What I Write About

Often, lately, people ask me what I write about.

Mostly, I write about what I can get paid for. I write articles for a website called Demand Studios who contracts with writers and editors to supply articles for several different websites. The one I tend to have the most articles published for right now is eHow. How it works: there is a list of titles to choose from. Some are things I'd never write about (Kawasaki Engine Troubleshooting, for example, or Homemade Recumbent Bicycles). Others are titles I either know about (printing brochures or writing resumes) or can do research about (sciatic nerve pain, or paper vs. plastic recycling). They pay me per article as long as the articles meet their editorial requirements.

I also write for sites that pay you by how many people read your articles. The two I'm working on right now are Associated Content and Suite 101.

And, I want to start making blogs on various topics and see if I can make money on advertising. So far, I just have one and I just started it. I don't even have a domain name yet. It's about creation science and you can see it here.

It's not really a lollipop

Lollipop, lollipop, oh, lolli- lolli- lolli- lollipop
budum-bum bum
Lollipop!

I keep singing this song, because it's being played all the time on a TV commercial.

When I was a kid, Life Savers came out with a Life Saver lollipop and they used this song in the commercial. Lollipop, lollipop, Life Saver Lollipop . . . I still remember it.

But the current commercial that's using this song isn't about lollipops. Despite the fact that they show conveyor belts making bright colored -- somethings -- there is no food item being sold here. Instead, it's one of those new small, low-powered laptop computers that people call netbooks.

Dell's netbooks come in 6 bright colors. A voice-over announcer who speaks in that kind of voice you hear over a loudspeaker and ignore, tells you the features of these computers, but I didn't catch the details. I was too involved in watching the elephant feet stamp the bright colored globs flat, and then this little robot on wheels cuts off the edges so it's a rectangle. Then it get's stamped with the Dell logo and it's all set. Is that really how they make these things?

Honestly, I want one. Small portable laptops in bright colors? And at a low cost, compared to full-featured laptops? You don't have to say more, I'm there! Sign me up, these look nicer than my little pink Asus Eee PC. I bet the screen's a bit bigger, too (though the commercial didn't tell me -- at least I don't think it did).

So, I'm the audience. I'm their target market. Yet, this commercial made me think these things are made of plastic. Or gum, or high fructose corn syrup. More suited to helping me deal with that grumbly feeling in my tummy around 3 in the afternoon. Not something I'll use to check my email. I mean, in my experience, sugar and a computer keyboard don't really mix all that well. Tends to make the keyboard sticky, if it doesn't render it completely useless.

So I'll go on singing this song and wishing they still made Life Saver lollipops, but I don't think I will really buy a Dell mini.

Half a geek is better than no geek

There was this strange Monty Python sketch about "Eric the half a bee." It started out (I think) with someone wanting to get a license for his pet fish, Eric. But -- I can't remember -- either Eric was dead or they didn't give out fish licenses. For some reason there was a problem, but the gent really wanted a license of some kind, so he caught a bee and wanted a license for his pet bee, but then, somebody squashed the bee, so then it was half a bee. Really, all I remember is the half a bee part.

I'm half a geek. Here's how I know. I used to be a geek. I love technology. I've been using the internet since 1992, before Al Gore even invented it. I've owned 10 computers, and that doesn't count those that were or are only used by my children or my husband, nor does it count the 2 netbooks I own. See, I'm a geek, I have a netbook. I also have 3 working mp3 players (no, none of them is an iPod). I'm typing this on a laptop that's hooked up to a 2nd monitor on my desktop. Beneath the desk is a desktop computer -- if I were to take the laptop on the road, someone could attach the monitor back to the desktop computer, plug the USB keyboard into the USB hub and grab the mouse that's stuck at the back of my keyboard drawer and the desktop computer would be right there, ready to use. Do all of these things prove I'm a geek?

But I have to admit something. I'm totally confused when it comes to Twitter. Well, not totally. I signed up. I followed a bunch of people. Actually, a bunch of people followed me, too. People I don't even know -- the most recent one was Jim the Realtor (not his real name). But, except for once when I entered a contest, I have not ever "Tweeted." Not only that, I'm not sure what all of these things are: @ message, RT, these strange # codes. I don't know what they mean and I don't know how to do them. All I do is follow people and see what they're up to. If I want to say something, I go to Facebook. Or if it's something longer, I can come here and blog.

I knew the first time I had to ask one of my kids how to do something complicated with the DVD player or the computer that this day would come. I'm losing my geek cred. I'm over the hill and fast approaching the state that I used to laugh at my mother for. The state of being technologically clueless. My son left the browser in full screen mode, and I had to ask him how to get it back to normal. I brought up the program guide on our TV and it only listed certain favorite channels -- not only did I not know how to get the rest of the channels but I didn't know we even had that function nor how to set it up. Now that we have several hundred TV channels, I have to ask my family the numbers of my favorite channels because I keep forgetting. I spent 15 minutes the other day looking for a way to share a link to a website on Facebook. My kids can figure this stuff out without even looking it up, and yet I remain unable to do or remember more and more things that have to do with my beloved technology.

