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RE: How Did I Discover Steemit? How Did You?
Hello.
Great post (upvote). As for me, I spend a lot of time at work researching new investments and ways to earn passive income. Everyone was talking about Bitcoin and so I researched it and that led me down a spiral of googling until I ended up clicking on steemit.
I'm experiencing the same start you had. My introduction post wasn't as popular as lots of other people's. I posted a few poems but the views on them are so low, I'm not sure how to get people to see them. Even if they hate my writing id like to know.
Anyways, I like to write also. I'll follow and check out some of your poems. If you get time check mine out also @pltorres
Following, and I will definitely check out your poems and give you my real opinion. Most people don't want to hear that, even though they say they do, but it seems like mean it (from your tone? hah). And in terms of visibility here, it must be some mix of luck and skill. Nothing comes without skill, but pure writing skill isn't enough either. Interacting with other accounts that are in the poetry world I think could help. Though, honestly, I don't know either...
You bring up a good point "Most people don't want to hear that, even though they say they do" - That has stopped me from commenting on most of the poems that I read on here. I have some strong opinions when it comes to things that I read (or watch on tv).
For example, something that bothers me is when poets force rhymes. It can sound very Dr Seuss-ish. I think a strict rhyming poem is easy to put down on paper which is why people do it, but it's harder to make great compared to free form poems.
I've also had many college courses on creative writing where we shared our work and most of the comments were "I liked it" "wow" "keep it up" ... none of those things are helpful to me. So I switched majors and went the safer 9-5 route.
pfff yeah the forced rhyme thing is a product of what schools are teaching early on, I think. Teach more contemporary poetry and that problem will likely stop. That's also unfortunate that that was your experience taking creative writing in college. My experience was so different, even as an undergrad. I went to the University of Minnesota mostly, and I just had a fantastic experience. Small, engaged classes. That is probably what drew me to get my MFA. I wanted more of that environment, and that's what I got. Those 2 years studying poetry (and writing in general) so closely changed my life, and were beautiful and heavily impact my life all the time, still.