Steemit: My First 100 Days

I joined steemit August 31, looking for an opportunity to meet writers of fiction and learn to write better myself. On my one-hundredth day, I think I can say with certainty: I found more than what I came for.

I first published my best story, "The Blood Part" - entered it in a contest. To be honest, I can't remember if it won because something else came from that. The story attracted the attention of the @curie group, and that generated a great payout. That felt good, yes... but the truly important thing that happened was that it exposed me to the @sft folks.

Those are the guys who were busy creating The Writers' Block, and they talked me into submitting my story to their editing queue. Where it was promptly ripped to shreds by the best damned editors and writers on the planet. I wish I could say that I weathered that onslaught of help in a manner my grandmother would have been proud of, but that's not so. I was hurt. The crest of the wave of recognition I'd been riding fell into a depth I never knew existed within me.

I did what every aspiring writer does at one time or the other: I hid. Didn't leave my house for days. Sat reading and re-reading those comments - all that red ink splattered like blood across the face of my baby, my story. Then I realized, this was the best thing that's happened to me since I picked up a pencil and wrote "The Snoopy Squadron" in the 4th grade.

So I wrote another story, for another contest. And then another. I joined @thewritersblock. I camped out in the discord server, paid attention and learned how to help. I wrote more stories, entered more contests, gave what help I could and received the help that was offered.

My stories started winning or placing high in almost every contest I entered. So about a month ago I decided it was time I gave even more if I could. I sponsored a contest for Armistice Day. That got the attention of @mikepm74 and he upped that prize pool by more than 100%. The stories that came from that contest were simply awesome, inspired works of art. I felt proud to have been a part of it.

Throughout this I was also writing and publishing a lot of poetry. Some of that was entered into contests as well, and some of those entries won. I started making a habit of visiting the poetry workshop at The Writers' Block, and found those folks to be amazingly helpful.

Nothing I have accomplished on steemit has been a result of my effort exclusively. I have had and continue to have help from great people spread across the planet. And at the end of 100 days, this is what I know about steemit with certainty: steemit is people. People who care, for the most part, without expecting anything in return. We steemitizens are a great nation, and I am pleased to be accepted among such people.

I am talking to you. Here, in this place, I think nearly all of us have the same goals, even though the plans to reach those goals seem to be at odds sometimes. My goals don't involve making tons of money but if I am successful in reaching my goals as a writer, that will in turn generate some increase in value for steemit.

You may not care one whit for my writing or writers in general, and you may be only concerned with the return on your investment, making it greater. You don't create, some may say, meaning that you don't create value. After much thought I have to say that I believe your actions do, in fact, create value in the chain. Curators of every type are important here, even those (and especially those) who may disagree with our points of view. Consensus cannot be reached in a vacuum.

Therein lies my point here in this post. Steemit is a great place not because of the payouts, but because of the people. I came with a dream and found my dream was woefully small. Instead of being a lone writer hoping someone might read, I'm now part of a community of writers and readers, artists and joke-tellers, scientists and poets, investors and givers all. Every one of us has a place here.

Since these posts have a tendency to include proof-of-existence images, here are mine. On day 100 I have 303 followers, a reputation score of 54.8, and a little more than 1Mvest. I've delegated SP to @YouAreHOPE, @Shanehugs, @muxxybot, and @msp. My witness votes are proxied to @sircork. The estimated account value is nearing $1200USD with a fiat investment of $300 in October and early November, just before the recent rise.

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You’ll notice below, I am declining payout on this post. I will do so throughout the month of December and will instead ask you to click on @YouAreHOPE and go there. Read their posts. If you agree with them, then spend your upvotes there. And please, consider donating some of your SBD or STEEM to them, and delegating some of your SP. It all goes toward helping folks who need it desperately. Thank you!

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