Time for a recap- My first month in Steemit!

It will be a month next tuesday since I joined Steemit. I'm writing to you on Sunday previous because I don't think I'll have the time to get around to this as the week begins. If you need to know... It's been a terrific month!

(Image: random calendar in the Temu feed, they probably stole it from elsewhere, (allegedly), so I don't think this counts as copyright infringement. Yes. I do sarcasm, too...)

I started with no real expectations apart from being certain that I had made the right choice for me in terms of the kind of place where I wanted to be, and, far from being disappointed, I am greatly pleased that after a month I feel fully integrated and know that I am a productive and very active member of this community. I met beautiful people that are beginning to become real friends, that have helped me and incentivized me all the way into becoming, myself, a supporting member for others that write beautiful texts and I think were feeling a bit left on their own and not really a part of a living community of persons. That is why, at this point I think that the most important tool in the arsenal of getting steem to grow is the comment button. The moment you press it, wonderful things will happen to everybody around you.

My first posting, in earnest, after a couple of test rounds with some ramblings I dumped on my blog, was a poem for a contest in Dream Steem, and it went by almost unnoticed (I got a miserly 4 votes for it), and I figured that the lack of a good picture to go with it was mostly to blame but, in reality, the community was very slow at the moment, as it had only 12 active posters, and I am very happy that the number has went up to 33 as the month passed, and my last, to the moment, posting on that community, is going on 14 votes and counting. Go Dream Steem! Props to @weisser-rabe for being such a great host.

I've been posting a lot, maybe an average of one post every couple of days, but, mostly, I've been reading and commenting on other people's posts, and, on that front, I think I've passed the 500 comment barrier a couple of days ago. (This is me, telling you to go out there and comment). I also have my favourite posts. For one, I got myself to write my first post in German, and I am now happy to have written my second, thanks to all the beautiful people in Deutsch Unplugged that received me so warmly and gave me the strength to try it again. If you are able to read and write in german, I strongly recommend the visit.

Although I'm on my way to write a sci-fi novel that I publish in short, 5 minutes read, episodes, I do have my favourite post, and my favourite place to visit is Freewriters. It's becoming a community with "movida", as the spanish say, a thriving community of writers, that had 24 active posters in my first day, is now up to 55 and thanks to the great leadership offered by @wakeupkitty, that I have to thank for sponsoring my way into being able to publish and comment as much as I have during the first week, things are looking up and a lot more people are writing and answering to the calls for the pic1000 contest and the "7 daily prompts" freewriting contest she hosts. If you like to write, it's a mandatory place to go.

After these few weeks, I have also started to explore the World of XPilar, Art & Artists, Venezolanos Steem and I have been just recently dwelving into Italy, thanks to the new Steem Retrogame, Space Invasion, that has prompted me to write a review about it , and, as a prompt in Freewriters, made me imagine my way into an Ukrainian battlefield in "Invaders" .

As I finish this month, that has gone by with the help of all my friends, I am about to finish my exploration of the Steem financial architecture, and I couldn't do this without Steemchiller's Steem World, which is a must have tool if you are serious about doing anything around Steemit. Also, I have gotten my feet wet in my own project, as I am now launching a publishing house dedicated to printing real paper books with the works of Steemian authors , and that is Hefestus Editions. I have also launched my own very first contest, destined to involve the community in designing a logo to figure in any books that come out of this effort.

In sum, it's been a fun, fulfilling and very enjoyful month and I plan to stick around and to continue commenting a lot and posting sometimes and gathering many more friends around this amazing, unique community where you can feel free to give wings to your imagination and, maybe, piggybank a few Steem dollars along the way.

I wish all of you newcomers the very best and say to you all that there is no need to be afraid to post and comment, because that's the way this community evolves.

Have a great Sunday, wherever you are, and enjoy Steemit, there's a lot here for everybody.

Steem on!

Pedro

09.02.25 @hefestus