I'm getting old, and technology is leaving me behind. I'm not going to give up. I'm only going kicking and screaming, but believe me, my mother is laughing at me from heaven because I used to make fun of her when she couldn't figure out how to run the VCR.

Bing! Pros and Cons

Bing is a new search engine, made by Microsoft. I guess Bill wants to compete with Google and he picked Google's strongest product to go up against.

Bing is pretty. Each day, there's a new picture. A really cool picture. You'll immediately want to know more about it -- where is it? what is it? why is it like that? Hover your mouse over the photo and you'll see hotspots where you can get more info. Click and you'll get an answer to one of the questions the creators think you might want to know. Therefore,

Bing is informative. You learn stuff by going there. It's like closing your eyes and pointing your pencil at a map of the world -- only better, because you instantly get to see what it looks like. And they pick someplace that looks cool and interesting, not dull and boring. Therefore,

Bing can be an inspiration for writers suffering writer's block. Or a diversion for those who just don't want to write about what they're supposed to be writing about (like me, I'm supposed to be writing about the Pantone Color Matching System. Boring!).

But is Bing a good search engine? The ads say it's a "decision engine" but they don't define that term. If "decision engine" means it decides what you want to know about, then, yes, Bing is definitely that. And it does that very well. Will that compete against Google? No way!

Does Bing bring up better search results than Google? Well, mostly, when I go there, I get distracted and forget what I was going to search for. I've learned about beautiful cliffside villages on the Meditteranean, and I've learned that in Iceland they have cute little houses half-buried under the ground that remind me of Hobbit holes and look like they should belong in New Zealand. I saw neat pictures of the Great Barrier Reef from space. The one time I did search using Bing, I ended up with results that looked almost exactly like those I got from Google for the same search.

But I try to go to Bing every day, just to see the new photo for the day. I even made it the home page in Chrome, which is, well, not my default browser. But I thought the irony of making Bing my default browser in Chrome was too funny to pass up. However, it doesn't work right in Chrome; when you want to go back and see yesterday's photo, you get an error message.

Bing and it's owners sure are helping the economy by buying lots of ads. Will that help Bing topple Google from top of the search engine market?

Only time will tell, but I don't think so.

Blogging again

I haven't posted here in a really long time. Why? Because I've been busy writing other stuff. I've written over 250 Guides at work.com.

I'm starting to write for another company and I'm hoping to start some blogs and also set up a website for my husband's window blind business. So I'm still busy, and I'm still not sure about what to do with this blog.

I don't really want to write about writing. And there are zillions of websites that can tell you how to be a freelance writer better than I can.

So I might start some blogs about subjects I do want to write about, and leave this one as an archive where anyone who wants to know about my writing can go to find samples.

The rest of June looks like it will be really busy and I'm hoping to do some new blogs in July. So stay tuned.

Writer Mentoring Program

I recently had an excellent opportunity. Sharon Hurley Hall, an experienced freelance writer, asked me to be a test subject in a new program she is starting.

I had already learned a lot from reading her blog, so I immediately replied with a "Yes, please," knowing I was sure to learn something good.

The format was easy and flexible. We "met" online, using Google Talk, for 3 sessions, each about 1 to 1-1/2 hours, over the course of a couple of weeks. Before the first session, I sent her an email with a list of specific topics within the broader "freelance writing" theme.

Sharon made good use of the time, having a well-organized list of important points ready to share with me. She was able to go on for some time, filling me with useful tips and suggestions, but was also willing to be interrupted by my many questions.

I got many tips I could have obtained by reading articles, but I also got personalized advice specific to my situation. I showed her links to my writing and she helped me see strong points I hadn't thought to promote, and also suggested ways I could broaden my topic list. She pointed out that I could recoup losses I'd had when I'd written articles that were never published for one reason or another.

When I agreed to test her mentoring program, I thought it would be a chat with several new freelance writers or writer-wannabes, which I thought would be a good opportunity. I was amazed to learn it was just me, and as a result of this one-on-one attention I learned so many things that can help me with my writing career that I can't even count them. Lucky for me, Google Talk keeps a chat log of chats, if you have that option selected, so I can refer back to these sessions anytime.

I would recommend this service to anyone who wants to learn anything that has to do with writing online. Even someone who only wants to blog can learn a lot from her. She knows a lot about many different aspects of making money by writing online. I was especially impressed at how well she organized her thoughts, even when I asked questions that took us down rabbit trails different from the topics I'd originally told her I was interested in. This service will help aspiring writers keep from making costly mistakes, so it's well worth the money you will invest in it.

Anything Worth Saying

I was listening to music on Pandora and a song came on that got me thinking about how I have trouble posting on this blog because I often can't think of anything worth saying.

The following song came on:



You can't link to songs on Pandora, but I found the same song on YouTube so you can hear it sung live if you want. The whole point of the song is that he is asking God to give him words to speak, because he can't think of anything worth saying. Anything Worth Saying is, actually, the title of another album by Aaron Shust.

I guess I should start praying about what to post on this blog.