Archive for June, 2007

Of Note: Inklings The Copywriter’s Blog

I have been enjoying Inklings The Copywriter’s Blog  for quite a few months. Walter had some technical difficulties last month, but I’m pleased to say that the blog is back up and better than ever.

In addition to regular posts that inform and amuse writers of all kinds (such as this post on copywriting), Walter has a number of very interesting features that he runs on regular basis.  One of those is his Copywriter’s Quote of the Week where he collects quotes about writing from prominent writers and copywriters. If you really follow this series, you can learn a lot!

Walter has also started  a writer’s community in Bumpzee, a social media that I learned about through his blog.

If you haven’t visited Inklings, you’ll want to be sure and do so.

Last week “Of Note” focused on Grammar Girl. You can read about it here.

Note: If you’re consistently posting great information and haven’t seen your blog featured in “Of Note” yet, I apologize. I’ll probably find you soon. I know there are a lot of great blogs out there; I discover more new ones each day. (So many blogs, so little time …)

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

Group Project: Favorite Business Books

Some more results from Word Sell’s favorite business books group project are in. (This project is ongoing, so if you haven’t participated yet, it’s not too late to participate.) When the project is complete, we ought to have a great list of business books!

This is such an important project (and it encourages reading) that I’m going to list the business books and bloggers here, as well. Be sure and check out Word Sell’s post about this, because he describes the blog of each blogger.

So far submissions include:

• Free Agent Nation submitted by Mark.
• How to Win Friends & Influence People submitted by Denise.
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and First Things First: To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy submitted by me.
• The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual submitted by Kenneth W. Davis.
• First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently submitted by MDY.
• Think and Grow Rich! submitted by Chris Winfield.
• The Long Tail submitted by David Meerman Scott.
• Selling the Invisible submitted by Tom Wieczorek.
• The Godfather submitted by Bob Ravasio.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

So You Want to Be a Professional Blogger?

You’re not alone. A lot of bloggers aspire to make the kind of income found on this list from Paula Mooney. With all of the excitement generated by posts like Gayla’s “Blogging — From Hobby to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous …” some may think that blogging is a shortcut to riches.

It’s not.

Sure, someone will probably read this and leave me a comment about a blogger who was able to blog their way to fame and fortune within a few days or weeks of starting to blog. That’s wonderful. That’s also the exception.

There are basically three ways that you can earn money from blogging:

1. By blogging for someone else who pays (possibly a blog network or a corporate blog).
2. By selling advertising on your blog.
3. By writing sponsored posts through programs like PayPerPost and ReviewMe.

From what I’ve read, unless you are blogging for someone else, earning money with a blog can take months or possibly even years. It takes time to build up a readership. The more readers that you have, the more likely you are to be able to earn money from your blog.

(In the interest of disclosure, WritingThoughts has accrued some money from ads, but not enough to cash out. I do have some money coming from PayPerPost next month. I’m not making a mint doing this, but I’m having fun. Plus, as my brother says, apparently I have awesome googling skills and I do have patience and persistence.)

Which brings me to another point. Blogging is more than just writing. It takes me less than an hour to write a long post like this one, but I spend at least another hour every day interacting with other bloggers on their blogs and through social media. An excellent overview of social media can be found on Char’s Essential Keystrokes. This post at Influential Marketing Blog lists media tools and sites that are specific to women.

What if you do want to blog for someone else? You may find this list of blogging networks helpful. You may also want to check the blogger job listings at Problogger or the job listings at About Weblogs. Remember that these positions can be very competitive. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get offered the first position that you apply for.

Best of luck to all bloggers, whether they have professional aspirations or just want to have fun.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

Math Tutors at Score Learning Centers

Score Learning centers are an excellent resource for parents whose children struggle in school. I know this because both of my kids struggled with math. We turned to a Score Learning center a few years ago to find Math Tutors to help them keep up. All in all, I’d say we were a Score family for a total of about three years.

