I feel like I'm not even a minnow, I'm a baby minnow making pennies for hours of work.
I posted articles on here almost every day for two week. I put a lot of work in. Some of the things I posted were old poems, old essays I've written, old stories. I tried many different things and nothing is sticking. I tried going hiking all day taking pictures and showing how beautiful my town is.
https://steemit.com/travel/@ianmcg/lagoon-valley-and-the-vacaville-foothills
I tried writing how-two guides. I tried writing reviews. I tried holding a contest. I can't seem to find anything that works on here that isn't a waste of time. I don't want to make it rich or anything, but like maybe a dollar for 2 hours of work? The only money I have made is from my one friend that gives me a penny every now and again. One time 
I came here with the prospect of finally having a place to release creativity and productivity for a purpose. I like to create things, I like writing. Although, I may have found a few cool people and I've renewed my interest in cryptocurrency. I am starting to loose my interest in creating articles. I have a lot of old essays I could post and plenty of things I could write how-tos. I have tons of stuff I could review, although my tastes are in old 90's things and stuff that people don't like. I haven't posted anything in a week and I feel like it has been a waste.
I spent hours researching Steemit, reading articles and watching Youtube whales. I found out about 
"Post every day bro"
"Post quality content bro"
They can blow that out there blowhole. It's a lie and doesn't matter.
Well, I dusted off one of my favorite stories I wrote. Everyone I know loves it. I posted it and even told a few people about it. It started getting a bunch of views. Then it stopped. I didn't get a single like that night. Checked back after I woke up the next day and 20 more views and a few $0.00 votes... It's right here.
https://steemit.com/blog/@ianmcg/the-tale-of-tater-salad-jones
It it really that bad? Am I the guy on American idol that thinks he can sing and everyone is laughing? Add insult to injury the freak'in 
Me
I was like man. I need to just post something I put time into. People on here love crypto, I'll research a crypto thing. I spent hours researching DogeCoin faucets. I found the best way to make up to 10 Doge a day without any effort. I wrote a detailed article with step-by-step instruction. $0.01 and a spam comment...
Why bother? Seriously losing interest. I thought this place was supposed to be somewhere where you could find value in effort. What am I doing wrong?