<center>https://s11.postimg.org/7swfu1ver/Q&A_with_Steemit_Author___Lin_Watchorn_kaylinar.jpg</center>

I used to visit the trending page a lot - until the followers/followed function was implemented. One user that I kept seeing trending was @kaylinart. Lin, to me, is the personification of relentlessness and consistency. Go look at her blog page and you'll see what I'm talking about. 

Lin is putting in the work every freaking single day. She doesn't know but she and @papa-pepper represent two of the reasons that kept me going when I felt like quitting. I have these feelings often...

But this isn't about me. It's about Lin. She's gonna give us some insight into her life and into her experience with this platform. Let's learn from her.
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## Lin Watchorn (@kaylinart) - Q&A

### 1. Lin, can you please give me some background of who you are and what you do?

I’m a very outdoorsy person, I love to hike and travel. I started drawing when I was 12 years old and it’s been my passion ever sense. I’m also very interested in finance and investing. 

I’m currently 23 years old, living in Salt Lake City, Utah. I’m a self-employed, Illustrator and Author. I recently quit my job, so this is still new to me! 

### 2. How did you hear about the platform? Were you hesitant to join at first or did you jump right in?

Like many others, @stellabelle introduced me to Steemit. I knew nothing about how the platform worked. But I didn’t care, I immediately got on and started posting! I knew that I could potentially waste a lot of time on a platform, for nothing. But at the same time it was an opportunity I potentially didn’t want to miss out on. So I took a risk and started dedicating a lot of hours to it. 

### 3. Lin, can you please describe your first 2-3 weeks of using Steemit? What were the topics you wrote about? What was most challenging for you in the beginning?

I came to Steemit with the mindset of promoting my coloring book business. My first posts were about nothing but art. Which at the time, Steemit was still very young. Art wasn’t a popular or recognized topic on the platform so my posts didn’t do so well. I decided to change tactics. I started writing about my life, and self-improvement topics. 

Those did much better. The most challenging thing about my experience is trying to understand all of this cryptocurrency stuff. I sometimes read posts and I felt like it was in a completely different language because I had no idea what anything meant. I sort of felt out of place for a while. 

### 4. How much time it took until you started seeing results? Have you, at any particular time, wanted to quit and forget all about it? If so, why? What kept you going?

I started seeing “number results” immediately. But I joined well before the July payout. There was a lot of speculation on what the payout numbers meant and how much money we were actually getting. I never wanted to get my hopes up on anything. So I told myself that the payout numbers meant nothing. 

I thought about quitting over the last couple weeks, but never in the beginning. I’ve kept going because I know this is the real deal and I’m too addicted to stop. But because I feel worn out from dedicating 3-4 months on the platform I’ve been cutting back. 

### 5. This is the juicy part. Lin, what is your strategy about writing?

- **How long does it take to write a post?**

It depends on the post, usually my self-improvement or foodie posts take anywhere from 1-3 hours. And my art posts can take a bit longer, because I have to draw the images, then come up with enough commentary to create a full post. Some of my personal stories take much longer. Usually I’m scared to post those, so I try to be a little bit more careful on making it perfect.

- **When do you do your writing (time of the day)?**

Pretty much all day, when I wake up I start writing/drawing; then I don’t stop until I’m ready to bed. Although I don’t have much energy in the afternoon. So I take breaks during that time. I try to post 3-4 times a day, on different subjects to keep it interesting. So this tends to be more time consuming. 

- **Do you do a lot of editing?**

Yes! I have a paid subscription to Grammarly.
I’m actually really bad at spelling and grammar. But grammarly helps me clean up my post and make it presentable. 

- **Do you use a lot of images in your posts?**

Yes! I try to use as many as possible! Usually 3-4 per 500-700 word posts.  

- **Do you use the [markdown language?](https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet)**

Yes! I had to learn it though, I’m familiar with HTML so this was a new thing for me! 

- **What do you do after publishing a post? Do you promote it in a way or another?**

After I publish a post, I keep an eye out for comments and respond to them quickly. I promote using Facebook, Twitter, and the steemit.chat. 

### 6. What are some suggestions that you can make for first time users of the platform?

- **What should we write about?**

Write about what you feel most comfortable with; if you know a lot about plants, write about that! If you’re an artist, show your work! 
Everyone has a place on Steemit.

- **Should we focus on writing posts or on commenting? Curating?**

Depends on who you are! I like to write my own posts best, but I tend to comment often too. Some people can’t come up with enough ideas for a full post so they prefer commenting. We need both types of people. 

- **What should we do in moments of frustration?**

Get away from Steemit for a while, Go for a run! Read a book, Look at what others are doing and try it for yourself. Steemit is about experimenting. 

### 7. Are there any tools and strategies that you can suggest to first-time writers or to established writers that could improve their writing?

Try Grammarly out if grammar and spelling isn’t what you are good at. Try reading more; read both fiction and non-fiction. Try to understand why they are using certain words and when. Look up new words you can use, and try them out. It takes practice! 

### 8. What is it that you don't like about Steemit and what would you suggest as improvement of the platform?

- I don’t like that my blog page is “messy” I would love “albums” similar to Facebook, But for blog posts. So I can sort my topics.
- I would love to have a profile photo
- I would enjoy having a 'Scheduled' button; so If I go camping or something I can write a couple extra posts to have automatically posted at a certain time. 

### 9. What are your future goals/direction? 

I want to make more time for art and traveling! By becoming self-employed, I’ve made a massive step.  I have a goal to go outside the U.S. by next year and find ways to volunteer with cleaning the ocean up. The environment is something I deeply care about! I also try to educate people on money saving habits, because not only are they good for the environment but it helps regular people have more money. 

Seeing people struggle to take care of themselves is a concern of mine as well. And having a job was restricting me from making a difference in the things that I care about.  

Steemit has made it possible for me to be self-employed and not super paranoid all day long. 

I’m living off my book royalties and income from my online store. But having Steemit as an “emergency account” makes me feel more confident about being successful. I’m so thankful for this platform for all that it’s given me! 

I hope I can help others achieve their goals on Steemit. 
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## Ending thoughts

Here's a piece of Lin's art:

<center>https://s11.postimg.org/nsf3dlrgj/Q&A_with_Steemit_Author___Lin_Watchorn_kaylinar.jpg</center>

I would like to thank Lin for taking time from her busy schedule to respond to these questions and I would recommend you go to her blog @kaylinart to receive first-hand inspiration - every single day. Lin, you're a true role model to me. Thank you for being here!
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### <center>To stay in touch with me, follow @cristi</center>

Images via @kaylinart

#writing #qa #success 
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[Cristi Vlad](http://cristivlad.com), Self-Experimenter and Author