Christmas All Year Long

Changes Afoot

xmasallyear — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:26:09 +0000

I’m working on migrating my blog over to another format: Blogger.com. I’m been wrestling with the decision because I have this problem with loyalty- I form it, I think, way too easily, sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. I mean, I’ve been using this WordPress blog for less than a month. I don’t have a personal relationship with it, or anyone who works for WordPress. And yet, I have this achey little feeling of guilt for even thinking about abandoning my pretty little WordPress blog. Silly, I know.

But, I am going to do it, despite how much I love the “Dusk” theme here, and the fact that ‘xmasallyear’ was taken at Blogger (I chose it rather arbitrarily, but it’s grown on me. I sure do love all things Christmas). Blogger gives you a lot more freedom to add widgets and extras, and I want to play with them. So, in the next few days, I should be finishing up migrating everything over. I’m going to have to do it the old fashioned ‘cut-and-paste’ way because Blogger won’t let you import a blog from WordPress. Hopefully, it will go smoothly and not be a big pain.

My new blog is located at: www.mypenrunnethover.blogspot.com

So bookmark that cause it will be taking the place of this one before too long!

Anyone else struggle with the choice of blog platform, or is that just me?

A few, unrelated items

xmasallyear — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:16:37 +0000

I’m working on my blog brevity- let’s see how this goes:

1. Yesterday I made over $5.00 on Google Adsense! That may not sounds exciting to you, but that’s how much I had previously made over 3 weeks. So, I doubled my earnings in one day. Sweet! Still doesn’t sound exciting? Well, if I could make $5/day on Google Adsense every day, that’s $150 a month in extra income that essentially I haven’t had to work for (other than the initial work of publishing Hubs and then continuing to drive traffic to them). That’s a decent little residual income there. I’ll take it!

2. I’m in the process of attempting to register for some distance learning classes through ODU for my Master’s. After two semesters off (although in my defense, one was the summer semester- and that hardly counts, right?) I’m getting back in the saddle- or, at least making the attempt (academic bureaucracy keeps throwing obstacles in my way- no surprise there). This could easily change depending on a number of factors, but right now what I’m planning/hoping will work out is that I take two classes via 2-way video/voice feed (classical rhetoric and visual rhetoric and document design) from ODU in the spring, and take 3 credits of master’s thesis each in Fall 2009 and Spring 2010, to complete my degree in May 2010. I’m still fuzzy on what I want my thesis on, and of course it all depends on getting approved, but I am really gung-ho on focusing on something having to do with writing for the internet/web 2.0/SEO/social networking sites/etc, as I’ve just gotten into this stuff in the past few weeks and I’m hooked on learning more!

Justin’s home from GA and it’s great to have him back. Soon I’ll try and post some pics of the new digs-to-be.

Why I don’t write a lot of fiction . . . right now

xmasallyear — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:22:02 +0000

I think when I tell people that I’ve quit my job to be a writer, most of them assume I’m talking about fiction- that I’m going to sit around working on a novel. I think it would be safe to say that this is probably the ‘coolest’ form of writing- the one people imagine when they think of ‘writers.’ And probably most self-professed ‘writers’ would love that too- to be the next Michael Crichton, or Thomas Hardy, or Ernest Hemingway, or whoever floats your boat.

But unfortunately, fiction’s not a promised paycheck. In fact, for most people fiction is pretty much guaranteed not to be a paycheck. For every thousand aspiring fiction writers out there, maybe a handful will get published. And of that handful, one will make it big- if they are lucky (Note: I totally just made those statistics up, so don’t go citing me in a research paper or anything).

So, while there’s certainly a part of me that yearns to be the deep novelist, toiling away at the next great American novel, breathing literary life into complex characters, and writing a story that will break hearts and inspire a generation and make people laugh and cry and dream . . . I don’t write fiction. Not yet, anyways. It’s not very glamorous to tell people, “I write web content, and pretty much anything that someone will pay me for (within ethical boundaries, of course);” but that’s what I do and so that’s what I tell people. It pays the bills (and of course, even though it’s not an earth-shaking work of fiction, I still love doing it!)