The kids loved the encouraging atmosphere at Score. They loved climbing “Score Mountain” with their bronze, silver, and gold climbers. They especially loved earning rewards and prizes for their work. As a parent, I loved that Score monitored the kids’ progress with easily understood reports that I could show to teachers. The coaches at Score even volunteered to talk to the kids’ teachers, if needed.

All in all, I would say that we had a positive experience at Score Learning Centers. If your child struggles with schoolwork, they are worth looking into.

WAHM Wednesday: Car Travel With Kids

It’s summertime! Some of us will be making trips with the kids for vacation. Some of those trips will be made by car.

One of the difficulties with long car trips is keeping the kids amused. If planned properly, a car trip can bring a positive element to the entire vacation. Without planning, a car trip with kids can become an ordeal to endure.

This post is designed to help you head off those cries of “how long until we get there” and “I’m bored.” If you can keep your kids occupied you can also keep them from fighting in the car.

Car Survival Kit

Here are some things that you absolutely don’t want to forget to bring if you want a peaceful drive:

• Snacks
• Drinks
• Pillows
• Blanket
• Crayons
• Coloring book
• Pencils
• Pad of paper

You will have to plan on at least one potty break (more if your children are smaller), but with these items on hand you shouldn’t have to face cries of “I’m hungry,” “I’m thirsty,” “I’m cold,” and so on.

Car Games

Finding a car game that can hold your kid’s attention is a lot better than listening to them fuss or fight. Here are some games that have held the attention of my kids over the years.

• Rhyme-it. I list this one first because it can even hold the attention of my teenagers. They love cracking up over the silly “poems” that this game produces. The first player says a sentence. The next player must say a sentence that rhymes with it. The second sentence need be in context with the first one. The game continues until no one can think of a rhyming sentence. The “poem” is complete.
• I Spy. This is a classic children’s car game. The first player starts the game with the words “I spy something” and names the color of the object that they see. “I spy something red” could be a car or a barn on the side of the road. The other players must guess the object. If they guess correctly, they get to “spy” the next object.
• Road Sign ABCs. This game is played by looking for road signs that begin with the letters in the alphabet. The first player looks for a road sign that begins with “A.” When they find the sign, they call it out. Then the next player looks for a different road sign that begins with “A” and calls it out. When each player has found a road sign that begins with that letter, the players move on to the next letter. The game continues until each player has found a road sign for each letter of the alphabet.

Singing 

If you can stand it, turn your car into a traveling karaoke bar. Either allow the kids to sing a capella, or put a CD without words in the CD player.

Laura’s Final Rule of the Road! 

If there’s fighting or fussing, the fun stops and everyone must be quiet.

What are your survival tips for traveling with kids? Leave a note and let me know. 

Don’t forget to stop by my new site, OpinionMom. We’re having Wordless Wednesday over there (complete with MisterLinky). 

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

Gack Ink Is Accepting Applications

Gack Ink has just placed a notice for round four submissions. If you want to join the Gack Ink blog network you have until Friday, June 29th to submit your blog. Refer to this post for detailed instructions.

Are you wondering if a blog network is for you? This post may answer some of your questions.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

Benefits to Being Part of a Blog Network

As some of you know, I am a member of the Gack Ink blog network. Gack Ink is a bring your own blog network, which means that the blogger retains control and ownership of their blog. It also means that they do not get paid for blogging.

A blog network is an affiliation of bloggers. Some blog networks pay their bloggers. Others do not.

Whether or not you are paid to write posts, being part of a blog network has several benefits:

1. Mentoring.

You can learn tips and secrets from other successful bloggers. Many blog networks have a forum where members can post questions and discuss ideas.
2. Relationships.

Being part of a network enables you to form relationships within the network that you might take longer to build if you were not in the network.

3. Support.

Other bloggers in the network can support your blog projects and provide advice, if needed.
4. Traffic.

Being part of a network can drive additional traffic to your blog. Not only will potential readers find your blog listed on the network’s home page, but network members will also drop by your blog frequently.

5. Exposure to quality blogs.

Typically blog networks cover many topics. Being part of a blog network can give you exposure to quality blogs on subjects outside of your own niche.

