My First Month on Steemit

Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash

I’ve been on Steemit for just over a month now, and I thought it would be cool to do a check-in post looking at what I actually did with my time here. I know some folks have targeted social media accounts, talking mostly about one thing—whether that’s fiber arts or family health or cryptocurrency—but I’ve never been that kind of person: I have a lot of interests, so my internet presence often ends up all over the place. (I totally noted that in my original introduction post, too.) It can be hard to follow sometimes, so I like to check in with myself for a concrete understanding when I’m feeling a little lost. So, here goes…

Month 1:

I leapt in, feet first, joined a number of Discords, drafted a bunch of posts, drew some art, read, upvoted, resteemed, commented—and then crashed. In my excitement, I didn’t account for my own needs, and it knocked me out. Because I like to consider my words, and because my writing process requires I take a lot of time to, well, process, I lose a lot of energy in high-speed environments. If I push myself too hard for too many days in a row, I burn out and spend days in this kind of exhausted, listless haze. When I get like this, I totally want to write or even do chores, and instead I just watch too many episodes of Criminal Minds on Netflix. So, moving forward, I’d like to strike a balance so participating doesn’t totally drain me, but I still contribute to authentic community. It’s a work in progress.

During my first month, I got my reputation up to 47, and my Steem power up to 36, by putting almost all of my author and curation rewards into SP. (Any rewards not powered up were donated or given away.) Based on services I use and the recommendations of other users whom I trust, I cast 19 of my witness votes. I made 21 posts, including this one, and over 350 comments. One of my posts got curied, which was both exciting and a little overwhelming. I joined a number of Discord servers, and participated in the Steemit Ramble’s Pimp Your Post Thursday and the STEEM Engine’s first Talk of the Line, and made some pretty great connections with other users and some cool projects. Even though I got a little burned out, I’ve definitely enjoyed my time so far!

Highlights:

• I helped judge @teamgirlpowa’s Women’s History Month Writing Contest, which was pretty cool. We got a lot of great entries, and it was really hard to pick the winners!
• I shared about my ongoing process of overcoming impostor syndrome
• I shared my vision for a free world
• I wrote an original poem for Poets United
• I reviewed a short story called “Fandom for Robots” for one of @didic’s SpecLit Review Contests
• I got my freewrite on, which turned into a fun little serialized thing (latest entry here)
• I made my first piece of crypto-art
• I talked about being an introvert on Steemit and Discord

Shout-outs:

The following people/collectives have been really welcoming and I’ve really enjoyed connecting with them on Steemit/Busy/Discord: @didic, @shawnamawna, @solarsupermama, @malloryblythe, @rachelhanson10, @aislingcronin, @linnyplant, @trucklife-family, @slothicorn, @teamgirlpowa, Steemit LGBT+, @thesteemengine

@ginabot has been amazing, and a total lifesaver for me when I’m low energy. And @mahdiyari’s https://steemauto.com has also been super useful. I use https://steemnow.com and https://steemd.com to monitor my voting power check and make sure I don’t miss anything really important. It’s cool how many great tools have been developed to help users interact here. I’m definitely learning tons about blockchain tech and cryptocurrencies, and I look forward to learning even more as I go along.

Thanks for reading and steem on!

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