I’m starting this What’s New page as part of my strategy for changing this blog into a site that is more useful, considering the types of writing I do. I’m a content writer as well as a novelist, artist, webdesigner, songwriter and gardener! This page will give you the links to all the things I’m adding to this wonderful world wide web of ours.

June 4: My lens, Expert Blogging Tips, won a Purple Star at Squidoo! This came as a complete shock to me. I made the lens many months ago and it was a sleeper, getting very little recognition. I recently revised it and made it a little prettier, and I got an award! I couldn’t be more excited…

June 10: I spent the first days of this month moving articles from this site to the new, improved Perspectives on Writing. The new site is sub-titled “Writers, Writing About Writing”, however so far, I’m the only writer writing there! I welcome submissions. The site is now home to the following articles moved from this blog:

Ten Tips For New Writers
The Unfinished Manuscript
Writing A Novel
Let The Words Flow
Twelve Tips For Writing Better Articles

I’ve also added a few new articles to that site:

Plotting a Novel Through Character Development
Finding Your True Writer’s Voice
Songwriting Basics

June 12: Over a year ago I started a lens about preparing garden soil for veggies. Well, I finally finished it! This lens will probably be a sleeper for a while since I missed the garden preparation season this year.

June 13: I’m not sure what inspired me to do this, but I suddenly got the inspiration to write a lens about the possible end of welfare. I don’t have many answers but there are plenty of unknowns, and I provided a place for people to share their opinions on this controversial issue.

June 14: I joined a new content writing site called Fortitude – a Magazine for Being Human! It has an unusual approach as it is a paid membership site. I see the wisdom in this because serious content writers will join and spammers probably won’t. The membership fee is only $1.99/mo. paid annually. I wrote a Squidoo lens about it today too: Fortitude For Content Writing. The lens records my progress, my reasons for joining, and my comparison of Squidoo and Fortitude in terms of money-making potential. [Update: As of June 22 I've earned back my membership fee. It took only eight days. A friend did the same in only two days! Anyhow, the rest of the year's writing activity there will be pure profit. Right now I'm $1.70 in the black.]

June 16: I wrote an article at Gather. It is the ninth in a series of personal journal articles that have long titles, usually five parts. I haven’t written one in over a year until now, though it is something I’d like to do more of. A few years back I wrote regularly at Gather and earned a lot of $50 gift cards. I kind of miss those days and would like to get back into the site, if only to write this type of article. The title is My Life, v.9: Happy Tomato Plants, Dancing Zucchini Plants, Summer Sunshine, Fortitude, and a New Guitar. [Update, June 22 - I haven't received even one comment on this article so far. Seems I've been away too long and nobody knows who I am anymore! LOL]

June 20: I found out today that people are predicting wide-spread crop failures in North America due to the BP Gulf oil spill. This sends chills up my spine. I worry about all the people who don’t have food stored! I had to make a lens on this. Though it isn’t a popular topic, everyone should check into this! I hate to worry people but this is something the controlled media won’t report on as they don’t want people to panic and start hoarding food. On the other hand, if we don’t store food now, it may be either unavailable or exorbitantly expensive later.

June 21: At Fortitude, my brief memoir about How I Moved to a Cabin in the Mountains was published with a link on the front page of the site, on June 21, the Summer Solstice! I was excited to see this article receive the recognition it did because it detailed a deeply personal change in my life; this was a time when I felt like I took a step into the void and said, “Benevolent Spirit of the Universe, catch me!” …and the results were better than expected.

Later the same day – June 21 – I got the outstanding good news that I won the Squidoo Summer Sunshine Award for the day. This award benefits the charity that will be getting all the profits from my lens, End Welfare? What if There was No Welfare? The lucky charity, The Food For Everyone Foundation, gets $99, and I’ll get $99 too. Squidoo is being very generous this summer because they’re giving away these Summer Sunshine prizes every weekday between June 7 and August 27. There’s still time to join Squidoo and make a lens for charity, and nominate it for the Summer Sunshine Award.

