I've been on this platform less than a week so far, and already I find the way I perceive the potential value of my life experiences is being reshaped dramatically. The earnings on my posts so far have surpassed what I might have guessed they would earn, though I really had no idea what to expect. If I were to translate these earnings into an average hourly wage for the time I've spent writing them, the pay still doesn't come close to matching what I can earn in the world of mercinary code plumbing, but it feels like a far more satisfying way to invest my time and mental energy. Besides, creating what I enjoy at my own pace is not something I am accustomed to being paid for at all, so at this point, being paid anything just to post a few little thoughts feels like a great boon.
The positive feedback in the form of votes I've received so far has me contemplating possible ways I might be able to take my game to the next level, both in terms of writing, and with how I live my life. Upon reflection, those initial considerations about pandering or not as a path to success represent a relatively low form of survivalistic consciousness born out of fear-based thinking.
Taking a more abundant perspective on how I might enhance the value of my writing for the benefit of readers, and thus perhaps, my account balance, brings a far more encouraging answer. The best way I can think of to develop a following would be to focus my writing on interesting subjects. I want to put my time and energy into seeking out the most interesting life experiences I can find, and write about those. Take more photographs, give it some polish, treating the art with the love it deserves. Read more books, develop thoughts in reaction to what I learn, and write about that. Listen to the culture, have more conversations with people that are likely to stimulate insight, recording and sharing the results. Anything I encounter in life has the potential to spark another new topic. The better the source material I have to draw from, the more interesting the writing can become.
I've practiced this pattern in the past. I just wasn't being paid for it last time around. I didn't care about being paid then. It was just play. In the world of simple free sharing, we were all like children on the playground of a budding Internet.
The shortcoming with that kind of sharing is that it fails to be self-supporting in a world where everything costs money. Historically, to fuel creative projects, I, like so many of us, have diverted much of my energy into "day jobs", which, while they certainly help in providing money for hardware and living expenses, tend to leave less time and energy to carry out creative projects.
This reality has taught me that when gifts are given in perpetuity without receiving some means to replinish the energy which created them, the well that feeds the creative process slowly dries up, unless it is fed by another source. Throwing everything out there endlessly for free also seems to add to the perception that our creations have little if any real worth in the world. Maybe the great writers of our parents' generation were paid by big publishers and magazines, but in this era, many of my favorite bloggers and artists have subsisted on bullshit jobs while receiving virtually nothing for their most meaningful work that contributes real value to the culture.
Now, with the creation of Steemit, could we be growing beyond that, to a world where artists and creators can become more self-sustaining? A world where the financial fuel to create can be derived from the creations themselves when they are appreciated? If this could turn into a virtous cycle of seeking and living more vibrant experiences, deriving from them content to share, and being rewarded with the means to continue thriving further, might I reach the point where the drudgery I had previously assumed necessary for survival could be dispensed with? The potential itself has breathed new life into my conception of which activities in life could allow the soul to live in a way to truly thrive.
Another potential vision begins to take shape out of the mists of possibility. This could be another road trip, taken with the explicit purpose of writing about whatever happens, and letting the story, if it is of interest to readers, pay for the gas money to fuel the journey with the proceeds off of Steemit. If told in an entertaining manner, living life as freely as possible might even end up becoming more lucrative than a traditional job which conventional wisdom advises us is necessary to achieve financial stability.
Right now, this is just contemplating possibilities and dreams, while adding to this growing pool of collective expressions. Let abundance reign!