another story just before going to bed. When I woke up this morning, after going through my morning routine, I checked my account, and I was treated to yet another unexpected surprise. The story that I had written last night had also blown up! This time, even more than my previous story! I immediately went to see who upvoted my post, and my jaw dropped. It was none other than @blocktrades! Once again I went through my little burst of uncontainable excitement. I was in sheer disbelief at what had just happened!
How lucky can one be, to have two of the biggest whales that people hope to get noticed by, upvote my posts, each on separate occasions, within the first week of being on here? I'm still reeling from this whole thing. I'm on cloud nine right now! Once again, I will acknowledge that I'm not expecting this kind of success going forward from here, and I'm not placing an emphasis on the numbers. The numbers are just a nice bonus to me being on this platform and sharing my passions with people who genuinely appreciate what I put out and who help me grow and develop further by leaving legitimate feedback on my posts. It was definitely a welcome and unexpected surprise to see such numbers so early, though!
I also received my first payout ever, from my #introduceyourself post, which nabbed me a good little amount. I plan on turning it into Steem Power so that my curation can mean more to other people on here. I'm all about helping other people out on here and being genuinely supportive. That's just who I am as a person, but it's also nice because I've found that you really get what you put out. The more people see that you are leaving well thought-out and meaningful comments on other people's posts, the more they will consider coming to your content and upvoting and leaving good, helpful comments.
I'm so glad I found this place. A special thank you will always go out to @stevenalexander for bringing me here. This platform changes lives. For the first time in my life, I am finally, truly, dedicated to developing and maintaining a daily writing habit. I am finally truly on the road to becoming an established writer, and I can finally start finishing up my novel that I started over four years ago. Life is good, my friends.
If anyone is reading this who isn't on Steemit yet, but you feel like you might have some stuff that other people might like, or if you're a creative type who draws, writes, sings, makes music, dances, etc. I highly suggest you at least look into Steemit and find out how all of this works. This is such an amazing platform for us and such a great outlet for our creativity because the community is absolutely top-notch and so supportive! It will enrich your life in so many ways! I've had a great first week on here, and my biggest takeaway is that as long as I follow my passions, they will shine through and other people will start to take note of it. At the end of my first week, I have managed to grow my following to 52 people, and I have grown my reputation from 25 up to 52. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how the rest of my journey on Steemit plays out.
Keep on Steemin' on!