^{Designed in Canva}

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What’s your passion? Some people find joy in painting, some groove with music, and some? They express their emotions through writing. Yes, I mean writing. When you hold a pen or tap on your keyboard, you enter a different world. Writing is like an adventure where you turn your feelings, dreams, and imaginations into words.

There’s something special about writing that nothing else can compare. When you craft with words, it’s exhilarating. It feels like you’re an artist, creating your masterpiece on a canvas. And then there’s that moment when you show your work to others. The feedback, the compliments, and even the constructive criticism - it all makes you see things from a new perspective. You get to know how others interpret your thoughts, how they react to the stories in your mind.

From a young age, I loved reading books. I recall a time before the internet and mobile phones when I would eagerly read digests, novels, and storybooks. While my reading habit remains, it’s probably reduced a bit. But I believe it was this love for reading that inspired me to write.

Now, why did I start writing on Steemit? There are several reasons. Firstly, there’s a diversity of communities you can join and write about topics of your interest. Secondly, I love Steemit’s decentralized nature. No one can remove your content. It’s yours and stays that way. Thirdly, you get rewards for creating content, helping you grow and increase your influence on the platform.

One of the best things about Steemit is that it doesn’t just offer a platform to write but encourages you to do so. Readers here give ‘upvotes’ to your articles, which later convert into crypto rewards. It’s quite different from other social media platforms. Here, you can find a supportive community, get exposed to international cultures, make friends, and engage in conversations. All these features attracted me to start writing on Steemit.

When it comes to topics, I think I can write on pretty much anything if I have some knowledge about it. However, I feel most comfortable writing fiction stories because there are no limits. You’re free to take the story wherever you want. Mostly, I participate in contests and engagement challenges on Steemit.

Talking about my writing routine, I mostly write in the mornings as it feels more relaxed. One reason might be the cooler weather, as nights tend to get hot and humid. However, in winter, writing at night has its own charm.

As you all know that unlike other platforms, posting on Steemit requires knowledge of markdown styling to make your post stand out. I wasn’t familiar with it initially but gradually learnt, and now I’ve even saved templates to save time.

I prefer writing in English. Thankfully, I think my writing skills are decent, but I still use Grammarly to polish my pieces. Occasionally, I also watch videos on blog writing to improve. In the future, I’m thinking of starting my own blogging website.

For designing thumbnails, I use Canva. In fact, I’ve designed a thumbnail which I use for every post, just tweaking the text according to the title. This has become somewhat of my unique identifier on the platform. I believe many of you might recognize me from my thumbnail even before seeing my name. Am I right? 😄

To sum it up, some people think of Steemit as just a means to earn money. But for me, it’s so much more. It’s a journey of self-discovery, improving my writing, and most importantly, making new friends who read and comment on my posts. Their feedback truly touches my heart.

^{I would like to invite @lhorgic, @patjewell, @irawandedy, @chasad75, @weisser-rabe, @inspiracion, @senehasa, @drhira, and @paholags to join this contest through this link, if they have not already taken part in it.}

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^{Author: @waqarahmadshah | Date: 12-Aug-2023 | Achievement 1}