Do you need additional information about the benefits of blog networks? Here are some additional links:

• Why Should You Join A Blog Network?
• Benefits of Blog Networks
• The Top 5 Reasons to Join a Blog Network

If you haven’t thought about blog networks, now just might be the time to explore them further.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

Of Note: Grammar Girl

I discovered the Grammar Girl blog courtesy of a colleague. She e-mailed the link to me and it quickly became a favorite.

I love the way that Grammar Girl handles her topic with humor. She starts her “Who Is Grammar Girl” About page with the words, “Deep within the podosphere resides a mysterious writer known only as Grammar Girl.”

You’ve got to love that kind of humor!

Each Grammar Girl post includes an audio file that is basically a grammar lesson. I also like the way Grammar Girl used a poll to incorporate a grammar quiz into her latest post, “On Accident versus By Accident.”

Whether you’re just starting out as a writer or you have been writing for years, there is something new that you can learn from Grammar Girl. I know that I’ll be stopping by her site on a regular basis.

Last week Joanna Young’s Confident Writing was the featured blog. Read last week’s feature here.

Note: If you’re consistently posting great information and haven’t seen your blog featured in “Of Note” yet, I apologize. I’ll probably find you soon. I know there are a lot of great blogs out there; I discover more new ones each day. (So many blogs, so little time …)

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

I signed up for PPP!

The idea of joining a paid review service such as PayPerPost is something that I’ve wrestled with for a long time. This week, I finally decided to investigate PayPerPost.

To tell you the truth, it’s something that I should have looked into earlier. My writing business keeps me fairly busy, but I have gaps between client projects. Of course I should and do send out proposals during those slow times. The program gives me an opportunity to also make money blogging between client projects.

My first impressions of the program have been good. You can get paid to write a blog post as short as 50 words! That’s pretty easy. There’s even a user forum (and I love forums).

My concern about disclosure proved to be unfounded. PayPerPost requires full disclosure of every sponsored post. You will always know when a post is being sponsored (like this one, for example).

I’m also free to pick and chose topics and I don’t have to post about anything that I don’t like or don’t want to write about.

So far, PayPerPost seems like a Win-Win situation! I’ll keep you posted about how it goes.

WritingThoughts Enhancements

Some of you have already noticed, but I’ve updated and enhanced my blog. Here are some of the new features:

A New Blog and You Are All Invited

Okay, so this isn’t exactly a feature of WritingThoughts, but in a way it is. The wonderful folks at BlueHost have helped me set up a new blog, OpinionMom, to discuss the areas that are off-topic for this blog. (Really, with a hosting company like BlueHost there is no reason not to own your own domain.)

WritingThoughts will continue to be a resource for writers, freelancers, and work-at-home parents. However, there have been a lot of times when I’d read one of your blogs and I think to myself, “I’d really like to blog about that.” But, I couldn’t blog about that subject without going off-topic.

At OpinionMom we’ll discuss anything and everything. Come by and join the fun.

Hire WritingThoughts

The “other” non-blog pages have been at the top of my blog forever. In fact, they’ve been there so long that probably no one notices them any more. Well, this week I’ve gone through and filled out these pages.

Now, there are two ways to hire me a project. You can contact me directly according to the instructions on the Hire WritingThoughts page, or you can contact me to negotiate for a post on this blog through PayPerPost.

Additional Sponsors, and One of Them Could Be You

You may have noticed that I’ve picked up additional sponsors. Some of them, like the Amazon Store and the Indeed job search, I’m particularly excited about because they are basically services for you, the reader.

Another enhancement to WritingThoughts is that I have a limited number of advertising slots available upon request. Family-friendly ad requests are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

You can contact me directly according to the instructions on the Advertise page. An ad on WritingThoughts is a great way to reach the writing or work-at-home market!

Miscellaneous Changes

I’ve added a few new categories on the left side of my blog, including Blogging and Sponsored. I hope that the new categories will make it easier for you to find the information that you need.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.