Minnow of The Week Contest: This is Me in a Nutshell (+ My Thoughts on Steemit Thus Far)

First, let me say that my punny side actually forced me to make the ‘cheesy’ cover photo. I literally had to stop in the middle of writing to make that photo-graphic, because I’m just that corny. PHOTO SOURCE

This is my entry in the contest Minnow of the Week being held by @runicar #minnowoftheweek

My name is Byn My Many Faces Post and I was introduced to this crazy steemit idea a few months ago by my husband @serapium. He was having some really good luck trading in cryptos and although I didn’t (and still don’t) understand the whole concept of digital currency, writing, blogging and communicating via social media is definitely right up my alley.
So, here is me in a nutshell

Wife:

I’m married to a crazy ass, wonderfully supportive and almost endlessly patient man @serapium who thinks that I’m incredible. You can read more about him in my Meet my husband post.

Mom:

I am the crazy doesn’t-fit-in-anywhere homeschooling, homebirthing, pink haired, theater director, laid back, fun mom who demands respect from her (and other peoples’) kids. Some of my kids are on steemit already and you’ll probably be hearing about their awesomeness and their assholery from time to time. Three of the 5 are here as @abyni @knightengale and some crazy ass name I can’t remember from my oldest son.

Adventurer

Living life without worrying about what others' think and jumping into things that terrify me on a regular basis.
I've spent most of my adult life doing what I felt was right and pretty much never quite fitting in anywhere. My husband and I took our kids and traveled for a few years, living on a bus whilst stopping regularly to paint on motorcycles for income. We lived on a sailboat for almost two years, moving aboard with all of our belongings when none of us (except for my husband) had even been ON a boat before. Jumping into things like community theater and carving my own path. And so on and so forth.

Creative Spirit:

Whether it’s creative writing with short stories and freewrites, writing a young adult novella, plays that I then produced and directed for community theater; painting giant murals on my walls (and other people’s walls); painting on motorcycles as a way of funding our family travels whilst living on a bus or blogging about our year or two living on a sailboat in the Caribbean… I have a lot to say, create and imagine and I love this side of life!

Crazy Ass Old Lady:

I'm 46. That isn't really truly OLD or anything, and most of the time I don't feel old at all. As a matter of fact, most of the time I feel like my kids are catching up to me and soon we'll all be the same age!!! BUT life has a way of slapping you in the face and saying "HEY!" In my case, that's been the case with the lovely perimenopause bullshit. Still, I try as I can to keep a humorous perspective on it... but I also have some issues with depression and bipolar that I deal with, amongst some other stuff, so I will admit, it does knock me right on my ass sometimes. Still, writing is my therapy, so even when I get really down, writing makes me feel better. Especially if I can put a humorous spin on the stuff that is making me feel shitty.

One of my favorite posts lately that will really give you a good idea of who I am is this: Singing the Blues: Improv Style!

A Post and a video about one of my 'going for it' times when I joined the house band for open mic night, having NO clue what I was going to sing and doing a blues song... total improv style!

Steemit: What I’ve Learned so Far

Wow, I’m not even sure what to say here. Joining steemit was very much like finding a long lost group of friends again. It pretty much immediately brought me back to two of my absolutely favorite online communities. An “About.com” forum from 16+ years ago called FOAF (long story) and from my 13 years of blogging and journaling on livejournal.com. Both of those communities didn’t exist forever, because that’s the way of the world, but I developed some long standing friendships from both of those places with people that I have yet to meet in person, but still consider close friends.

• Facebook is great, but I missed the chance for deeper connections through storytelling, really blogging (beyond what a short facebook post will allow) and even moreso lately as the FB algorithms get more and more complicated and in my opinion screwed up.
• I love that I can make some money through writing, of course, and I love that I can support and help OTHER people make money for quality writing as well.
• I find myself drawn to those who are supporting not just ME, but supporting others. Doing things that bring out the best in people and I want to be like them. I find myself still struggling to learn the ins and outs of this platform, but I love it and am continuing to learn.
• My hope is to eventually create some sort of creative writing/art/whatever type contests in the future and encourage new artists and writers to share their skills, share their lives and their hearts through writing. I would LOVE to be able to facilitate others learning how to work through their own troubles and traumas through art and writing and encourage them to find the same peace through those avenues that I have in the past (and still do every time I write!)

STEEMIT TIPS from one Newbie to Another…

• Write consistently. Find challenges like the #freewrite challenge with @mariannewest or the constrained writing challenge or steemit shorts… ANY type of fun contest or challenge that will not only get your creative juices flowing, but will help you meet others who have similar interests.
• Interact/Support: Reply to comments. Every single time you make a post, go and find other posts from the tags that interest you or the people who comment on your things and leave them real comments. Read their post and write a comment that gives them some feedback and a genuine compliment. Give them an upvote (you can check your own voting power on steemnow so you can make sure that you’re not completely using up all of your voting power too quickly. I try to keep mine above 85%, some like to keep theirs at 90 and above)
• Don’t focus on the money. Money is NICE. I admit it, I check my ‘rewards’ a lot. BUT it is not and shouldn’t be the only reason you write. Don’t write one or two posts and then decide that it’s not worth it because you didn’t make a bunch of money on your first posts. Give people time to find you and focus on 1) Writing Quality content and 2) Meeting, supporting and upvoting others.

STEEMIT Struggles:

• Discord/Chat: This is still an area where I struggle. Although I’ve found that I’m finally beginning to understand the whole ‘chat’ thing, channels and all that, I still feel like a fish out of water.
  If I find a conversation I can relate to, I feel rude just jumping in randomly in a room full of people that already seem to know each other to say, “HEY! Me, too! I have words on this subject!” BUT if I find myself in a somewhat slow chatroom, I just wander off and forget what I was doing.
• Understanding this whole crypto thing.
• And the bots.
• And pretty much anything that would clue me into why some posts seem to get noticed and others don't.

So, I still have a lot of room to grow and learn, but the point for me is that I’m enjoying learning. I love that I’ve found a place where I can write again. The freewrites and other writing challenges have really inspired me to write like nothing else has in years and years.

I feel like I’m making friends again for the first time in years and years... and THAT is the greatest feeling, so thank you, Steemit Friends!