Everyone has a story – and all our stories have something in common… we all started from nothing and knew nothing. People want to hear stories. They want to hear OUR stories — they want to know who we are, where we are from, what we are doing, who and what we love, what we have learnt and where we are going. People also want us to hear their story! Being a part of the Steem network is an individual journey for every single one of us and through this initiative we will share our stories not only with all who are already here – hopefully inspiring, guiding and informing them… but doing the same for everyone else in the world too. Through our stories we will prick the curiosity of those who have not yet arrived and illuminate and widen the already open doors to our one in a million blockchain.

• Where my Steem Journey began

I've been on the Steem blockchain for a few months under a year now. I had been a regular user of Google+ when it was a thing and remember being pretty put out when Google decided to shut it down (I still greatly miss the interface). My primary purpose at Google+ was the photography communities; there were some really good ones, with some really good photographers.

I began to search for a replacement that didn't include the words "Face" and "book" in it for a multitude of reasons I won't go into. Along the way I found diaspora and a connected offshoot named pluspora for Google+ refugees, MeWe which I actually did use for some time, despite hating the interface, and Minds which, honestly, I never used. I tried to engage in Flickr as well but couldn't get past the Yahoo aspect of it, even though it isn't really Yahoo anymore. I guess I was soured on it.

It was at some point after that I discovered Steem and Steemit. I do have my own website and domain (which I rarely use, to be honest) because, frankly, I don't have the time to try to build a following of people to go to One More Place for what is really Just More of the Same. I just want a place to share some photos, some goofiness, and some silliness and have people enjoy it. And, frankly, the idea of being able to earn some tips for being silly seemed like a pretty neat deal!

• My initial challenges & how I overcame them

It took nearly three weeks for my account to be created. Honestly, I had given up on it and was moving on when the email finally arrived. And, y'know, holy shit, this steem blockchain was confusing as all fuck! Four keys to try to figure out, where to put them, when to use them, where to use them, for which frontend, wtf are all these front ends, how does steemit.com differ from steemitwallet.com, steemd.com, steemdb.com, WTF do I need to put my profile information in my wallet and not steemit.com itself, Jesus Christ look at all the tags and people telling me I'm using them wrong, WTH do I keep running out of resources, oh great, I need more steem, HTH do I use blocktrades and so forth.

--> deep breath *wheeze* deep breath <--

Yeah. New users can get confused, and I'm not an idiot. Really, I'm not. I'm a pretty technically savvy person, but the sheer amount of information in a plethora of locations is overwhelming. Thankfully the good folk at the Steem Terminal were there to help. Hive account@thekittygirl, Hive account@xcountytravelers, Hive account@brittandjosie, Hive account@wesphilbin, in particular, you guys rock. I don't know how you call keep your patience answering the same questions over and over and over and over. And over.

• My Steem blockchain knowledge

Blockchains. I had a vague idea of how blockchains work, and it had been on my radar to learn more. I certainly know a helluva lot more now than I did then. Enough, at least, to want to make my own dApp. Photography based, of course. Oh, for only a 56 hour day to be able to do it.

• My Steem favourites

So my tastes are wide and varied. Eclectic might be the best word. I came here for the photography, I stayed because there's So Damn Much. Ironically, I've found that I've been more engaged with topics not relating to photography at all, to the point that I'm actually attempting to re-focus on it.

One of the biggest challenges I face is finding what I will really enjoy. It's funny, in a way, in that I have witnessed concerns about a lack of regular users on the chain. In my experience I need to wade through a lot of material to find what I really enjoy, and then there is a lot of it! There are a lot of curators, for sure, and that certainly helps. Hive account@photocircle is pretty awesome. I really enjoy the Creative Coin curations too. Power House Creatives is pretty great, of course - Hive account@jaynie delivers to us four gold nuggets every day, and they never fail to impress and entertain.

• My golden nugget advice

If you're new to the Steem blockchain, do not be afraid to ask for help. The vast majority of people are definitely willing to help, or at least point you in the right direction. And do not be afraid or intimidated by a language barrier. We all find a way to communicate and appreciate having people from all walks of life.

• My Steem hood & its peeps

This one is easy. My favourite communities:

PowerHouseCreatives. Too much fun. So many people, so many different backgrounds. Always fun.

CreativeCoin. The CreativeCoin community is one reason I wish there was 56 hours in a day. Hive account@isaria, Hive account@crimsonclad, Hive account@juliakponsford and Hive account@georgeboya have some of the best posts and most creative... creations. I simply cannot keep up with their level of awesome.

Photostreem. Just one of the many photography groups on steem, and the one that runs the PHOTO token and photostreem.com. It's always inspiring to see what other people are able to do with their cameras.

There are certainly others that I enjoy to peek in on from time to time and engage with - Hive account@mariannewest's freewritehouse comes to mind - but I need to somehow try to compress 56 hours of stuff into a couple free hours every day.

So the instructions say to tag five people. Most of the people I would think of tagging are probably already involved, but I shall try:

Hive account@definethedollar
Hive account@tattoodjay
Hive account@swedishdragon
Hive account@brumesh
Hive account@bambuka

GENERAL INSTRUCTION:

1. Create a post titled: “My Steem Story – By Hive account@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 Hive account@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)}