A Thank You to My First 100 Followers and My First Attempt at Curation!

Today is my two-week-versery on Steemit! In my intro post, I asked for your stories, and boy have you delivered!

I needed a photo, so here's one of me looking excited and you can pretend it's because of Steemit even though it's clearly taken in winter and it's summer where I'm at.

In addition to snacking on all your words, it's been a journey just learning how Steemit works. I soon learned that wading through the “new” posts can be a daunting way to find quality storytelling and content. And that quality content can get lost in the noise all too easily.

This is why I am especially in awe of the people who do curation.

Whether you're working through @ocd or @curie or you're making an independent effort, I rely on you to point me to the good stuff. So here's to @anomadsoul, @cristof, @chiefmappster, @the-traveller and all you other curators - you guys are great.

Now that over 100 of you are potentially listening to me, I'd like to use my tiny little soapbox that I'm balancing on with a couple toes to help promote others.

First, I’d like to honor 5 of my followers who have less than 500 followers of their own:

• @eddy-ess
  You should go check out Eddy’s digital art right now! His “Third Eye” series, which uses Google's Deep Dream program for inspiration, is wonderfully colorful and trippy. Here's his latest cephalapod-themed piece.

• @diabolika
  Diabolika is just short of 500 followers, and she deserves every one of them for her beautiful, thoughtful, and personal posts on travel. Check out her most recent one as an example. She's also using Steem to fund her budget travels, so give her a hand!

• @leemlaframboise
  I love the little snapshots leemlaframboise shares of life as a rustic homesteader living in the North Woods. I'm definitely drawn to this lifestyle so I enjoy following along as someone makes it a reality. In her latest photo, she shows off some duck butts.

• @alishako
  Alisha posts an informative travel journal. I especially like her “Dine With Me” series, where she takes you into different restaurants. In her latest post, she tries “Happy” weed pizza in Cambodia

• @jonasgla
  I wanted to restrict this list only to people who have posted in the last week, but Jonas's crazy road trip adventure with his band is still echoing in my head. Give it a read!

If you choose to follow me, it's a good sign we have something in common, so drop me a note so I can check out your content!

And here are other Steemians with less than 500 followers whose works I really enjoy:

• @stitchybitch
  Stitchybitch is a great, often hilarious, storyteller who definitely needs more attention. Her latest story is a juicy science fiction tale.

• @travelman
  Travelman is planning a big trip, and along the way he's sharing a ton of super fun writing. In his most recent post, he celebrates getting one of his stories featured by curation, and I'd love to give him an extra boost.

• @snowmachine
  Yet another fantastic author, this time with a darker twist. (I wish I could learn to write like some of you people! Maybe one day...) She produces a lot of meta-stuff about writing, like her latest tongue-in-cheek "Essentials for a Writer's Wardrobe".

Anyway, thank you to each and every of my followers and anyone who wanders by to read my stories. I'm not used to having an audience beyond my parents, and I have to admit that the external validation is a great motivation to write!

Keep feeding me great content, whether it's your own or others, and I'll try my hardest to return the favor! :)