Oh, and there’s another reason I don’t write fiction (right now). I’d go so far as to say this is the primary reason: it’s too personal.

Fiction writing- or more accurately, fiction sharing . . . imagine if you had all the skin flailed off your frame, and then you had to invite people to poke at your exposed muscle. Fiction is “made up” but it contains more of you than any other kind of writing. It is personal and intimate. It is utter exposure of the parts of you that you tuck away.

I’m sure that people with plenty of fiction experience find ways of minimizing this feeling of bareness when someone else reads their work. I’d like to get there.

Today I bought new AAA batteries and popped two into my long-dead digital voice recorder (much more beloved by me than its long-dead status would imply). I was surprised to see there were six recordings still saved on it as the screen display came up. I pressed play. I thought it would be the recordings of the interviews I conducted while writing human interest stories for The Cave Spring Connection (I didn’t remember having used the thing since).

It took me a moment before I recognized the voice, but I recognized the words- they were my words. My fiction story, written for a short story fiction class I took in Spring 2007 towards my Master’s in professional writing. Things snapped into place: that was my professor, Sherry Reynolds, reading the first paragraph of the second of two stories I’d had to prepare for the class. Hearing the words I had painstaking crafted, and arranged, and agonized over, coming out of someone else’s mouth- even when it was the second time I was hearing it- was shockingly, physically painful. I had to turn the recorder off before it got to the part where she asked for the class to start chiming in with comments. Seems a little ridiculous, since I’d already heard it all before- while sitting in a circle facing my 20-plus classmates AS they critiqued my fiction. And no one had said anything horribly critical- I knew this. It just felt too raw at that moment to hear it all again.

So, in case any of you were wondering what it is I am writing- and when I’m going to publish that first novel- I’m sorry to say it won’t be anytime in the near future.

But . . . it is a goal for the not near, but hopefully not-too-far future.

Does this new career make me look fat?

xmasallyear — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:59:37 +0000

One of the things I did NOT consider when deciding to pursue freelance writing was that fact that, when I gained a bunch of weight in college, a main contributing factor in that gain was my overwhelming need to be munching on sometime anytime I was writing a paper or cramming for a test. I guess you could call me an academic eater. Or maybe a ‘literary eater.’

Oops! It’s been two weeks and it’s definitely been a struggle to keep from constant grazing. So, I’m looking for any way that I can to counteract the effects of a full-time writing job that keeps me sedentary for hours on end, with easy access to the fridge. I’ve used www.fitday.com before, and that worked for me for a while. Luckily, now my fab friend Annie has pointed me in the direction of www.sparkpeople.com, and I like that even better! I figure it shouldn’t be too much hassle to track my food intake online, seeing as I spent the majority of the day in front of a computer, plugged into the internet.

I also had this grandiose idea that I would go to the gym everyday once I started working at home. Now that I’m doing it, I haven’t gone yet because I don’t want to take the time away from my writing (I can be a little obsessive). I’m trying to at least take a walk once a day, though- at least that way I cut out the time it would take to drive to the gym and wait for a machine. It’s perfect walking weather in Texas right now anyways!

Decorating ideas for the new house

xmasallyear — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:45:13 +0000

Found this on a blog that I found through a blog that I found through a blog:

Wall art for cheap

I think this is pretty damn cool. Think I could hire this guy to do the walls in my new home in GA?

On an unrelated note, I had no idea how dependent I was on my laptop until I let Justin take it to GA. Yeah, I’ve got his desktop to work on. But all my documents and pictures and internet favorites are saved on my dependable little Dell. I’ve got half a dozen tasks and projects I’m putting off for his return because they all involve stuff that’s saved there. Also, I’ve watched almost zero TV this week because if I can’t have my work in front of me, to at least be doing busy work or blog scanning, or something, then it feels like a waste of time! I’m really looking forward to having the freedom of a laptop back come Sunday (oh . . . and my husband too )

New Content Posted

xmasallyear — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:18:46 +0000

I’ve just posted new content in two places: Associated Content and Hubpages. On Associated Content, though, it probably won’t show up as published for a week or so. To be honest, the content is the same on both sites (I published as non-exclusive on AC and then re-published, a little fancied up, on Hubpages. I’ve started doing this after a suggestion I read by another hubber).

