MY STEEM STORY - BY @FREE-REIGN

• Where my Steem Journey began
My Steem journey began one evening when I was reading posts on an internet forum website. I would engage in some of the discussions there, debate points and write a funny poem every now and then. It was a big waste of time, but I had recently retired from thirty-plus years in software development.
I had planned to try my hand at writing jingles for commercials and I was dabbling with that at the time also. So on that fateful evening I happened to read a post about this website, saying that it was paying people to come and create content there, and some of them were making over $200 for a first post.
I wasn’t a cryptocurrency enthusiast and in fact I saw no value in it at all. I also didn’t know anything about how it works, what a blockchain is, etc. I still don’t have much knowledge on those things even now. I liked writing here and even though I didn’t really see much value in the crypto, recognition plus any reward is nice.
Of course, moving up the ladder here is a big incentive to produce great content as well. To move up the ladder, one must create the best possible content they can; posting half-hearted attempts at creating won’t win one many fans. Steem is important to all of us then for a big reason... reputation.
• My initial challenges & how I overcame them
My initial challenges here at steemit.com were, I’m sure, the same garden variety issues most of us had upon arriving the first time, such as - “What are all the passwords for?” or “What is markdown?” - things like that.
I knew what I wanted to do; I wanted to write poetry. I’ve been writing poems since around the time I was in fifth grade, so I was excited that the poems I’d write would be read by people... strangers from the world over! Writing really great poems is difficult to do on a daily basis though.
My solution was to write poems about stories in the news, and I could do it daily.
• My Steem blockchain knowledge
I had zero blockchain knowledge upon arrival on the Steem blockchain, and I don’t really have a lot of knowledge on it now, almost two years after joining. I don’t know whether it’s a requirement to know the intricacies of it or not. I support it and want it to succeed, but beyond that, I’m okay with what I know.
• My Steem favourites
I like to do all kinds of creative writing now, and not just poetry. Me writing prose is the greatest thing that’s happened to me since joining steemit, and I enjoy wirting fiction, non-fiction, articles, etc.; I love it all, really, including poetry too.
I haven’t used any of the other front-ends available to users of the blockchain, I guess because that’s the way I am. In order to get me to move to something else, there has to be a MIGHTY good reason, and I just haven’t seen anything that would compel me to use something other than my favorite – steemit.
• My golden nugget advice
I believe the greatest advice I could offer to anyone wanting to be successful here on the Steem blockchain, would be to create something that you choose because you want to impress those who will see what you offer.
In other words, do the very BEST that you can, and then keeplearning how to do it better and better.
• My Steem hood & its peeps
I have a presence in two communities on the blockchain; @helpie and PowerHouseCreatives, and I have several discord communities that I keep up with pretty regularly, just to know what’s gong on. One can learn a lot more about current blockchain events on the many related discords.
I follow 197 steemians currently, and I’ve discovered new ones to follow since using Twitter for use with the #posh initiative. The steemians I follow that are on my mind most of the time, are those in the communities I’m involved with and those I discover. I think joining PHC was certainly a good decision for me.
I’m generally mostly in contact with community members and others I’ve met along the way, and in which I’ve seen friendliness, helpful attitudes and support. A handful of the people I follow and try to keep in contact with would be jaynie, penderis, dswigle, janton, redheadpei, zord189, joanstewart, taciyork, brittandjosie, fionasfavorites, and there’re more where they came from.

GENERAL INSTRUCTION:

1. Create a post titled: “My Steem Story – By @your.user.name”

2. The first three tags in order are to be as follows:
   #hive-114105
   #powerhousecreatives
   #mysteemstory

3. ONLY make use of the cover image provided in this post.

4. Keep the same formatting and placement (intro, footer
   instructions etc.)

5. Replace the personal photo with one of your own.

6. Tag 5 people to join in on the initiative.

7. Share your post to twitter.

8. Share your twitter link and Steem post link in the comments of @jaynie’s “Steem Story” post.

POST INSTRUCTION:

Write a post which shares and gives adequate response to the following headings:

• Where my Steem Journey began
_{(How you first discovered Steem and your very first thoughts and impressions “as you landed”.)}

• My initial challenges & how I overcame them
_{(Share a bit about the difficulties you faced at the beginning, whether it was navigation, post creation, engagement – whatever – how you resolved them and how differently you feel about it now)}

• My Steem blockchain knowledge
_{(Give a little bit of background on your blockchain knowledge when you began your Steem journey versus now.)}

• My Steem favourites
_{(What are the things you do mostly on the blockchain – is it blogging, vlogging? What front ends do you like to make use of and what content genre’s do you generally focus on?)}

• My golden nugget advice
_{(What advice would you offer to those that are unfamiliar or new to this space)}

• My Steem hood & its peeps
_{(Share a little about the communities you belong to, discord servers you frequent and perhaps a handful of the awesome people you follow)}