My Curie Curation Journal - Week 5 (Feb. 18 - Feb. 25) Et Tu Facebook?

As part of my journey here on SteemIt and as a Curie Curator I want to keep a sort of journal of how things go. My purpose in doing this is to not only keep track of everything I have done, but also to spotlight those that I submitted and had accepted, but also especially the ones that didn't get accepted so they might get a little exposure.

Also, for those out there who are part of the Newbie Resteem Initiative #newbieresteemday, or anyone else who might want to send info on the exceptional posts they find, it might give you an idea of what to be on the lookout for. Of course, don't stay constrained inside a certain box, a certain type, just use these posts as a bit of a guideline. If you might be serious about possibly becoming a Curie Curator let me know and we can talk.

Et Tu Facebook?

After last week's bad showing I was limited to just five submissions this week. However, due to the five submissions in seven days stipulation, only three of my submissions would be unlocked in time to use for this past week. This meant that the ONLY way I could advance back to having 15 submissions this coming week was to go 3 for 3. There was no room for error.

I have realized that my Curie Curation career will always be a learning process, and as the great philosopher Huey Lewis once said in his "Jacob's Ladder" - "All I want from tomorrow, is to get it better than today."

This week I realized my digging, my detective work at times doesn't look deep enough. There are just so many places that authors, artists, photographers, all posters in general could have possibly posted something before. Many have had their own blog sites before, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and countless other outlets to put their content out there. Many times they may want to recycle a post here on SteemIt. It's not wrong to do so. I know I have done many things in the past that I am proud of and would lover to share again here in my new community. It does however not fit into Curie's guidelines. If something was posted elsewhere within the last seven days of being posted here on SteemIt, that is fine. If someone reposts a video on dTube that they had put on YouTube last year, it just doesn't work for Curie's purposes. Curie wants to benefit and encourage exceptional, original to SteemIt content. As you will see later in my journal, I didn't dig deep enough on a post!

Also, I have continued to contribute as a guest curator for @sneakyninja this week. I honestly think I could submit five posts a day for The Daily Sneak. I just come across so many great posts while searching for the ones to submit to Curie. The Daily Sneak's guidelines allow for a wider base of eligible posts. I really would like to suggest to everyone who might be considering becoming a Curie Curator to perhaps use The Daily Sneak to get in some practice on searching for great content. If you have been following along with my journals you will have a decent idea of what guidelines need to be followed for Curie submissions. If you come across posts that you think are exceptional and fit the guidelines please feel free to let me know about it. If you find a great post but know it doesn't fit the guidelines, save the link until you get 2-5 posts you want to submit to The Daily Sneak. You can earn 1 SBD per post accepted by them. A great way to get yourself some SBD which can be turned into Steem and Steem Power if you want.

Here is the link to The Daily Sneak 24 February - with guest curator @randomwanderings so you can see the five I submitted there this week. Well I say this week, but they were found in just about one day of the week.

Now let's get to the list of my submissions.

NOTE: Please remember that some of these posts are all still open. Why not head on over and check them out, upvote them, comment on them, and resteem them?

Submission #1

This first submission I was a little on the fence over. I had been watching some of the author's posts and she is doing this thing where she is only buying secondhand things for all of 2018. This post continues that movement with her search for that perfect pair of vintage jeans. I honestly read this two or three times and set it aside as I just was not sure.

Meanwhile unbeknownst to me over on the Curie Discord Server in the new #curation_links channel that Carl created as a sort of extension of his Curation Bot where people can now drop links to posts they think deserve curation, there was a discussion already underway. @ameliabartlett had dropped the link for this post and made her case as to why she felt it deserved the Curie vote. Two fellow curators had reviewed the post and didn't quite think it reached the level it should have to be submitted. Again, I hadn't seen this discussion as I was off doing my own curation.

The thing is, I have been following @ameliabartlett for a few weeks now and narrowly got beat out on submitting one of her posts not too long ago. In following her I got to see what she posts, and what other posts she follows, and resteems. It has been clear all along she likes great content. Then in my deliberation on this post and searching for others I saw Amelia resteem this post. Knowing the quality of other things I had seen her resteem I took it as a the final deciding factor that the post was indeed good enough to submit.

Soon after the post was accepted I went to the #curation_links channel and caught up on the above conversation. We all had a bit of a laugh about it.

The best part of this all, apart from the post getting the vote and the author getting some well-deserved attention is - Amelia is now about to join us as a Curie Curator! As I said, I have known for weeks that she finds great content, now Carl knew and is getting her in this week. I am sure she will be a great addition to the Curie family.