Here’s where you can check out my new hub: Fabulous New Hub on Renting Vs. Buying

Do you want to know my secret goal right now (except maybe not-so-secret, since I’m blogging about it . . .)?

I want to publish a series of articles on issues related to various aspects of renting. I’m not going to flatter myself at this point to say that I could establish myself as an “expert”: but I’d like to make a name for myself online as someone who at least knows, more or less, what they are talking about when it comes to renting and property management.

Phase 2 of my secret/not-so-secret plan is to write a guide for the first time renter. I’ve already started working on it, actually- started before I had even entertained thoughts of quitting my job and writing full time. I stopped working on it for a while, thinking that chances of it ever getting picked up for publication were slim-to-none, and I had to concentrate on projects with a guaranteed paycheck (and you see how well that worked out for me: eight hours unpaid work). But I’ve done some research, and now I’m energized to get back to work on it, because my next planned step is:

Phase 3: Self-publish the guide as an e-book, and link to the place it can be purchased from my profiles in each place that I’ve {attempted} to establish myself as someone who’s pretty plugged in to the ins, outs, and issues of renting.

So yeah, that’s my new direction I’m charting my course towards. Plus, of course, continuing to update the blogs, work diligently on Rentwiki assignments, enjoy my newfound Twitter addiction, submit articles and rate at Helium, seek out new freelancing opportunities, and try to be a good, non-neglectful wife and animal mommy.

Repeating Myself

xmasallyear — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:53:50 +0000

Now that I am writing A LOT more, both time-wise and quantity-wise, than I have in recent years, I’ve been a little disturbed to notice that there are a few words and phrases that pop up at an alarming rate in nearly everything I write. Some examples:

“Peruse:

1 a: to examine or consider with attention and in detail : study b: to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner 2: read ; especially : to read over in an attentive or leisurely manner (from www.Merriam-Webster.com).”

Peruse: turns out, I love this word. I know this now, because all of a sudden, I’m using it all the time. “I was just perusing your blog . . . as I was perusing information on the history of the neighborhood . . . I perused the bookshelves, looking for good resources for the freelance writer . . .” The fact is, my new freelancing job pretty much centers around perusing various things (well, actually, “writing” is the primary verb of my freelancing career. But “perusing” is a close second).

Another one I feel I’ve been overusing is “pursue” (cleverly, phonetically similar to peruse- coincidence?). This one, however, I attribute to the fact that I’ve filled out what feels like a million little ‘bios’ on various sites, and on each I’ve said some variation of “I’ve recently quit my full time job in property management to pursue freelance writing . . .”

The one that’s been really bugging me, though, is what I feel is an overuse of what I’ll call “reversal words.” I KNOW there is a better, more educated sounding terms for these words and phrases- one that is escaping me right now, to my English-Major-embarrassment. I’m talking about “however,” “although,” “but,” “though,” “still,”and the like. I find it hard to get through an article or post without using a minimum of one of these words- and it’s kind of driving me crazy! I know there are some literary types out there that frown on the use of these words. I’d love it it those folks could give me a little lesson on how to avoid them altogether.

I guess when you go from a casual amount of writing daily, to doing it prolifically, you’re going to feel a bit repetitive simply because your volume has increased exponentially. Still, (there I go again!) I’ve been trying to look for alternate ways to ‘reverse’ the flow of a paragraph or article. It will make me feel better about my writing.

For all you writer types out there reading this (if there are any!), I’m curious: do you have any words you find yourself using over and over again? Are there writing tropes that you just can’t get away from?

Little victories make life worthwhile

xmasallyear — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 07:09:39 +0000

I have a writing star at Helium now. To get a writing star there, you need to have written at least 4 articles, and they have to rank, on average, in the top quarter.

Let me back up a minute- one of the key features of Helium is that members rate articles written on the same title- this is done anonymously and there are incentives for rating on a regular basis. The idea is that the best articles will ‘rise to the top.’ With at least one rating star and one writing star, you are eligible for a number of extra payment options, like small upfront payments on articles, and revenue sharing. Since I finally have one of each, I’m looking forward to seeing what my payments look like when they are calculated at the end of the month.

