Yesterday afternoon, I was on my way to a movie, and I got a notification on Ginabot that genuinely left me speechless. I am one of 5 lucky people who each received a 600 SP delegation from a very generous Steemian, @nomad-magus. The delegation will last two months, and possibly longer if he finds that I used the delegation particularly well. He hadn’t even known me prior to this, so his sponsorship is especially selfless. I had stumbled across his delegation contest and there were so many people who entered that I assumed that I didn’t really have a shot. Looking back at the entries, I feel incredibly fortunate that out of so many talented and hard working minnows, he picked me to give this enormous leg up. I am also very thankful for the week-long 200 SP delegation from @danielsaori that he gave me for being the runner up in his comment contest. I can’t stress enough how appreciative I am for this.
All of us minnows who joined in the last six months are well-aware that joining this platform does not mean overnight riches. You have to swim against the proverbial current for months to make content worth reading, build a following, find your supporters, and support others in return. At times it’s exhausting, and when you do the math on the hours you spend, it’s not worth the financial rewards. You have to find other sources of motivation to keep making content. I’m sad to say that we’re about to lose one of my favorite Steemians, @sukhasanasister, because she’s become fed up with the amount of work versus the support she receives in return, and I can’t blame her. Receiving this delegation not only will help boost my progress, but it also will motivate me to keep moving forward and sticking this out.
With @nomad-magus and @danielsaori’s generous support, I’m going to be able to accelerate my efforts to grow and pick up some momentum against that aforementioned current. Today, I’m at around 160 SP on my own, which includes a small investment I made out of my own pocket. With their support, I’m at nearly 1,000, and this means that I can finally give out up votes to my friends who have supported me and help them get a leg up too. If I ever make it to enough SP that I can do the same, I plan to pay it forward and sponsor a minnow the way that he has chosen to sponsor us.
If I may request a favor from my humble following, please go over to @nomad-magus blog and read and support some of his content. It’s genuinely some of the best I’ve seen on here from among the power players. Most of the whales/dolphins/orcas around here have evolved into community builders more than they have been content creators, but @nomad-magus still creates high quality content in addition to his engagement with the community. I would highly recommend his recent dream analysis, which answers the question of why we dream about unexpected people from our past who may not have been terribly significant at the time. It gave me a lot to think about with respect to the relationships I’ve had in my own past which have unexpectedly popped up in my dream life.
Again, thank you @nomad-magus. I know I speak for all five of us when I say that we are enormously appreciative for your very generous gift.
You are most welcome. Your writing stands out and hence my choice. Keep up the good work 👍
.... And thanks for the kind words.
So happy for you that you are so happy!
So sad to be leaving you but you seem to have your work cut out for you in the directions, which, if I am to reveal all, present the true reasons that I have to go. Too much finance, social networking, protocols, system operations and general administration for my ol' rusty cogs; and as for the rewards that truly interest me (aside the bon-bons you, red-white-blue, and elementm treated me to): to date there is only one "Inbetween Seer" (who will be most mutually rewarded by my presence) amongst all my followers (many of which are formidable self-realisers and proper Earth troopers, but not consciously aware of the spiritual reality that pervades all being). But also she will be forced to pander to the social conventions and comply with the ethics of the cyber community. Nothing wrong with any of it! But not everyone has the head or time for chess. (Look out for our Utonian, will you?)
As for you, dear malloryblythe,
A THANK YOU to your intelligence for lifting the brain fog that can be stifling around here. Your presence unmistakeably made the difference for me (and the experiment suddenly pleasant!). A regular bite from the sandwich of you and @onnovocks, that other (enigmatic) level-headed player with his heart in the right place, kept digressive, nebulous me just enough grounded to "do this thing".
As you may know, already, I will pop in 6 Dec, and I think if may be soley to see what empire you will have grown by then.... Can you have created a climate that can also support the likes of me?
I admit that it was probably silly of me to post this public (although indirect) plea for you to stick around knowing that it’s also related to the same aspects of this that you don’t like. On that note, though, it’s incredible that you have gotten as far as you have here without really participating in the social aspects that you don’t really like. You’ve been @curie’d at least three times by my count, when it’s rare for it to happen even once to people who spend all of their energy flailing their arms and jumping up and down for attention. Your reputation score is also very high. I’m guessing because your comments are so ridiculously good when you choose to grace others with your presence and your thoughts.
I’ll make a silly analogy and say your blog is like a brilliantly dense indie art film with no marketing budget that was only released to a select handful of theaters but won every award at all of its obscure film festivals and gained a cult following. You defy all of the logic of what one has to do here to be successful and build a following, and that’s got to be worth something, right? No pandering necessary.
I hope that I’ll have something good to show for myself on the 6th of December. The date has been marked on my calendar.
As an aside, I’ve been holding on to a post since I first got here—it’s the history project and article I am most proud of. I’m going to post it today while I still have your attention.
Even though I feel addressed, I don't know if I was meant.
I don't think the rusty bones are really a reason you're leaving. After all, you have more than proven that the formatting challenges and design elements are no problem for you. And certainly not your wealth of content and writing pleasure. You once said, I think, that in the free market such an effort should basically be rewarded by a professional publisher and that's the way I see it. How to earn money with your way of writing, here fails, because there are no professional publishers here who act on the level of the market and make appropriate contracts with their authors.
