[Logbook]: Steemit Transforms Lives - My Story & Lessons Learned 💙

Hi guys how are you? I hope everyone is fine! 🤗

I decided to write this article as an overview of what I observed and learned on the platform so far. I think we should all do this from time to time and tell the world about the knowledge gained from the most varied people on this planet. I hope this story can serve as an example for new users, who do not yet know how to publish, or who may feel lost in what to do. I can tell you from the bottom of my heart: do not worry. You will find the way, just as I found it!

First steps

When I created my account, I did not know how to publish, where to click to find groups, where the tags were located, how to insert photos (this item was a real mystery). I knew nothing! I spent a few days reading everything I could everywhere. I read publications of some users about how to write articles, how to add tags, photographs, and wrote down everything on a sheet of paper for future reference. This was my process of learning.

But the day to create my introductory article came and I was totally nervous! What to do? What to say? Will they like me? Will they read what I will write? Do users like poetry or short stories? Or even stories with a whit of comedy? I did not have these answers and felt completely demotivated and scared. Scared? Why scared? Maybe afraid of not to be accepted. Anyway, this is maybe due to some scars and resentments from childhood that echo to this day inside me. 😔

However, I wrote and published the article and even with my pictures on it! It was libertarian, believe me! From that day on, I didn’t want anything but publish on Steemit. But there was something wrong. How do I blog if I was not a blogger?

Brainstorming

I began to translation texts and publish them. Anyway, it is what I do professionally and maybe this would be the chance to make other doors open in the world. It was a thought I had, perhaps a little distorted on the platform, but I kept translating since I thought it was the most correct thing to be done at that time. Then came Hardfork 18 and it all got kind of “foggy” for me in the Steemit environment. What was Hardfork? I had no idea, and so I went looking for what that meant. I found the answer, and without even understanding much of what I read, I shifted my focus and got lost in my publications. 😧

For a whole month, I did not know what to do. I published everything I thought would be "interesting" to me, but I was not thinking about how to make the publications look "interesting" to the reader. I guess I was not paying enough attention to what I was writing, or I was writing very little about it. I had no idea! Unfortunately, there was a moment of doubt about everything, and for a week, in the month of May, I decided to stop and evaluate the facts. To be honest, I almost left the platform so seriously that question showed before me. It took me seven days thinking, reading everything again so I could see where I missed the point and then start a new version of me. But to become a blogger, I should do the following:

a) paying more attention to the publications, that is, adding more value to what I was about to write so that the reader would be satisfied and could perceive all the nuances of what I was trying to say;
b) there is nothing wrong with publishing short texts, but do them with love and quality;
c) Steemit is a blog and if you do not captivate people with good content, they will not come to read you. No one will be around. If you don’t blog right, the community will leave you on the sidelines, without paying any attention to you.

So, the formula was one: to blog with quality, since the formatting of the article to its content.

Change

And that's what I did! I began to take my own photographs, make fewer translations to focus much more on my literary work, and also polished the structure of my publication, making the work more enriching, presenting more information to the readers, gaining more confidence from the audience that once followed me.

With the advent of Hardfork 19, I was already more adapted to the reality of the platform, which is a different social network, still without groups or communities as there was on Orkut and even on Facebook, but only with tags to find the content that you like to read. Not that it is totally bad, it is just, as I said, a different reality and, therefore, we need to adapt to what is presented to us, and make this house a good place to live and interact.

Today, I feel happier with the publications. I write my poetry, stories and daily narratives, which are translated into English and Spanish and sometimes, when the texts are easier, into German (a language I can understand, even speak something, but I do not know how to write complex texts without committing millions of mistakes). I also publish my photographs and my handiwork and drawings that I sometimes create in my free time at home, but all of them with context and history in the article, not just the picture or something. 😊

New phase

The change on the behavior simply made me realize the importance of blogging correctly, prompting me to create a website for my own literary creations. It was very interesting to glimpse how Steemit can change people's lives and, in a few months, my existence took an unimaginable leap. I was already writing before I was aware of Steemit, however, with the linearity and constancy in the visit of this platform, writing became even more effervescent and fascinating, making this environment a place of training, joy and willingness to share what I see, listen and feel.

My sincere thanks to all who have made me realize how important it is to give our dreams the necessary real dimension they deserve to live with the sense of fulfillment and mission accomplished on this wonderful Earth.

Note for potential new users: If you do all this and nobody reads your post, or upvote you, first of all, forget about it. Forget the votes for now and keep posting. The votes will come at the right time, people will comment when they feel the need and there will be interaction. It is not their fault not reading or voting your posts. Maybe they were not on the platform at that time of the day, or when they came online, there were so many posts (and I tell you, this is weird, we have tons and tons of posts being published and it is almost impossible to find you among so many) that they didn’t see it. Believe me, they don’t do it on purpose. Do not forget one thing: also read the posts of other users you follow. It is important to let them know that you care and that you like what they do, and after reading it leave your comment or simply vote for it. Rest assured that the user will be happy with your attitude. Another important point is to find texts of new users and give them some comments and votes if the posts are interesting. This makes them feel secure about their publications and, more than that, respected and loved. 💙

Thanks for the visit, for reading my post and your comments!
See you, @manandezo!
Published on August 1st, 2017.