Let’s just say, though, that I’m not holding my breath here for a big payday. Still, I really like Helium and would definitely recommend it to a burgeoning writer.

I will say though that I’ve gotten turned off of the Marketplace feature, which originally had been my favorite part of the site. In the Helium Marketplace, different publishers post calls for content and any writer can tackle the assignment and hope their work is accepted and subsequently paid. I guess I got spoiled because I was able to sell two articles pretty quickly. They were both sold to the same publisher (video game download reviews) and I got cocky and thought, since they seemed to like my writing style, that I’d be a shoo-in for all subsequent articles. Last week I probably spent nearly 8 hours working on 4 different reviews for these folks (an hour playing the free trial, which admittedly, should only count as half “working,” and then up to an hour writing the review). If all of these had been purchased, the pay would have averaged out to be around $8.00/hr, which is awful- but when you’re starting out, any pay is good pay, right?

In fact, I received “no pay” for this work because none of that batch of four were chosen. It was kind of an ego blow and confused me, because at the time of their decision, I think 2 of my articles were rated #1 out of all the choices. After putting what amounts to a full day’s work into these reviews and getting nothing out of it, I decided I was going to pull back from the Marketplace bidding for a while. My ego was bruised, my time had been wasted, and I not-so-secretly hoped that that particular publisher would regret alienating a writer who had put a lot of thought into their assignments.

Shortly after this decision, feeling righteously indignant and miffed at the company that had rejected my last four articles, I was perusing their website and saw a call for writers to form an ongoing freelancing relationship with them- basically, to do what I had been doing through Helium, except for I’d actually be guaranteed payment on an assignment, instead of crossing my fingers, hoping I get chosen. Immediately, I pushed my indignation aside to email and request to be considered for the position. Hey, I just quit my full time job to do this writing thing, and husband and I just put an offer on a second home, so I can’t afford to nurse my battered ego right now! However, I haven’t heard back from them. Ouch . . . guess rejection comes with the territory though. I’d better get used to it!

Going back to work for Stonemark again- maybe

xmasallyear — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:53:13 +0000

Yesterday, my former boss called and said our regional (or I should say, my former regional) had called and wanted her to find out if I was interested in working as a contractor on the marketing for our Austin properties. While I want to find out the rest of the details, I am pretty excited for this opportunity. I’ve left the property management field to pursue writing, but it’s still in my blood. I’ve worked for Stonemark in two regions now, and worked, subbed, or helped out on seven different properties in three states. I’d love to continue my affiliation with the company, on a part time basis so I can continue working on my writing career. And the extra income would be nice too, since the freelance income can be kinda hit or miss, and never guaranteed.

Of course, that was two days ago, and no contact yet from my regional herself- so I don’t quite know what’s going on. However, even if things don’t pan out, it’s nice to have the validation of having been thought of for something like this. We’ll see where it goes, I guess.

Apparently, I am contactless (or close to it)

xmasallyear — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:30:59 +0000

So I’ve joined Linked In and Twitter, all excited about the networking potential of both sites. I uploaded contacts from my mail email address, and . . . apparently I don’t know anyone.

Well that’s not entirely true. I had about 6 people on ‘Linked In’ who I actually knew. On Twitter, however, only one of my contacts came up- some woman with a ridiculous name like Elvira Candyton or something. I have no idea in what context I apparently emailed this woman at one time or another. I did not request to follow her.

So now I am just Twittering to myself. And that’s really not any fun. I find it hard to believe that I know NO ONE who uses Twitter. So, friends, if you’re reading this and you’re on Twitter (or Linked In, for that matter) please do add me (my Twitter is, pretty predictably, SarahGuy). I look forward to knowing your every move.

And if you aren’t my friend- you’ve just stumbled upon this randomly- well go ahead and Twitter me too, I won’t mind. I want to network, especially with other writers. Also, it’s nice to have lots of small, quick distractions to look at when I’m experiencing a moment of writer’s block. In fact, perhaps I’ll go follow Elvira Candyton afterall. Maybe she’s up to something interesting!