How Steem Has Impacted My Life, via FreeWriteHouse

in Freewriters5 years ago

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image by @wales, Dean Moriarty

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Boy did I ever NOT know what I was getting into!

I'd had enough of the negativity of facebook, and sought a kinder online place. I owned no cryptocurrency, had never heard of discord or pixabay or uploaded a photograph, and had certainly never written a blog post. Heck, I hadn't written a story since tenth grade when I wrote a one (which I think was titled the Devil and Miss Jones) that put a smile on Mrs. Decker's face, and there was not much that I did that got a smile out of her. I still remember both her smile and my story. My she devil wore knee high white patent leather boots and was irreverent. I kind of miss Mrs. Decker now. She was kind to me when my Aunt Katy died.

But I digress. For some reason, even though it was months before a post of mine made as much as .01 stu or garnered a comment from a human (@vdux thank you for being my first ever human!) I persisted. I posted a poem nearly every day, and spread my worthless 100% upvote everywhere I could. I posted, I commented, I upvoted, and I resteemed.

What did I get for my efforts? Messages that I had run out of RC and not much else.
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Here's a haiku I wrote and posted at this point in my Steem journey:

In the beginning
I placed my most treasured work
and no one noticed
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I'd seen the @mariannewest freewrite posts and read, commented on and upvoted a number of them. Somewhere along the line of my life I had convinced myself that I could not write fiction, certainly not anything like the brilliant stuff I was seeing submitted for those freewrite prompts.

One day @fitinfun and I exchanged a few comments on one of her posts. She encouraged me to try a freewrite. I thought "No one will read it even if I do post it, so why not give it a shot?" and lo and behold I wrote an actual story in five minutes, shocking myself. Here it is, and it's pretty darn good if I do say so myself. I got tipped! (Thank you @wandrnrose7!) I got comments! I made .06stu! This story emboldened me to write more freewrites, and my life had changed right then and there for the better.

I COULD WRITE! I'd been lying to myself for almost 50 years.

Then came my adoption by @freewritehouse. I don't know who nominated me (I was still utterly lost on steem) but THANK YOU SO MUCH TO WHOEVER DID. For one whole week, multiple people read my stuff! I made pennies, which felt like striking it rich after months of nada, zilch, nothing. My followers soared over twenty! Should you care to know more about my progress from my first human upvote to my first freewrite, check out this post I made thanking @freewritehouse for my adoption.

Now I write stuff that blows my mind. Honestly, I can not believe the stories that come out of me, especially the freewrites. That there is some kind of magic going on.

Steem and @freewritehouse helped me access my magical powers, and that does not suck.

But my posts were still making next to nothing and sometimes not even that. A very special fellow came to my rescue, Uncle Bruni (otherwise known as @wonderwop) by showing me the ropes of SBI. Uncle directed me to contests that were doling out SBI and I started winning! Just like that, gone were the days of my posts making .00 stu. Bit by bit my delegated RC got replaced by RC I had earned myself, and since my posts were no longer making zilch, others started upvoting me more often.

Thanks to SBI, I had arrived.

I love this place. I have made true friends, people who value me and I them. Discussions on even the most difficult of subjects are civil and respectful.

I learn! I love! I read! I write! I even take good photographs!

It's been a lot like having my first baby - I do not remember what life was like before Steem.

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This is my entry to two contests: @ntowl's contest supporting @freewritehouse and SBI and @theycallmedan's contest How Has Steem Impacted My Life. I'm not on twitter, so perhaps I don't qualify for the second contest. Would someone please do me the favor of tweeting this post? Maybe that will work, idk.

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So happy to read your Steem story :)

I don't think I would still be here if it hadn't been for you Marianne. And a bunch of the other freewritehouse peeps. xo

That's a great testimonial. You are a great writer. Imagine never discovering that.
Here's your Tweet

THANK YOU!!!

Great story. So glad you stuck around!

Me too! Thanks for stopping by!

I can remember you being adopted by the freewritehouse. There are so many of us who can thank Marianne for our still being here.

I was really close to giving up when you guys all came to my rescue. There was no money in it for any of you, and still you were there. There's nothing else like it on steem that I have encountered.

Lovely idea to combine this initiative submission with a freewrite. I am very happy that you persisted and now we have your wonderful presence in PHC too xxx And your writing... is SUPER!

There are so many things I love about steem, including PHC. Now I wish I had put that in there too! (Wrote that with a fever so wasn't thinking all that clearly.)

haha no need! xxx Hope you are feeling better!

@owasco Congratulations. Steemit, It is an excellent opportunity to share good ideas and friendships. Receive my affections.

 5 years ago 

Here you are, your #posh.
It is what Steem stands for.
Happy writing, great you still remember this all and can find your old posts back.
!trdo and 💕 for you.

https://twitter.com/wakeup_kitty/status/1222079663801098240?s=09

Posted using Partiko Android

Congratulations @wakeupkitty, you successfuly trended the post shared by @owasco!
@owasco will receive 0.37233675 TRDO & @wakeupkitty will get 0.24822450 TRDO curation in 3 Days from Post Created Date!

"Call TRDO, Your Comment Worth Something!"

To view or trade TRDO go to steem-engine.com
Join TRDO Discord Channel or Join TRDO Web Site

 5 years ago 

@trendotoken thank you. 👍

I just found that the search tool on steemit goes right back to the posts you need! Put your name and a keyword and voila!
Thank you so much for your help on twitter.

 5 years ago 

@owasco It does? Thank you so much I will try it out.

You are welcome I hope it helps you. ❤️

You are a wonderful writer and I am so in agreement about @Freewritehouse. I don't recall tipping that post but I am very happy to learn how you were encouraged by it!

I did not even know what a tip was at that time, but when I went to get the link to use in this post, there it was. Thank you!

Thank you for this incredible entry @owasco! @freewritehouse has saved, discovered, encouraged and supported so many writers. There really isn't a price or value that can be put on something as personal and intimate as the knowledge and belief in oneself, but it sounds like that is what you got (in addition to the upvotes) when you became part of the freewrite house.

Thank you for providing more evidence that @freewritehouse is worthy of UPVOTES so it can continue to inspire and support real people!

I am absolutely a forever fan of @freewritehouse. Thanks for all you do!

Well said @ntowl!
Tweeted, resteemed, and upvoted with my whopping one-cent dust vote.
"I was really close to giving up when you guys all came to my rescue" - thank heaven for mariannewest and the Adopt Me project!!! I hate to think how many like you have been lost!


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