Is Everybody Hungry? Writing for the Sake of Writing

It seems like the primary reason for a lot of people here is simply to make money, not necessarily gain value--which I'll explain shortly--or even go so far as to put any great effort into creating original, thought-provoking, emotionally charged, or otherwise practically valuable content.

Every time I peruse the Steemit tag, I get a little pang of discouragement at how many people are trying to push the typical Make Money While You Sleep advice-for-a-dime schemes, and it doesn't stop there. There are also plenty of people completely sold on pay-to-look-good services (we all know what I'm talking about), and it's so popular that it makes me wonder if the good ship Great Content is being capsized by the torrential rains of neon fluff that inevitably invades artistically-motivated, financially-driven systems (I always think of Second Life as a prime example).

Are we all hungry?

That's my close friend, Ozymandias. He's always hungry, too.

In the pursuit of what makes us happy, sometimes we get hung up on things that appear to bring us the most satisfaction--money. Money does, in fact, buy a great deal of happiness, but I propose to you that in being the media with which we trade, money itself is not the true harbinger of joy. Money simply enables us to build the best conditions to acquire or sustain happiness.

Now, I like money--plain and simple. If someone tells me they don't like money, I ask if it's the money or the intent behind the people with the larger collections of it that bothers them. Don't get me wrong, there are flaws in every system. We will eternally be forced to decide among the least of all evils--a basic fact that most of the things we enjoy are not plentiful and therefore have ascending values.

Value is such a beautiful and true word. Does the ink and paper money have any real value? Yes. You can move it around, collect it, and ultimately buy interesting and often shiny things with it--but does the physical manifestation make the value? Absolutely not; Cryptocurrency's very existence is a hallmark of the real mechanism (hallmark is a most appropriate word here since its origin is that of a purity mark on gold in Britain). Anything of limited availability can be quantified and scaled to match the value of another item of limited availability--it gets trickiest when the availabilities are broadly different as well as when the perceived value of another isn't clearly defined by demand.

Right. We all know this stuff, really. How does it relate to Steemit and the neon fluff of self-promoting machines with no personality working for equally daft, inept content creators? It means we need to build a strong hull around the good ship Great Content by putting aside our hunger long enough to select the finer restaurants.

But... But... the Moon... I was supposed to be there yesterday!

This was taken with my Canon 50D through my little poorly-collimated, 8" Celestron reflector.

It's big and beautiful, but it's also old and predictable. The Moon isn't going anywhere, you're not chasing it--you're just trying to get there. Money is as predictable as people; Finite movements are harder to trace than big, reactionary behavior. The money--or more accurately your own value--will increase if you're not blatantly throwing it into a hole, and it will grow if you're making good decisions. Now, that last part has a much broader scope than you may even realize.

Value creates trust, stability, support, and ultimately any limited thing can be quantified and traded--that includes you, but more importantly your time and how you can trade it for other currencies. We all know you can work for money, but that's only one exchange, what about selling your writing--it's similar, but there's a conversion involved not many people think about. You traded time for a piece of work--a third currency.

That piece of work is like any other currency; it is limited in availability--it's even close to being as unique as a token in some ways--it can appreciate or depreciate with time and changing socioenvironmental conditions; it's even exchangeable for a term contract with a company to convert your time into money--if you're into that sort of circuitous thing.

There are a great number of extraordinary writers struggling to stay on the decks of the Great Content hoping that there's a peaceful, tropical paradise through the squall. I believe there are a greater number of people waiting for that ship to come in. Waiting for it to relieve some of the daily tedium of trying to filter our time through just the right exchanges at just the right times to come out ahead and that is what will ultimately be the reason Steemit authors will succeed.

Where does it start? Familiar advise most writers have heard; You must first be a reader in order to become a writer. Support good content. Upvote people who actually know things, people who make you feel and think.

In closing, for no other reason than this is the internet, I give you a wooden moose at a mushroom drinking fountain. Goodnight.