Hello Hive community! Thank you to @anomadsoul for launching the My Introduction to the Hive Community contest sponsored by @blocktrades and @ocd. Here is my intro.
Photo by Humberto Arellano on Unsplash
I kind of think of myself as a Renaissance woman. No I don’t mean I go around in flouncy dresses consuming mead and mutton. I mean I love the world of literature, art and history. I love wine and food and conversation. I have wildly eclectic interests. I believe humanity is incredibly interesting, and there are few things I turn away from, other than vitriolic politics.
For this reason, Hive to me is a giant playground of ideas, people and interests to explore. One minute I can be watching a video about gardening and the next minute I can be reading someone’s poem, or a short story, or the history of some character from the Gold Rush days. And I can get into conversation with people via their blogs, exchanging humorous quips or deeper ideas. The opportunity for meeting interesting people all over the world and thinking outside of the microcosm of our own little lives blows my mind. That, more than anything, is why I am here.
My Primary Interests and What I Blog About
Image by Mysticartsdesign, Pixabay
My blog reflects my eclectic interests, especially over the past year. In my early days (on Steem) I was almost completely focused on fiction and supporting other fiction writers with contests, challenges and writing tips. At the time, I felt like I needed a clear identity on the blockchain to help me stay grounded and focused. To keep track of all of my writing tips and short stories, I developed a Wordpress site, which is connected to Hive (previously Steem) via the steempress.io plugin. You can see my latest post here on Peakd, which I actually wrote and published from Wordpress.
I love the outdoors, walking on trails and photographing scenery and wildlife. I joined Actifit (now the Actifit Hive community) over a year ago, and blog via the actifit app almost daily. The app is connected to my Fitbit, so I aim for at least 10,000 steps a day, and write a short diary-type post each night about how I got my steps, things I photographed that day and anything else I feel like sharing. (Here's an example, with photos of ice-covered cattails.) It has been wonderful for motivation!
I also love my pets and occasionally post about my kitties in #Caturday posts, and my Actifit posts often feature my dog Zoey.
I’m also a bit of a foodie. And yes, it’s a balancing act, being a person who loves to cook, bake and enjoy great food and wine while trying to stay active and fit! I learned to cook from my mother and very often cook up something delicious without using a recipe. I have started blogging more on the topic of food, and I plan to share more cooking ideas and would love to see a lively interest here around food and cooking.
My other primary interest, which has not yet made it to the blockchain, is reading. I love to read - primarily fiction, and very often historic fiction - and I’m involved in two book clubs. I am extremely busy with family and my job and trying to blog and curate and so on, so I never actually have time to sit down and pick up a book! My secret is audio books. I listen to at least two books every single month. I’ve got a headset on most of the time while I’m cooking and walking trails and so on. I love podcasts and TED talks too. I am always fueling my mind.
I live in Minnesota, which has a very long cold season. If you follow my blog you will soon see that I am also passionate about gardening. We don’t plant here until May, as there is still a danger of frost until then. But once the warm weather arrives, so do the glory days of turning the soil, planting tomatoes and annuals and watching my perennials emerge. I swear the plants seem to understand that they have to be efficient. My garden is overgrown with flowers and vegetables by July!
Touching on Communities and Tags
Image by Alexas_Fotos - Pixabay
Hive made the big leap from Steem very recently, so all the kinks haven’t been worked out yet, and most of us haven’t got a fully vetted strategy. My two cents worth of advice is to have a kind of “home base” community where you connect, build friendships, and post and curate regularly. But branch out too. Visit the other communities and do some curation. See what kind of content appears there, and if there are like-minded people. Just don't try to be everywhere (unless, I suppose, you have way more time and energy than the average person).
Use tags relevant to the communities, interests, initiatives and content. More will be emerging on this, but the point is to use tags wisely, not in a spammy way or only in the hope of getting upvotes.
I consider the PowerHouseCreatives community my home base on Hive. I love this community. They consistently produce great content and support one another.
I also love The Ink Well, Actifit, The Alliance, OCD, Qurator, DPET and I am intending to spend more time in The Ramble run by the venerable @shadowspub… well, I guess it’s a long list. See opening comments about being a Renaissance woman!
Family, Work, and A Bit of History
I have been a writer for as long as I can remember. I grew up writing stories and diaries and all kinds of things, but my deepest desire in my youth was to be an artist or illustrator. I pursued that dream all through college until one day I realized that I just don’t have the true talent and vision to be an artist. So I turned to my hobby of writing as my primary focus. I have been writing professionally ever since then (gasp -- 30 years!), and have written creative works for fun off and on during that time as well. Now I am finally taking my fiction pursuits seriously, and am submitting work for publication, and that is a really fun journey. I’ve started to receive some acceptances in publications, which is very rewarding.
Professionally, I’m in high tech marketing. I absolutely love my job. It challenges me every day. I manage a lot of my company’s content, including the blog, social media, white papers and case studies. My coworkers are all over the world, so I engage with people everywhere to get their expertise and support for the company content. I feel really blessed to have work I love and that I get to work with really great people.
I have a family of five. The kids are growing up. One is done with college and working professionally. One is a college freshman and the other is about to enter the military, in the U.S. National Guard. I have saved them for last, but these people are the center of my world!
For a lot of years, my husband and I really had our hands full with parenting. Right now, my heart goes out to parents around the world who have children stuck at home during the COVID-19 outbreak, as I know it takes everything you’ve got, and more, to guide, feed, entertain, educate and manage your little darlings! The wonderful thing for me now is that my kids are mostly self-sufficient. I have more time for blogging, curating and creative writing.
Just a Bit of Advice for New Hive Members
Image by congerdesign, Pixabay
As some parting advice to new friends here, I would just say, open your heart. Show up with a giving spirit and a desire to contribute, and we will all be better for it. Remember that Hive, like all communities, is made up of individuals with their own interests and challenges and insecurities and everything else that makes them human.
There will be conflict sometimes. Most things can be worked out if we show up with respect, share our thoughts but also listen, and commit to working things out, vs. winning.
Thanks for reading!
Your family is beautiful <3
It's great to get to know a bit more about you as well.
Thank you very much for your kind words, @adetorrent. It's always a challenge to write these intro posts, and I've written a number of them over the years! It freaks me out a little bit less each time.
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Thank you so much for the support! I truly appreciate it.
Hey @jayna nice to see you after such a long time! I have been away from bloging for some time but it's good to be finally back :-)
Hi @hashcash! So great to hear from you. I look forward to seeing you around Hive!
Good post, i liked!
Thank you!
What an amazing intro post! As I was reading it, I found myself smiling because we shared the same dreams of becoming an artist and illustrator. I always dreamt of illustrating my stories and it is only recently that I have started to work more in this direction.