while reading through your few paragraphs I found myself relating with pretty much everything you have said and "checking them off" in my mind. I have also found trouble in balancing "fast" works to "keep up" on steemit and doing "quality" works which can take weeks at a time! The only "balance" I think I have found is trying to post "work in progress" type posts of the "quality" art that I'm doing to try to keep the postings up. It can be very discouraging seeing other people make $20+ on every single post they make when sometimes it's just an average photograph with 2 paragraphs of abstract mumbling about a picture they took in their backyard lol But, they have a whale(s) in their corner so I guess they have "made it" on steemit! Nothing wrong with that, but it can be very discouraging feeling like the line between scrapping by and "making it" is so blurred and hard to achieve/find.

I remember when I first started steemit (about 10 months ago) I kept seeing about how it's all about posting "quality content" and the quality will rise to the top; but I can't help but feel like that is simply not true; it's all about connections and networking and getting the right people in your corner. But, that is steemit!