Writing is it's own reward - everything else is a bonus

I admit that when I first started getting serious about writing on Steemit, I got lucky and made some decent money on articles. Since Hard Fork 19, the salad days seem to have gone away. But there are still people making good money on their articles here. There appears to be a consensus that those success stories are a result of hours spent every day on Steemit.com, Steemit Chat (and Discord Chat) and in their text editor of choice, writing and promoting articles.

Yes, I would like to see higher rewards on Steemit, but as someone else mentioned, Steemit is a work in progress and is a beta project. That means that code for this site is still maturing and writing good code is difficult to do. I feel so lucky that there are coders out there willing to do the work of building and maintaining Steemit. We know it's not perfect, but we also know it's growing.

When I write for Steemit, I set down to write an article without regard to the results. Yes, I know I should spend more time in the chatrooms getting to know people. I will admit to being painfully shy in some respects, but that may change when demands on my time change (I'm a daddy and I have a day job). With regard to Steemit, my highest priority is writing and publishing. Everything else is secondary. I say this so that you know it's not about you. This is how I am, right here, right now. I write because I love to write.

I enjoy the state of mind I experience when I write. I enjoy the sensation of reading what I wrote for editing. I enjoy parsing the words, checking for grammar, punctuation and the flow of ideas in my articles. I write to make it sound like I'm talking with you, in the same room. That is my style of writing. Friends and family who know me well, tell me that they can hear my voice in their heads when they read my writing. That is how it should be.

In the last few days, I've learned of "voting rings". It seems that some people are organizing to vote for a writer they know so that they can all gain a larger share of the reward pool. That's an interesting concept. That's a union of people organizing on Steemit. I'm not going to say that's a bad thing, but I have to wonder, does the quality of writing suffer when an author knows that a group of people he's aligned with will vote for his articles, just for the reward pool?

For the people who are complaining, I thought I'd share a little story I got from watching a documentary on the legendary rock band, The Eagles (it's on Netflix if you want to see it). In their formative years, Glen Frey experienced some challenges writing songs. As it happened (based on my recollection of what I saw in the movie), Glen Frey and Don Henley were renting a home in Echo Park, California. They had a basement and as good luck smiled upon them, they sublet that basement to another legendary rocker, Jackson Browne.

Glen could heard Jackson writing songs every morning. Jackson would boil water in a whistling kettle for tea when he took his breaks. As Glen sat upstairs, he could hear Jackson Browne playing the piano, a few notes here, a few notes there. Every time the kettle whistled, he knew Jackson would take a break. And then the notes from the piano would resume again.

As the days and weeks wore on, Glen realized he was hearing the formation of songs while Jackson Browne worked. Glen referred to that action as "elbow grease". Jackson Browne practiced song writing every day, without fail. Glen Frey adopted similar practices to write those great songs you might remember from The Eagles.

I practice writing every day. Without fail. I write because I enjoy writing. Even if I get zip for rewards, I've already had my fun by the time that I've published an article. At that point, I'm not so worried about the rewards, but I do check on them later. I'm reminded of a quote by Mark Twain on the subject of the rewards for writing, "Write for free until somebody pays you." Yeah, even Mark Twain wrote for free for awhile. That's just part of the deal of being a creator. The reward is in the creation, not what others think or what they are willing to pay you.

I write this article as encouragement to the complainers and the moaners and the whiners to consider an alternative course of action. I use those adjectives not a criticism, but to describe their style of expression. I say to you that every moment you spend complaining, whining and moaning is time you could have spent writing about what you are truly passionate about.

Who can write and care what others might think while they're writing? I can't. I'm going to write about what I'm passionate about and share it with you. If I feel strongly enough to write about it, it's good enough to share. That's it.

Every great creator has done that. They created something that they wanted to read, hear or see themselves, then they shared it. Great musicians write and perform music the way they want it to be performed, the way they want to hear it. They write it before the censor in their head shows up. They play in their studio and record it to their liking first. Then they the tour with it to see what sticks.

I write. I publish. I see what sticks. I write to please me first. I publish to see if anyone else likes it. If there is some agreement, I publish more of what you like and what I'm passionate about, as best I can. But I still come first. If I don't enjoy my writing, I'm dong it wrong.

That's how I write articles. That's how I publish articles. That's how I will leave it here, and now.

Write on.