Welcome to the 24th edition of the Hive Community Spotlight series! Over the past editions, we've read and learnt from the stories of amazing and inspiring Hive members. Today, we feature a remarkable individual who balances motherhood, writing, and active participation in the Hive ecosystem. We are delighted to have @amberkashif on the spotlight today. There is a lot to learn from her experience. So please...

STAY TUNED!!!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?

It is the question that always leaves me in a fix. I mean I don’t get what to tell about myself. We have several aspects of each with its own dimension. Our lives are multifaceted and every facet has its unique description.

Well, for the last 10 years, the first thing I describe myself as is ’a mother’. It is because this role has significant influence on all the decisions of my life, be it selecting an outfit or a career.

I am a simple woman in her early thirties who finds joy in her responsibilities and simplicity of the living. I have two sons. Elder is 10 years old while the younger is 8 years old.

Talking about the career, I am the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of my household :sunglasses:. From cleaning to cooking, organizing to management, everything falls under my responsibility. Beyond that, I take care of the most significant responsibilities of all: training and nurturing the next generation for a better tomorrow.

How did you first discover Hive and what drew you to the platform?

Speaking the truth, it was the need to earn money that drew me towards the platform. However, earning money was not the only motivation behind. It was my passion for writing that let me choose the platform for the purpose.

I discovered Hive through online fellows. Before joining Hive, I was another blogging platform. Its name was Uptrennd. There I joined a virtual institute to learn blogging, named as Uptrennd University. It was headed by @dreemsteem. When the platform came to its death, the institute decided to guide all its members about Hive. So, it was dreemsteem and the teem who introduced me to the platform.

Can you walk us through your process for creating a blog post? From idea generation to publishing.

My blog posts are either inspired by happenings in my surroundings, personal experiences or some prompts questions by community contests.

I don’t have enough free time to sit and brain storm for the topic. The ideas keep on forming in my mind when I am involved in home chores or other activities. Finally, when I sit to write I have a cluster of important points in my mind. I just have to join them together into a coherent whole. More thoughts flow in when I begin to write.

Because English is not my native language, I often struggle with vocabulary. To reduce redundancy of similar words and to enhance the meaning of the sentences, richness of vocabulary is important. To achieve this target I look for synonyms and their meanings to find the most appropriate words for precise description.

Also, at times, I look for vocabulary through translation when I fall short of expression in English. Back then, I used google for the purpose but now I prefer ChatGPT for the cause.

It is very unusual for me to finish a blog post in one sitting. I get free time in chunks so it takes two to three sessions to complete a write up.

While writing a blog post I keep on applying certain mark downs where necessary. After finishing the write up, I revise it again to make amendments and apply additional markdowns as needed.

Then I think of a suitable title. Afterwards I look for appropriate images. Most of the time I use royalty free images. For some time now, I have been using AI created images.

During early years of my blogging journey I used multiple images in my post that would go with the text. However, it is very unusual for me now to use multiple images. Looking for apt imagery is a time taking task and I am often short of time. I can either utilize it for writing or searching images. I prefer to write. That’s why I mostly use 1 image going with the title. Nevertheless, for tutorial kind of posts, I do use multiple images.

After writing the post in MS word, I copy and paste it to the Hive front-end editor. I make sure to use the appropriate tags and community. Before hitting the publish button, I do have a glance of preview session to make sure everything looks fine.

What challenges have you faced as a writer on Hive, and how have you overcome them?

Mmmm..... As a write On Hive I don’t think I have faced any mentionable challenges. My journey has been smooth.

Nevertheless, as a writer (but not because of Hive) I do have faced challenges. I often struggled with the topics to write. I often dismissed several ideas coming to my mind considering as unimportant.

In a pursuit of perfection it often felt like I wouldn’t be able to write enough quantity of quality content on the given topic so I wouldn’t start it.

Once I took the challenge of writing daily for the community “We are Alive Tribe.” Writing daily on daily happenings made me realize that I have much more thoughts to write than I thought I was able to. It helped me overcome my fear of being not able to write to a great extent.

Nonetheless, the fear hasn’t vanished completely. It keeps on coming now and then. I have learnt the tool to overcome it is to start the work, else it takes me over.

How was your early days of hive like? What is one piece of advice or wisdom you wish you had known when you first started writing on Hive?

As I mentioned above I was introduced to Hive by dreemsteem and the teem, I was guided well about the platform. I was aware of the use of right tags and appropriate communities. I knew where to take and how to source images. In short, I was aware of the several nitty-gritty of the platform.

