I am a regular participant in contests and challenges because I saw, very quickly when I joined in December, that that was the quickest way to get involved. Along with joining conversations on other established members long-form posts.

Writing long-form and then having hardly anyone see it is just too discouraging for me to sustain for very long. I do, however, try and write more than "this my entry to" on my posts and will often research background to my entries.

Consequently, I'm learning a lot about the town I live in, the history of the buildings etc, and the places I've visited in the past.

Yesterday I made my first video. It was a BIG deal for me and, happily 3 of my followers took the trouble to leave long encouraging comments about it. These are people I've taken the time to develop a relationship with sine I've been here and, as a result, I feel encouraged enough to continue experimenting with video.

If I'd done that when I first joined (December) I'[m pretty sure I would have had no meaningful comments because these people are supporting me not so much the video I made.

Will my behaviour change when I'm more established? I used to think so. Now I don't know. I see so many people with reps in the high 60s who just come in, posts 4 or 5 photos in various contests, each with one or two sentences and earn good double figures. I might end up doing the same. Although I would continue to contribute to the conversation of others long-form posts.

With the gap between those established and those joining I'm not sure, unless something changes that Steemit will survive. That wouldn't surprise me since the first iteration of anything rarely does.

I'm taking each week as it comes, trying different things and working on works for me to keep me posting and commenting. 😊