July 2: I purchased a new domain name yesterday, and started a message board there this morning. It is Content Writers Forum – a place for content writers of all kinds to network about the work they’re doing. I thought it strange that I couldn’t find anything else like this online, so I started it.

I reorganized the way I work on Squidoo lenses; hoping to take the endeavor from ‘hobby’ to ‘profession’ unless I can find a more profitable job soon. (I’m looking!)

July 3: Today I created a new lens at Squidoo – Propane Stoves – focusing on small portable propane powered stove burners used in cabins, on camping trips, and while backpacking. I also spent time developing the new content writers’ message board, and worked on updating Squidoo lenses.

July 4: Happy USA Independence Day! I celebrated by updating over 100 of my Squidoo lenses.

July 5: This morning, I’m still updating lenses. I have 153 of them now!

July 8: I’ve been busy keeping my lenses updated for the last few days, focusing on Squidoo where I now have 155 lenses. My newest lens: Dorm Room Decor.

July 9: I’ve started a new California travel site and today reviewed my stats. I’m happy to see that new search engine traffic is coming in! One of my projects there is to post an entire book by an early Californian, Alonzo Delano. The book is his travel diary of coming to California with a wagon train, and accounts of his experiences here in the gold fields. So today I edited and posted chapter eight. So far the wagon train has gone from Missouri to Idaho. I generally edit and post not more than one chapter per day so it will be a while before the book is complete. Today’s chapter: Continental Divide, Wyoming to Idaho’s Bear River.

July 11: This morning I wrote an article for my vegetarian cooking / herb / philosophy blog: Methanol in Diet Sodas. It was a bit of a rant about a topic I have strong feelings about – the diminishing value of the American food supply… if you can call a soda ‘food’.

Then, this afternoon I had a sudden desire to write about memoir writing. I came up with How to Write Memoirs. I found that easy to write because I’m writing a memoir and have done a lot of research on how that is done. My lens gives a systematic way for a beginner to start writing a book length memoir.

Other than that, I did a bit of gardening and worked on an action plan for August.

July 14: The last few days were eaten alive by Lan Lamphere and my birthday! The Lan Lamphere issue was about a man in an undisclosed location claiming to have Bigfoots in his backyard. I jumped on the story and listened to Lan’s radio show twice. I will NEVER listen to that man again!!! However, I wrote several blog posts about it at my blog about Bigfoot. The postings were: (1) Bigfoot Found In Backyard – Radio Broadcast Online, posted on July 8; (2) Report of Bigfoot Found in Backyard – A Mental Aberration? posted on July 12; and Bigfoot in Mr. Mike’s Backyard: Follow-Up on Lan Lamphere’s Internet Radio Broadcast posted also on July 12. What an issue! LOL Well, I’m glad that experience is over.

July 13 was my birthday and I didn’t do much other than update some lenses – then go swimming at the beautiful South Fork of Indian Creek – about ten miles north of where I live. We swam at a place I call Laughing Waters Spa.

Today I’m catching up on needed maintenance issues at my site about CPS… trying to be more active on the message board where several lovely and dedicated activists really carry the show on for me because I’ve been so busy doing other things.

Yesterday I actually opened my “Write It Now” program and looked over my chapbook – a project I started last year that I’d really like to get finished. I hope to get some work done on that today. The chapbook is about my ten years living in the Klamath River Valley – so it will be a bit of a regional local-lore kind of thing, including some of the many articles I wrote while I’ve been living here, and some fiction, and maybe some poetry but not much!!!

July 17: Yesterday was an out-of-town day. We went to Southern Oregon to take one of our black cats to Dr. Joe, the vet.

Today I’m working to the clock. I downloaded Time Stamp and am timing my work hours… which so far are up to a little more than four hours. My goal is to work ten hours daily, but it is hard. My beloved one comes in here to chat with me and my adult son needed extra attention today, so I was AFK (away from keyboard) more than I’d hoped. Plus there’s that garden that needs attention.

Today’s work centered on building up the Literature For Kids site with content I’ve already written. Some of it was transferred from this blog to that site. I’ve got other things written that will be placed there, and I’ll be writing more reviews of children’s books to add. My goal is to post twenty articles before I move on to another project.

July 31: The last half of the month was dominated by a cold. This was the worst sickness I’ve had in many years. It started with a very sore throat, and that was followed by coughs and sniffles that persist to this day. But — it is getting better, with daily improvements.

For a while I was too sick to write anything, but more recently I’ve been making new lenses again. I made two about books: Top Ten Best-Selling Autobiographies and Top Ten Best-Selling Biographies. Then I got the bright idea to write about a YA series, and in a very random way chose Tui Sutherland’s series, Avatars. Then to top that off I made a SquidWho lens about Tui Sutherland. My most recent effort was a total aberration from what I usually do. I made a SquidBoo lens about the Top Ten Halloween Decorations for 2010.

So, sick or not, I managed to do something productive this past week. I’m looking forward to August now that I’ve got a very well-developed action plan to work with. I’ll write more about that later after I’ve had a chance to test it out for a while.