Submission

AN ODE TO (OVERPRICED-BUT-NOT) VINTAGE LEVI'S
by: @taylerworrell




Curie Status: Accepted - Pending Payout: $67.86 , Upvotes: 178, Comments: 19

My Pitch:

This author has been here for about two months now and has seen zero reward. She is doing this thing where she is only buying secondhand stuff for all of 2018. This post is all about a good pair of secondhand jeans, the acquiring of them, and the history they already have. She is blending in here on SteemIt with many communities and her secondhand journey has already built a small following as she is a good storyteller.

Submission #2

This is the post that did in my chances of moving back to the 15 submission level. It turns out the video was posted about 2 months ago on their Facebook page. One of my weaknesses is not checking a place like Facebook unless the author specifically mentions it in their post or profile.

Part of the issue was that I was just excited to discover the post. I had discovered the author not too long ago when they did a post about making a guitar out of an old oilcan and another about making a mandolin from a cookie tin. both posts were great with step by step instructions and photos. I missed the boat on submitting either of those posts so was thrilled to find this one. Not only had they made these instruments but now they are using them to play one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs, Going to California.

I felt this was the one post without question that would be accepted. both of the making of the instrument posts got the smaller "direct" vote from Curie, so they would have to like this next step, right? While I am certain they probably did love it, as I said I made the fatal mistake of not spotting it on Facebook and it was not accepted.

Submission

Oilcan Guitar & Cookietin Mandolin - Going To California (Led Zeppelin cover)
by: @dose-instruments

Curie Status: Not Accepted - Pending Payout: $0.69 , Upvotes: 20, Comments: 3

My Pitch:

The making of these two instruments both got a small, possibly direct vote. The brothers now use the instruments to play a great instrumental rendition of Led Zeppelin's Going to California. Actually hearing the instruments they recently showed us how to make in action takes things to a whole other level. I should have submitted the making of them both, here's my chance to make up for it.

Submission #3

This final submission actually popped up in my feed after @charisma777 resteemed it. She was a judge in an art contest and this was the winner. I was instantly drawn to the sort of futuristic look of the artwork. then as you look closer at it you see the artist included bits that resemble the Steem logo, and she even drew herself into the art creating the art. (If that didn't make sense, look at the bottom right corner of the artwork.

Looking back through her other posts and artwork I am surprised I hadn't found her sooner. I have noticed I have been searching through the art tag a lot lately as there are just so many talented artists here on SteemIt. It just goes to show that there is not one solid way for someone to curate posts. You might find a great posts looking through a search tool, or by looking through a specific tag, or you might just make friends with and follow great people who will from time to time resteem the perfect post that should be getting more attention.

Submission

Contest Artwork
by: @yeszuzia





Curie Status: Accepted - Pending Payout: $66.93 , Upvotes: 49, Comments: 46

My Pitch:

This artist has been on the site for over a month now creating lots of great art. This painting actually won her a contest and she will be doing more for the person who ran the contest. She also shares a bit of the process in making it. She has had little more than a $1 reward on a few posts. She definitely has a lot of talent, please let's reward it a bit.

In Conclusion:

This week I finished with 3 submissions, 2 of which were accepted. This means for this coming week I will once again have just 5 submissions, but they will all be available between now and Friday for me to actually use. I will receive 20 Steem for these 2 accepted posts.

This coming week's goal is of course 5 accepted out of 5 submissions, but I do have a small amount of room for error as if I get 4 of 5 accepted my curator score will still be high enough to unlock 15 submissions fro the next week.

Also this week I unexpectedly had another of my own posts submitted and accepted for an upvote. This is the second time, and honestly I think we should make it a rule where every curator must post at least one Curie worthy post a month, and it should be upvoted. I say that not to set some standard where we should be practicing what we preach when it comes to creating exceptional content, nor because I feel we should get that bit of extra reward. I say it because it is great to be on the receiving end of the vote as a reminder of the feeling we give others when we get them the vote. I truly love being able to get these great authors and great content some attention, and of course the rewards. Being able to get that same feeling from time to time just lets me realize how good they probably feel when it happens.

Now please go forth and create great content. And if you create it or find it somewhere feel free to alert me to it. You can find me on Discord @randomwanderings #9929 . Also let me know if you have any questions.

Once again, remember some of the submitted posts listed above are still open and can be upvoted. Go visit them, enjoy their posts, upvote, resteem, and maybe follow these great authors.

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
Mark Twain