As far as I know, there are only a few places on this platform where you are guaranteed to get financial compensation. The one I know is STEM. The science corner.
Since science is not your category (even if you create an unusual and creative form of knowledge), you could not or did not want to write under this category or did not know it existed?
I had established myself for my part there because of two things:
The first one was absolutely successful, the second one was rather limited - and for me with little satisfying result - because there don't seem to be any other systemics here who were interested in the same exchange or simply didn't find me and I didn't find them. So it wasn't the money with me, because if I had continued to write articles of this caliber, the income would have flowed. Although there is still a factor of uncertainty here that is unknown in the free economy and there are either publishers with whom you have a contract or a blog for which you don't get any money at all (except through advertising revenues).
Here you are - apart from that - dependent on random patronage and don't even know how often or for how long someone supports you. Which is common knowledge and, it seems, doesn't change much. In addition, we do not know each other by name and I think this makes things extremely difficult. There is a little bit of a lot of noncommittalism in it.
As for my excursions into the realm of fiction, I know that I probably don't write well enough for a real publisher. But for steemit I think that's enough. But of course I pay attention to the value judgement of people who can write excellently: Somebody like you.
You should know all this or find out when you come here. Whereby it is also the case that networking and paying attention and commenting takes a lot of space here and bites this non-committal with this kind of investment. If relationships had been established in the physical world in the same form, one would probably have either already given up or found a publisher/financier/client. It is therefore quite uneconomical and I assume that the confirmation from time to time is the candy that it is all about. And the loneliness... and the quest to go beyond the ordinary.
Fare well, sister.
I find different motivations for being here. For instance, I had never written fiction (in adulthood) until I got here and was persuaded to try out the freewrite thing. I always thought I would be awful at it. All I had ever written was diary entries, academic history articles, and long rants about stuff I care about. It turns out that once I put my mind to it and forced myself to spend five minutes crafting a story, I wasn't totally terrible at it, and people seemed to like reading it. I never would have had the confidence to do that before; certainly not in any professional capacity. In the past few years, I had gone through months-long phases of never putting pen to paper (or the metaphorical pen to paper, in this case). Now I feel this nagging (but productive) need to keep practicing, and to keep making more stuff for others to enjoy. I just made a two month long commitment through this generous gift to keep going here, and I think that's good for me. I really don't expect fantastic riches in the long run, because you are right, it is not economical. But maybe it will eventually give me the confidence to write a novel and shop it around. I see a lot of possibilities in contributing to this platform.
Okay, if you leave, than I will follow @malloryblythe
Otherwise I get lost
She's relatively concise, you'll be pleased to hear. American, but well, you can't have it all. She'll get your contributions at least, that much I am sure of.
American, but well, you can't have it all.
Whahahaha, you're so blunt. You could be Dutch.
Hey now! What’s wrong with us Americans? Is it the way I spell “color?” My lack of appreciation for fine teas? Or am I too loud on the tube?
You're the cutest American ever! I am sure you have just the right tastebuds for first flush, and haven't heard you on the tube, but anyone as eloquent as you are deserves to be heard! Besides, I still smell the sulfur of Europe on you - with Iceland still in your aura.
Take care, dear-heart. Look after our little gems.
Love, S.
I'm sad to say this post I've been hyping up won't post for some reason. Some sort of RPCError transaction broadcast (insert technical jargon here). I hope you'll come back in the next couple days while I get it straightened out.
Karma coming back your way for all those SBI you gave out.
Keep up the good work !
I do love reading about the good guys we have around here.
Well done, I'm sure (cause I have stats saying so 😁) you will pay this kindness forward.
Gratz! I'd urge you to browse the "New" tab, as few whales seem to. That's where the stuff that really needs help getting noticed will be.
Will do! I used to spend all my time in #introduceyourself greeting other newbies, but I suppose you are right that the new tab is really what needs our attention.
Congratulations - what a thing to wake up to!! A delegation is a gift and I hope that one day I can support people more on this platform too - I have one for just a bit longer and I'm desperatley trying to make good of it! It's an incredibly arduous task, that's for sure - and @sukhasanasister - don't leave!!!!
Ooh, nice! That is most bodaciously excellent news!
Good going! It seems like you are attracting all the SPs! Well deserved :D Congrats and show steemit what having that mount of SP can do :D
yes he is ridiculously kind hearted and and generous. I was also surprised because I only followed him lately yet he picked me coming from a 3rd world country. Thank you @nomad-magus
The first and foremost reasons for choosing you were the quality of your posts and your continuous activity on Steemit. 🙂
aw thank you! try to be active daily because we have newbies or minnows (younger than me) in our group that needs pushing and encouragement
I came here via @sukhasanasister
Oh boy, there are still so many hidden places on Steemit to do and to read ... it can be overwhelming.
Nice to meet you!
It is particularly awesome when a kindness like that comes pretty much "out of the blue," like that. Yes, you won the delegations in a contest... but people don't have to give out delegations at all so it's still a great selfless act-- so congratulations!
=^..^=