My Steem-Diary: Week One Run Down

 

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 December 31, 2017  

I joined Steemit on this day, the last day of 2017. I, always impulsive once my mind is made, quickly wrote an Introduction and posted it on my wall. The introduction lacked so many things because I knew next to nothing about how Steemit operates. 

Firstly, I forgot to add the #introduceyourself tag and so I lost my potential readers. This post  had no picture and that affected the quality of the post. I also did not know that I could use the editor to make my work suitable for posting. You see, I write on MS-word, so I just copied, pasted and posted. Finally, it was a very short piece; a one minute read, I think. I added the tag later but that is spilled milk. I have managed to get a small amount of upvotes on the post thanks to @iamatabo and @bottymcbotface.  

Before my first post though, @unlimited921, who introduced me to Steemit, told me to join a group on telegram known as #airhawk-project and it was through this awesome group I learnt some of the few correct things I did on my this post, which included the tags I used. In fact, a friend on the group went through my post and he told me I should have told him I was going to post before i did as he would have been able to give me assistance. Anyway, it is there on my blog. Don’t make my mistake newbie. 

January 1, 2018

Today, I posted a poem I titled  A Space Between Us. I added a picture but it had no image source attached to it. Luckily I had picked it at random out of my hard drive. My tags were on point or so i thought and I felt that I was going to hit the jackpot on this. You see I pride myself on my poetic skill. Well, I got three votes, thanks to @arjoena20 @riostarr @mahi2raj as well as a lovely comment from @arjoena20.  I am surprised, though, at the reception. What did I do wrong this time? Was it the tags or the picture or the brevity of the poem? Was it the fact that it was a poem? I will never know but I had definitely improved from my first post. 

 January 2, 2018

I posted another poem today. This time, it was not like the impromptu verse I had posted yesterday. This was actually a poem I had written a while back but had been wary of posting or publishing it anywhere because of the tone and subject of the poem. Well, I thought to myself, if I was going to be crucified, I might as well carry the cross at Steemit; I will go down counting upvotes and resteems in my head. 

The Poem, A prayer For My Country got two upvotes, thanks to @estherikott and @kinergy. It got no comments despite the subtle provocation embedded in the poem. I guess I was singing to the wrong crowd.  Looking back now, I realize that my tags on that post was not up to par and on putting an image source for the photo i used, I had failed again. Also I still did not know that my posts were poorly formatted and paragraphs were too closely packed. 

On this same day, a buddy of mine, @princeola introduced me to the #sevendaybnwchallenge and I quickly posted a picture with the header ‘Seven Days Black And White Photos Challenge. Day 5'. Lawd! I excitedly sent him the link and he saw the error immediately. I went back and changed it to 'Day 1'. I hope nobody sees the error. I got three upvotes from this post, thanks to @originalworks2 @mustumasti and of course @princeola. I also got awarded with badges from @steemitboard, as well as got comments from @princeola and @originalworks2.  Please note that I had started utilising the #airhawk-project linkzone group to get upvotes and it definitely felt good to receive so much attention. 

January 3, 2018

Today, I posted the 'Day 2' photo for the black and white photo challenge. I got two votes, thanks to @princeola and @originalworks2. I got one comment from @originalworks2 and that was it. I could have been depressed if not for the fact that I had an article i had prepared to be posted today. You see, I had decided at first to make just one post a day but when I saw the lack of following, I decided to increase my posts to two or three or more, a day.  

The Journey is The Destination: My Poetic Journey was what I posted after the photo challenge. It is a post that tried to chronicle my poetic journey from the beginning until this day. It is a lengthy article, and it has about three pictures in it. I had nine upvotes on this post, thanks to @naijaboost @flamegirl @evelyniroh @orlahyeahlay @alphazero @camzy @eurogee @adventuretours and @blessing97. Though the post has no comment till now, it is one of my biggest posts this week.  I still made some errors in this my, so awesome post. I did not use the markdown feature again, so the paragraphs were jammed together again. Also, my photo credit was poorly done again. I had improved in my tags though, so that is a plus, I think. 

January 4, 2018

 Today was a busy day. I posted, commented and upvoted a lot as well as resteemed other people’s posts. I posted a poem titled Tying a Knot With Beautiful Words. This is another big milestone for me. This is my first poem to get big upvotes. I got upvotes from @candyman @ajremy @udezee @notion360 and @owoblow-steemit. @ajremy and @owoblow-steemit also gave favorable comments. There is nothing like validating a writer’s efforts; it is a beautiful thing. @udezee also upvoted my comment on my own post, which was a first for me.  Despite this post’s awesomeness though, my image source was poorly done again. I think I did well in the formatting and that helped.  

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Today too, I resteemed @dobartim post on the best smile challenge, which I was participating in. If you only knew what was in my head the day I took that photograph, you will understand that smiling is not always happiness; I digress. I had started following people on Steemit. Men and women, whom I felt had one or two things to teach me and those who had interesting things to say. As a result, I was coming across great content which I upvoted or commented as my spirit led or as my steem and voting power allowed.  

