Happy Steem Birthday To Me

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A little over a year ago, during the start of the whole Youtube demonetization drive, I was watching a video by a Youtube commentator who was investigating alternative streams of income. In a passing remark he mentioned this Steemit thing. Curiosity piqued, I investivated and signed up. Is it a con? Do people really make money on it? What's the catch? - all thoughts running through my head as I patiently waited for my account. Meanwhile I researched as much as I could about the platform.

Exactly 365 days ago my account was approved. I introduced myself and started making posts. My love for 3D modeling was my first focus and I think my second such post earned me a Curie.

I was blown away. Maybe this Steem thing was worth continuing after all. With my interest in digital art, I started an art contest called Digital Art Showcase, through which I met lots of artists I still follow to this day. Keen to try to secure a little funding towards the prize pool, I contacted a certain @aggroed via Steem Chat - I had seen him out and about on the platform and he seemed a helpful kinda bloke.

Um...ok. Unsure what Discord even was, I went ahead, downloaded the app and signed in. Little did I know that this short exchange would change my Steem experience forever. This was the start of the @minnowsupport project. @swelker101 was already there and we hit it off from the start. As much as we tease each other and put the other down at every opportunity, I have much love for the dude. He became the first MSP moderator on Discord and I became second - a fact I'm sure @swelker101 will forever point out. My time at MSP really opened my eyes to the power of networking on this platform and my follower count rose quickly.

It was also at MSP that I met @rhondak. We spoke in DMs at length as I was very interested in the fact she was a published author - something I have always kinda dreamed about becoming. The fact that we are also both animal lovers cemented the start of our friendship. Pretty soon a fiction workshop was opened up on the MSP server and I spent ever increasing time in there, learning the craft of writing.

Steemfest was announced and many Steemians put up competitions to win flights, tickets etc to the event in Portugal. @theprophet0 ran one such contest and, with a lot of backing from Minnow Support members, I won flights to Lisbon!

It was also around this time that @acidyo announced an upcoming project called @ocd, a curation team. I applied and was very happy to have been selected. I am still a curator for OCD now. I also created my own curation account called @muxxybot. Although nowhere near as prestigious as OCD, I grew my own team of curators and like to think we gave some support to lowly minnows on the platform.

The fiction workshop at MSP outgrew its home and we needed more room. @rhondak and I decided to created @thewritersblock, a community solely dedicated to writing of all kinds, not just fiction but poetry, non-fiction, and song writing too.

We started with 12 members and to date this has grown to an amazing 800 people. Of all the projects I have been involved with over the past 12 months, this is the one I am most proud of. The Writers' Block is the culmination of hard work and passion towards creating quality content for not just the blockchain, but also the wider world. I had never thought of myself as a writer but with the help and support of our community, my skills have grown far beyond my wildest dreams. And I see this daily with other members.

When November rolled around I made my trek to Steemfest and made some valuable contacts, as well as had a lot of fun. If you ever get the chance to attend, I thoroughly recommend it. @roelandp and the team put on a great event.

Returning to The Writers' Block, I am extremely proud of all we have so far achieved, but this is just the beginning. You see, we have always had a plan to create a crypto-backed publishing house. These plans and more are slowly coming to fruition and, towards this end, we have arranged the first of what I hope will be many TWB meetups. We will be in Gatlinburg June 21^st to the 25^th to not only meet each other in the flesh for the first time - exciting - but also to plan our next steps with certain parties, taking TWB to the next level.

If it wasn't for Steem and Steemit, none of this would have happened. I have grown as a writer, I have travelled solo to and from Steemfest, I will do the same again to Tennessee - I have never in fact been out of Europe. I have made many genuine friendships on this platform. As I am classed as disabled - I have Multiple Sclerosis - this platform has made it possible for me to again support my family financially. More than that, it has increased my self-worth, and for that I am eternally grateful. To think that if I hadn't clicked on that video 1 year ago and heard a passing mention of Steemit, none of this would ever have happened.

Thanks to each and every person who has supported me and helped grow my account during this past year you're all amazing. Yes, even @swelker101.

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Are you a writer or keen to learn? Do you wish to join a community of like-minded individuals who can help hone your writing skills in the fields of fiction, non-fiction, technical, poetry, or songwriting? Join us at The Writers' Block by clicking the logo below.