THANK YOU fam! I just reached 500 followers on steemit after 9 weeks. It’s been an incredible journey so far, and I can’t wait to see where this adventure leads!
Today I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on my time here and what I’ve learned.
It’s a way for me to capture the moment, and also share my tips and process with all of you as a steemit case study. I wrote my first steemit post on 1/29/2018, so I am currently midway through my 9th week here!
I came to the platform as an artist looking for new ways for creative people to make a living doing what they do best: creating!
Here’s what I said in my introduction post:
Six months ago I didn’t know about cryptocurrency or steemit, but I had heard rumors and I wanted to know more. Three days ago I decided to try it out. Why?
Because I want to know how the platform can empower creatives like myself to build support and money for work that they’re already doing. Performing and visual artists make content all the time. In fact, it’s our bread and butter. I think steemit can, and will, empower the artist community in unprecedented ways.
After nine weeks on the platform I am here to say YES. Steemit does empower the artist community in unprecedented ways, and it’s growing. I am thrilled to be on the platform in its infancy, and incredibly inspired by the caliber of work being shared here.
I was also very lucky to have a steemit and crypto savvy partner to help me navigate the platform from day one. That lovely man is 
and you should check out his personal blog, or if you’re a gamer his company Money Match Gaming.
It really helps to have a personal mentor and co-conspirator to talk about ideas with. We’ll get to it below, but building relationships and community on the platform are essential. Find your allies and stick with ‘em -- I’m lucky that I happen to live with one of mine! See a few of 
From my point of view there are 2 things that matter more than anything else on steemit: Community and Quality.
Say it with me, my friends: community and quality. Because these two things are so essential to navigating the platform, I’m going to go a little deeper into each. Ready? Set? Go.
COMMUNITY
If you’ve read even one steemit “tips” article you know that everyone talks about relationship building and authentic connection on steemit. They’re hitting the nail on the head. You won’t get far here without building a genuine community, engaging with authors you honestly enjoy, and getting to know people. Don’t be shy! I’ve personally made over 1500 posts here (comments and replies to comments) engaging with folks in just 9 weeks!
I think if you want this to work you need to have at least a little if not a lot of fun engaging with content from other people. It is really hard to read everyone’s work and find time to support new authors, but I’ve found a little authentic love goes a long way even if I can’t stop by someone’s blog every day. I would if I could!
If you’re building genuine relationships this probably goes without saying, but find your niche(s). For example, if you’re an artist, support other artists and you’ll have a ready made audience.
DISCORD
If you want to fully tap into the steemit community you have to get Discord. Discord is a chat system that allows you to join individual servers for groups of people united around a common niche, idea, or community need. The group where I’ve found myself most active has been TEAMGIRLPOWA .
Team Girl Powa promotes feminine voices on steemit and provides a femme-friendly space to learn about using the platform. Some of my favorite blogs regularly promote here including my favorite steemit photographer 
A few other groups I really enjoy and think are valuable to check out include:
MY PEOPLE
Like I said earlier, it’s so important to find your people. My first day here I stumbled across an incredible initiative that totally shaped my early experience on steemit, pointed me in the right direction, and gave me every possible tool for success!
Dolphin School Bootcamp by @MarkRMorrisJr
Mark is doing an amazing thing. He’s coaching minnows for bootcamp series of varied lengths to help them boost visibility for their content, while improving their writing style and developing their niche. I was part of the very first 
Out of the good of his heart Mark mentored all 20 of us(!) for nearly two weeks. It was an intense, and extremely rewarding process. I’ve stayed in touch with quite a few fellow dolphin schoolers including incredible artist 
Another group that has been indispensable to me has been The Alliance.
The Alliance
What is this group exactly?
#thealliance is...one big happy family, and it is our duty to uphold our standard as quality curators and creators.
There is a long application process to get in, but once you are, you will be part of a community of high-quality content creators and curators who will be able to help develop you into the best version of your personal “brand” possible. To learn more the family and our application process read this post. And, check out my application for an example!
I’ve met some amazing people through this group including 
Another group that has revolutionized my time on steemit is Curie.
Curie
Curie is a community that is dedicated to quality. They curate daily, outstanding content. Authors receive upvotes that propel their content forward. The basic guidelines are as follows, or read the expanded guidelines here:
New and verified authors only, who have been persistent without much success. Brand new authors who have one or two posts without verification do not qualify.
I’ve been lucky enough to be Curie’d a few times, which led me to finding out more about their community and submitting myself to be a Curie Curator. I’m being mentored by 
Curators get 10 STEEM as a finders fee for every post, so this has the potential to be a great way to help power my steemit life moving forward. Knock on wood and may the odds be in my favor. Don’t forget to join Curie on Discord.
I also recently hopped on board with a new decentralized news source: Insteem.
Insteem
I stumbled upon Insteem, found their website www.insteem.com, and connected with the founder 
My last thoughts on community: GIVE BACK!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again--community is key here. We all want people to follow our blog and upvote our posts, but that interaction is just part of the total steemit ecosystem--a system we must invest in to ensure that it thrives.
Because I’ve had a small bit of success here, I’ve made it a priority to support other artists and creatives on the site. For example, this week I am running two contests and giving away 15sbd. Check ‘em out:
ART MIX-UP CONTEST | 04
The Great Outdoors Photo Contest
Remember at the beginning of all this when I said there were 2 things you needed to focus on to make your steemit life successful? Well, it’s time to talk about QUALITY.
At the end of the day, Steemit is only going to really take off if the content creators on the site are dedicated to making valuable content. This means good writing and good formatting and clear citations. Did you know it’s basically impossible to receive a Curie vote (or other curation trail upvote) without these key ingredients?
Learn some basic HTML. Just do it. You don’t need to be fancy. Line breaks, titles, centered images, and remembering to break up text with whitespace are all basic tricks that give you a lot of bang for your buck.
Also, I cannot stress this enough: if you want to maximize your steemit potential DO NOT post your content elsewhere first. Curators reward original content. If you must post elsewhere, consider posting here a few days in advance. If you share a project you previously made, add new value by detailing the process, or connecting it to a theme or idea you’d care to expand on. Good content will be rewarded--but there are no shortcuts. Practice makes perfect, and you’ll also hear me say what everyone else on steemit will tell you: be patient.
I’d also like to share with you the work I’m most excited about on steemit!
I’m a theatre-maker working behind bars.
For the last 6 weeks I’ve been blogging about a multi-month process aimed at devising a new, 60-minute work of American theatre about the origin of American violence! This is exciting because I am applying steemit to my real life, and using the platform as a way to share my real-life work. I’ve also had some decent payouts so far, which means, because of steemit I may be able to reimburse all the gas and supplies I’ll purchase for this trip...meaning that YOUR upvote on each post serves as a direct donation to this project!
So cool. I’m excited to see how I can use this same idea to support future theatre projectts on and off the blockchain.
Don’t forget to check out the full series!
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So, what’s next for me?
Come find me on Discord in any of the groups I mentioned above! I’ll be continuing my series and contests, seeking new ways to support artists and creatives on the blockchain, continuing to share hiking/adventure posts (and maybe even dabbling with food blogging here and there, oh my!). I am also 100% invested in figuring out how to get theatre onto the blockchain. My wheels are turning! Let’s connect if you also have ideas!
THANK YOU so much for being a part of my journey so far! I’m looking forward to the next 2 months and meeting my next 500 followers! <3
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The State of the Art | Race and gender in American theatre.
What is Art and Who Defines It?
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