Later today, I posted the post that has given me the largest upvotes so far from my posts. I had seen the movie, Hacksaw Ridge the night before and I felt the need to share my thoughts on it. Get One More: Why I Have Seen Hacksaw Ridge Three Times was done right. The image sources were properly placed, the tags were okay and I even had a reference, lol. I have received five upvotes so far from @candyman @unlimited921 @udezee @visky @ubg. @unlimited921 also commented on the post.  Did I do anything wrong on this one? I don’t know. Maybe I need to share my posts more.  

Towards the end of today, I post my photograph for 'Day 3' of the Seven Days Black And White Photos Challenge. This is my largest upvote so far on this challenge. I got three upvotes thanks to @rewardpoolrape @originalworks2 and @ubg. 

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After the photo challenge post, I resteemed @aubreyfox post on writing with pen and paper. I had an interesting time discussing with her and other fellow Steemians on the decline of handwriting and the present dependence on keypads and keyboards in writing. I just had to resteem it. My comments also got upvotes from the lovely folks i met there.  

When I was done with the resteeming, I went on to post a poem titled Leavings That Have Soiled Us. The poem was posted from my esteem app as my laptop had gone off and there was no electricity to charge the battery. The poem generated five upvotes from @moeknows @originalworks @madefax007 @bjarnedemeyere and @dhayor. As I write this post, I have observed that @moeknows had taken time to also comment favorably about the poem. I ended the day by resteeming @skywalker3005 awesome portrait of what the social media was turning the world into. 

 January 5, 2018

 I began today by submitting for a poetry contest organised by @terrycraft. It was an impromptu decision and I don’t expect to win anything out of it. The poem i submitted for the contest is titled We Will Abide. In this post, I made good use of the Markdown feature on the editor and also ensured that my tags and other details were in good order. I got just one upvote from @originalworks. 

After the above mentioned post, I posted the 'Day 4' of the seven days black and white photos challenge. @princeola @unlimited921 and @originalworks upvoted the post.  

Later in the evening, I had a flash of inspiration and posted a throwback picture of myself that makes me wince anytime I see it and I tried to draw other Steemians into my craziness. I got three votes from @originalworks @artbenow and @claritabussy. It seems my gambit failed. I did everything right though, so that was a plus for me.  That was my last post for today. 

I spent the remaining part of the night before sleep took me, to resteem @tarazkp beautiful poem on love, loyalty and dogs. We shared our memories of our favorite friends with other Steemians. I got some upvotes from there. I also resteemed @dobartim article on the intention of Facebook to own its own cryptocurrency and its implications for Steemit and social media as a whole. I ended with a resteem of @pharesim news on the reduction of Steem account creation fees.  

January 6, 2018

Today i decided to do a weekly rundown of my experiences on Steemit every Saturday. Before i posted my diary though, i posted 'Day 5' of the Seven Day Black And White Photo Challenge. The picture i used was beautiful, i think but that is my personal opinion. 

After the post, i settled in to write this article which i titled My Steem-Diary: Week One Run Down and i had to go through as much of my posts as i could, so i could get the usernames of some of my new friends. When i have posted this weekend rundown, i am going to do a bit of reading on Steemit, comment, upvote and resteem the wonderful content that are abound here. 

General Observations

 I can say that I have made great improvements in my posting. There has been a gradual evolution from the debacle of my first post to the lovely feeling of validation on my later posts. I have also gotten upvotes from comments I made on other Steemian's posts. I do not know if that is what it means to curate but I am thankful. In fact, my highest upvote till date is from a story I posted on the comment section of a post by @adsactly featuring @hopehugg scar stories. My story on the comment section got six votes from @adsactly @kriptonoob @supreme @novale @dorth @protoken. @hopehuggs also took out time to reply my comment.  I therefore feel that interacting with people, truly sharing opinions and sharing the things i enjoy in my life are what will make me do well here on Steemit. It is still a work in progress though and these past few days have been interesting.  

On a side note, I observed yesterday that my SBD is reducing gradually. It is my belief that some of the upvotes given to me previously are being taken away. I do not know why but it is all good. 

 I would like to thank all who upvoted my posts and comments. I would also like to thank those who commented on my posts or replied my comments on other posts; both those I mentioned and those i forgot to mention. Thank you for finding quality in my work. I will not forget members of #airhawk-project for their role in making this first week a wonderful experience. This is just the first week, I will do much better next week, I promise.  

Newbies, work on your tags as well as spend as much time as you can on properly editing your work. Steemit may look and feel like facebook but it is concerned with quality and quality wins over quantity everytime.

Please i would love your opinions on this article; do you think it was helpful? do you think i should keep on writing it as a weekend post? Do you have any advice for me with regards to my articles, posting, etc on Steemit?

Please do not hesitate to drop a comment, upvote and resteem as your spirit, your steem and voting power can allow.

Peace.