I got some feedback on my recent #HiveLearners prompt.
I love feedback but this one deserved a special response which is why I'm making this post.
I am wondering which area I should comment on. You have provided an exhaustive explanation on the subject and every area is well explained. I doubt your not working on 100%.
I had to smile to myself when I read that. I was debating whether or not I should even hit the
button after I wrote the article. But I did and a big "Thank you" to @amberkashif for the kind words.
For anyone who is interested in reading the original article you can find it here
Behind the Scenes
My bet is that when a new user is reading articles they aren't seeing what goes on behind the scenes.
I'll bet they think that they are new and its tough and that veteran posters just have an easy time of it.
Whether I am a veteran poster or not is certainly up for debate, however, I'll give a behind the scenes so new users can tell that it just doesn't come easy.
When I was writing the post on the benefits and drawbacks of modern civilization it was a fight to get it done.
The night before my neighbors had a party which made my dog nervous. My dog also stole a hamburger patty which had a bunch of onion in it so he developed diarrhea. None of that has anything to do with Civilization. However, it certainly did mean that I only got Two hours of sleep. I had to get up early the next morning to wake up our foreign exchange student, wake up my son, then take my son's car in for maintenance.
I was not looking forward to any of that
I also knew that my son's service was going to take two hours (or more) during which time I'd be in a different town 40km away, I'd be sleepy, and I would be miserable. My remedy I would bring my laptop to help keep me awake during those two hours.
While I'm driving my son's car to the appointment I'm thinking about the topic trying to figure out what I should say. Trying to force my sleepy brain to come up with something interesting. After 40 minutes of driving I had a basic idea then after giving the mechanic the keys I got to work typing.
It was rough. The words weren't coming. I kept rambling and losing focus of my topic. I wasn't able to upload images to ecency or peakd so had to use hive.blog (which I don't normally use). I was fighting cut and paste images that weren't working right. I had put the final paragraphs into the article twice ...somehow... and the spacing and layout just weren't coming together.
I'm fighting to come up with something which would be good enough to post and fuzzy enough that everything just comes up a little off.
At that point I was just going to hit delete and pass on the prompt for the day. Then I remembered the last article where I put 3 hours into an article didn't post and just hit delete (about sharing Hive with others). @monica-ene asked me to send the draft....and chided me about not posting it saying that I should have put it out there.
The only reason this article got posted was because her voice was ringing in my ears.
Net result: I'm glad I got a positive comment. Proof that sometimes I can write an article in my sleep.
Finding the Balance
My last article was on Yin and Yang and about balance. That is certainly HUGE when writing on HIVE.
Again, words from @monica-ene and @dlmmqb are others ringing in my head.
I hear them saying that the key to success is :
Consistency vs Quality
Posting regularly is absolutely a must on Hive so other users and curators know that you are a serious contributing member.
However, consistently posting garbage won't get you anywhere. There is a balance between spending the time to make a great post and using what time you have to make a regular good enough post.
Personally I like the saying :
If you aren't proud of it, don't serve it
and I've used that as an excuse to delete a couple hours work rather than posting many times.
Content VS Creation
Here's another thing I've been trying to find the balance with.
I need to produce good content regularly and contribute regularly to get the notice of the curators. In that regard I tend to focus on long form posts which I put my best effort into so that OCD or Lazy-Panda curators take notice.
However, writing content often doesn't get a lot of notice because there are a lot of articles going on out there. It is curating other people's content and making quality comments that tends to get people noticed. I've found that my efforts in reading other people's posts has gathered me far more followers than making my posts.
There is a balance to be reached. More curating and followers makes my content more visible and gets more upvotes. However, higher quality regular content gets me more curated posts and more HP.
Which to focus on? Haven't figured that out yet. Probably content creation for now and curation once I'm more fully retired and have more time to give other peoples work the focus and attention it deserves.
Praise vs Criticism
When I do read other peoples work I'm still having a hard time trying to figure out the proper balance of praise vs criticism. If I only praise people for their work I'm just a "Yes man" and a lot of "well done" messages don't really further knowledge. I'm far more likely to reply with Great article.... BUT.... and then bring up a point that was missed or incorrect. I'm just worried that doing that too often is going to make me seem critical or look like a troll out for a fight.
How Much to Write
Concise vs Complete
Another tough balance. Again @monica-ene has commented that she enjoys my post. She has also told me that there is a lot of great information in them which is well worth reading. She has also told me that I write a lot and that the average reader looks at the word count and thinks...hmmm....pass and my work never gets read.
When I write my articles I always have to think. Can I make it shorter while still making an interesting complete article. I've had to cut out so much content and counter-argument from many articles I've written that I expect to get scathing comments for missing out key details.
Lucky the #HiveLearner community has been forgiving 😆
Before I hit the publish button I always think to myself @bruno-kema is going to have to read this along with 30 other articles. Am I making more work for him or giving him an interesting read.
How To Stay Focused
Now as an add on to the keeping things brief and watching the word count it is important to STAY FOCUSED. Getting off track and rambling on side points can really add to the word count of an article!
For my last post I knew I was sleepy and a bit fuzzy. I could have written so much more but this time I told myself that if I was going to have any chance to stay on topic I would write a 5 x 5 post.
If you don't know what a 5 x 5 post is, well, it is something I learned in high school. An excellent trick to getting a post don't quickly and easily (which is great when your half asleep and need to make a post).
In short a 5 x 5 is just this : Introduction paragraph, 3 support paragraphs and 1 summary paragraph.
When I was writing my Yin and Yang article it actually started out exactly like this:
I put each of those into my writing space. Just like you see above.
Then I wrote my Introduction (Yin and Yang / Balance).
A paragraph on the good (live like a king)
A paragraph on the bad (loss of self sufficiency)
A paragraph on the balance (Utopia if we succeed, Destruction if we don't)
And a conclusion (wrap it up and throw in some personal views)
I personally find that making a framework before I wrote a single paragraph usually keeps my articles on topic. Emphasis on usually I can still easily get sidetracked
Fighting the Fear
For me the biggest problem is fighting the fear.
I really hate putting my viewpoints out there.
I really hate reading the words that I write.
I am always afraid that I'll offend someone by being offensive, intolerant, ignorant, or arrogant.
Or I worry I'll mention someone in an unflattering way by mistake.
With my last article I was just too fuzzy to objectively go back and proofread the article. That was reason enough for me to not hit the publish button.
Overall its a miracle that I get anything published.
....But I pray and keep putting one paragraph after another and hope the words come out right.
For any new user
That's pretty much all I had to say.
A Big thank you to those people who have given me support. Without it I probably would have given up long ago.
And hopefully to any new users who are dealing with conquering their fears or who think that its easy for others. I hope this gives you a peek into the fact that it isn't always easy for others. Some people like myself are doing their best muddling along.
...But it does get a little easier with time
Good luck to all my fellow Hive writers.
Thanks for reading
and as always..I love to get feedback.