I got motivated to give this advice because since I started curating posts that have low rewards (check out the curation trail for posts under 1 USD here), I’ve found many Steemians commenting about their lack of inspiration or how they don’t have much to say that day.
For the last month, I’ve been able to do at least one post daily without breaking a leg (I missed a day but it was because I had destined that day to internet fasting). Whether they are good posts remains to be judge by each reader, but at least to me, they were interesting writeups and videos that I can look back to and learn from.
So what’s my constant source of inspiration? How do I find something relevant to post every day? The recipe is quite simple, I ask myself before writing two questions:
What did I do today?
How do I feel about that?
And bam! Just try it, it’ll have you writing tons! And you don’t have to literally write the answer, but it’ll get you started on an interesting idea. Of course, I understand that not everybody wants to expose their personal life here or get very intimate with their writing. But I got a solution for you! Just say what you gotta say through a fictional character. It’s fun and it’s free.
If you do this short exercise of asking yourself those two questions you’ll see there is never a shortage of things to write about. Whether it was a conversation you had during that day, something that gave you joy or sadness, some recent spiritual breakthrough or realization you had, you’ll have plenty and plenty to write about. You can even use as inspiration those dark thoughts that you want no one to know about.
The best thing is that the source of the content is your own experience! And knowledge gained through experience is wisdom. So what you’re doing is sharing your recently gained wisdom with the community. Just how awesome is that?
Some other tips I can give you to keep that pen flowing:
Be honest
We all want to be liked it’s true and sometimes we find ourselves saying things that others want to hear so we are approved. But I assure you that if you’re honest you’ll still find a group that likes you and supports you, despite others being repelled by your words. In any case you’ve won because you summoned those that support your honesty and sent away those who would have preferred you with a mask.
This will benefit you as a writer and as a person. As a writer, the more honest and open you become, the less you have to hide and the more you can say without worrying about being caught pretending to be something you’re not.
At the same time, you might realize only after writing that something you said feels “off” and that it doesn’t align with the best version of yourself. In that case, you’ve given yourself a clue on what you can work so that your future posts do align better with that ideal you would like to reach!
Don’t do it for the rewards
Yes, we are all in Steem because of the rewards. We want to make money. I want to make money and I want everyone here to make a ton of money, become financially independent and allow themselves to live out their wildest dreams. I wish so with all my heart and I get frustrated when too much time passes before a big reward comes my way so don’t interpret that I believe myself to be a Zen master who’s got it all solved.
What I mean to say is that the curators with bigger wallets are very unpredictable with when and what they’re going to support. I’ve sometimes written pieces that I’m very proud of and gotten small rewards and later been rewarded a lot for posts that I practically wrote to keep up with the daily posting, having little hope for how much rewards they would make.
Also, you have to think that curators have limited voting power and that has to be distributed among hundreds of daily posts so they probably run out many times without being able to cover everyone.
The point is to avoid writing what you think could give you big rewards. Write what you’re truly passionate about, what really makes you tick. Enjoy the writing, learn from it and don’t be afraid to mess things up. The next day no one will hold a grudge against you (unless you take it out personally against someone, lol), and you’ll have a new chance. Also, there are other rewards you can get, like a new follower or a valuable comment that might change your perspective on life (it happened to me).
Write first, edit later
I remember there was once a time where I would carefully select the words I would use in my writing before getting anything actually written.
Feeling like this was the result, lol.
I broke that habit by practicing writing the first thing that came off the top of my head even if it was absolutely lacking in sense. But after that, it was pretty easy to combine both of them and now I just write it out as it comes, knowing I can read it afterward and edit whatever needs to be corrected.
Don’t measure too much what you want to say, unless you’re trying to create a delicate piece of art where nothing is taken lightly. If you are attempting to do that then take your time and forget about getting the post done in the day. You might be able to finish it but it’s not certain and hurrying to finish it will take away the very purpose of what you were doing.
If you want to keep the creative juices flowing and the posts rolling out you can’t be so demanding. Take it easy, anything you say with honesty and from the heart has great meaning and whether it receives rewards or not does not determine the real value it offers to yourself and the community.
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