I'm counting on my persistent love of writing for success on Steemit

digitalfirehose (58)in #steemit • 6 years ago

I'm a music fan. I'm deaf in one ear, partially deaf in another, but I still love music. The Beatles, Tom Petty, Madonna, and yes, Billy Idol. My tastes range from New Age to Classic Rock to even some Country music.

But as I look back on the most successful bands and acts in music that have been in the soundtrack of my life, I see one consistent theme. The most successful musicians came from poor or middle class beginnings and brought with them the love of their craft.

I've seen documentaries on The Beatles and every account of their rise to fame includes difficult, even squalid living conditions. They had no money, but they had the time, the instruments and a burning desire to write and play their music.

Tom Petty started out as a teenager obsessed with being a performer in a band. He saw people he admired and emulated them. He wrote his own songs, got his own band together and they toured the small clubs around America. Late nights, little money, lots of time, energy and ambition.

It was that love of the craft that made it possible for them to endure the hardships that they had to overcome to just make it. I see this with the great film actors, too. When they started out, they bused tables, they mowed the lawn, they took any odd job they could to support their "habit" of acting.

I even know of one comic who lived out of his car for a year just to make it as a comic. His name was Dat Phan and he was winner of one of the first Last Man Standing contests, a reality show television series to showcase new stand up comics. I tried stand up comedy. I loved it, but not enough to live out of my car for a year.

One thing that I do love, is writing. I can write about anything. I love engineering sentences to say exactly what I want to say. I love setting up the paragraph, I love how they look. I love how I feel when I write. It's like there is this buzz or current flowing through my head.

Right now, I'm earning peanuts on Steemit. A few bucks here, a few cents there. I have a day job and that pays the bills. That job gives me all of the elements I need for the writing environment. The connection, the electricity, the computer, the chair, the window from which I can watch the growing twilight giving way to a new day. I love to write in the quiet morning.

Some people drink coffee and read the newspaper to wake up. Writing is my morning coffee, and I don't drink coffee.

I've seen people on Steemit lamenting the plagiarizers, the scammers and the shitposters. I know that they're there, not adding value to Steemit, yet taking their share of the reward pool. But the one advantage that I have over them, despite being just "plankton" on Steemit, is enthusiasm for my work. I just love to write.

I only have to be better than the people who are copying others' work, the shitposters and the scammers. If they're just doing what they do for money, they miss out on the joy of creation. And it is that joy of creation that makes me get up every morning around 5 am to write. I write to catch that early morning buzz in my brain.

That joy of creation is easier to sustain than doing something for the love of money. For when the price of Steem and SBD take a hit due to some other market force that is bigger than Steemit, those other people, who think they're going to make money just by posting anything on Steemit, will start looking for something else to do. And when they do, they clear the way for me to earn a little more from the reward pool.

Sure, it seems like such a small thing now. We just recently hit a million users. But I'm not thinking about the next million Steemit users. I'm thinking about the next 100 million Steemit users. Or rather, the next 100 million Steem users. The Steem blockchain can support far more than just Steemit.

You should see the list of apps on Steem and you'll see some familiar names like DSound, DTube, and SteemHunter. I like to use Busy.org most of the time on my phone. They are all interfaces to the same blockchain and people are building businesses on top of the Steem blockchain.

I would love to make a living as a writer. Ok, so I have a day job and other obligations. If I were a single 20-something, with no job or just working part time, this might be my full time job. But I'm an old fart with a family, a house, a couple cars and a day job. So I'm here. Spending a few hours a day writing. I would not do this unless I loved writing.

These are early days for Steem, crypto and Steemit, and to get to that way of life, I have to be persistent at writing, engaging, testing, learning, growing. For me, the love of writing is greater than any other influence to keep me going, to keep these keys clacking. To keep posting on Steemit.

Write on.