June 23: Today I worked on web design issues for the new version of Literature For Kids. I moved an article from this site to that one: Themes in Children’s Fiction. I have a few other articles about writing for children to post there, and some book reviews. It all takes time.

June 24: I submitted my second article to Fortitude Web Magazine today. The title is Why I No Longer Consume the Standard American Diet. It will take a few days to get through the review process. I feel if I’m submitting two or three articles there monthly, I’m doing good. This article was about 1500 words, and straight from the heart. I’ll post a link when it’s published.

June 25: Good news and bad news. And then more good news, okay? First, my new Fortitude article was published only about 24 hours after I submitted it. That was good. But the bad news was that it didn’t make it to the first page… so I got only $1 for it. After three days of writing, researching and revising, I was NOT pleased! I revised that thing over and over to make sure it was perfect so when it didn’t make first page I was disappointed. However like they say, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! (I’ve been drinking warm lemonade made with maple syrup for days now, and no more coffee or tea!) Anyhow, the good news is that I used my option to republish on one of my sites, so now Why I No Longer Consume the Standard American Diet has a cozy home at my Country Kitchen Pantry – where I write about cooking, herbs, and whatever else comes to mind.

I’ve been promoting that link all day (off and on) and thinking, the best revenge is to do better. Or something like that. I suspect peer-reviewed Fortitude is subject to the whims of people who might not appreciate my opinions on certain eating habits. I will remember that next time – and submit something more politically correct! LOL

June 26: We took the day off and went to Mt. Shasta while our feral cat friends, Shadow and Mischief, were being neutered in Yreka. Someone dumped the cats next to our driveway last year and we couldn’t find homes for them because they were black. That’s when I wrote Black Cats Need Adoptive Homes. Black cats are lovable and appreciate their homes!

Anyhow, we had a good time in Mt. Shasta and drove up the mountainside to Bunny Flats. We couldn’t drive further because it was snowed in. Nevertheless, the parking area was more crowded than I’d ever seen it and more hikers arrived constantly. There was no special event; apparently this is the perfect time for a hike to the top. We talked to one young couple who expected to make it to the top from Bunny Flats in two days.

June 27: I had a banner lens writing day; I created two new lenses. This morning my partner suggested the most important issue of the day was pending internet kill switch legislation, so I created Internet Kill Switch Shut Down Harmful to Content Writers. I also wrote to all three of my federal legislators about it. I hope you’ll write to yours too! It was suggested that I could be a bit of a fear monger by writing lenses like this. I don’t think so. I’m genuinely concerned about internet-generated income because I need it. The fear mongers are the people who wrote and introduced this bill. After all, if government really doesn’t want sensitive information accessed by internet hackers, they should not put it on the public internet! I believe the proposed law is an underhanded way of interfering with our freedom of speech, ability to support ourselves, and a way to keep us from getting information from anyone but the controlled and biased media.

My second lens for the day was an effort to learn to sell things on Squidoo. Most of my lenses are informational, and I know the people who make the most money on the site are sellers. So, I gave it a try and made a lens about Hurricane Lamps. I happen to love hurricane lamps – they remind me of my grandmother’s home. I looked at the lamps and imagined what it would be like to use each design. Writing the lens was more fun than expected!

June 28: Today’s only writing accomplishment was to finish a lens on pedometer steps. The rest of the day was busy – including a trip to the laundromat. I will never take that much laundry with me again! I must be getting old, but my arms hurt terribly from the folding, then I had to come home and take a nap.

June 30: I’ve had a few very busy days. Yesterday we were in Mt. Shasta inside a pyramid where I had an outstanding spiritual consciousness experience. Highly recommended. I will write more about it, but not in this venue.

This morning I went for a walk along the Klamath River Highway. At the far end I sat at the Little Grider Creek highway bridge and drew this picture of the Klamath. Can you see the two kayaks?

Monthly Overview

I’ve made some advances, writing new lenses and articles, getting a few more sites up. I didn’t spend enough time on novel writing and editing and want to do more of that in July.