I didn’t have to struggle for resource credits as I had got the delegation by the members of my guiding teem before starting the journey. So there is nothing that I wish I would know. I knew the needful already.

Because of the support group I had, my early days on Hive went smoothly. Though I was not earning that much reward on my posts yet the environment was pretty friendly for me.

What is your advice to newbies joining hive now?

There is one cliché advice that all of us give: be consistent. Despite being cliché I would stress its importance because consistency is what make us visible. It is not merely consistency in posting that makes us visible. Instead, quality engagement is the thing that helps growing our own readership.

Another advice that I would like to give is to be original and stay sincere to yourself. At times it happens that influenced by various factors, such as more earning, we go the path that we are not apt for. It just creates frustration at the end. So always choose the communities that you are comfortable with.

What projects or communities on Hive are you actively involved in?

The first project that is dearest to my heart is Dreemport. I work as an ambassador there. It is a project that is created with an intention to build genuine connection, spread love and support quality content creators.

Another cherished project for me is Hive Pakistan. I have been with it since its inception. Apparently, it seems like a curation project but it has vaster purpose.
Pakistani content creators were deprived of support on Hive because of higher number of abuse cases from the region. The condition was disappointing for original and quality content creator.
Hive Pakistan not only fought abuse but also have been providing mentorship to the original content creators.

The other two communities I have been involved in are Hive Learners and Ladies on Hive.

The prompt questions by Hive Learners are often the motivation for my blogs.

Ladies of Hive is a place where I love to express my thoughts and experiences as a woman. Also, reading the experiences of other ladies is a source of knowledge and inspiration.

What is that one post you want everyone on hive to read?

That’s another difficult question. Lolz. There are several posts of mine that I admire for different reasons, but I never thought which particular one should be read by everyone. There are Many. Picking just one is arduous. I want all of them to be read.

Fearing to Daring-My Blogging Journey is an account of my journey as a blogger. It tells about the ups and downs I faced as an author. It narrates the miraculous happenings in my journey; Countless Miracles all Around is a post reflecting my vision about how I find miracles in my surroundings. It is a well crafted post, the imagery and mark down of which consumed a lot of time; Does God even exist is a research backed article demonstrating my point of view about the existence of a supreme power. Its markdown and imagery was also time taking; Blessing in Disguise is a different take on about the feeling of pain. It demonstrates my thoughts about why I consider pain to be a blessing; there are many other articles I wish to be read by everyone.

What impact do you hope your writing will have on your readers and the Hive community?

Honestly speaking, I rarely consider the impact my writing might have. I primarily write for myself.

My writing is an expression of my thoughts and vision. An attempt to writing my thoughts not only helps me understand my own self better but also broadens my vision and horizon of knowledge. It gives me the clarity about my own view point. The discussion through engagement provides the opportunity to see the aspects through other people’s point of view. I come across ideas that were missing in my musings. This way, It is also a source of gaining wisdom.

As for what readers might gain, they will find reflections and contemplated ideas rooted in my social norms, circumstances, personal experiences, values, and morals.

In short, while my primary goal is self-exploration, I hope that my insights resonate with and provoke thought within the Hive community, fostering a space for meaningful discussion and growth.

Do you have anyone else you suggest should be interviewed here?

I wanted to suggest dreemsteem but I noticed you have already interviewed her.
There are some other suggestions: samsmith1971 is an amazing writer and a kind personality. She never refuse to help a person in need.
Nkemakonam89 is an enthusiastic and versatile Hive member, active is various communities, making waves all around. She is humble and helping. I have always got positive vibes from her.
erh.germany is the one person of her kind I have ever come across on Hive. The depth in her thoughts and the horizon of her knowledge is spectacular. I always get knowledge and wisdom through her engagement .

It's a pleasure to have you, @amberkashif on this edition of the hive community spotlight! Thank you for sharing your incredible journey and insights with us. I see your good works on hive and on Dreemport, You are amazing! We appreciate you giving us a glimpse into your world and contributing so much to the Hive community. Your story is a source of motivation and wisdom for us all.

Your thoughts and questions are always welcome! Feel free to leave your comments below. If there's someone you believe deserves to be in the spotlight next, don't hesitate to drop their name in the comments.

Stay tuned for our next edition of the Hive Community Spotlight!

Special thanks to:
@thekittygirl
@wesphilbin
@snook

For their valuable support. See you all in the next edition 🤗

View Previous interviews here 👇