Gets More Challenging the More I Write

I'm not ready to give up on writing yet, but finding titles to write about in Demand Studios is getting more and more challenging.  Most of the requested titles involve technical, computer, or auto repair.  When I find one in crafts, it's so ambiguous it's impossible to decide what the person wants to know.  One title I found today was "How to Wind the Bobbin on an Old Singer".  I've already written one article on "Winding the Bobbin on a Singer Treadle Machine".  How old is old?  Do they want instructions on winding a bobbin for a treadle machine? or an old electric?  And anyway, how hard can winding a bobbin be? 

I guess if you've wound bobbins on various machines from Singer treadle to White, Phaff, and many more brand sewing machines for 60 years it may just seem to be easy.  Maybe I'm just in the mood to rant today.

I'm still working on learning to write for SEO, but just about the time I think I've got it down and my articles, blogs, etc. seem to be picking up quickly in Google rankings, they start bombing. 

OK.  So I'm keeping busy making beaded jewelry patterns.  I put them up for sale at Bead Patterns Boutique and The Beadcoop using the name The Bead Doodler.  Of course it helps to write the description for SEO, but I let the site owners write and promote the sites. 

Interlocking Knit

What's interlocking knit got to do with writing? I was skimming article titles for Demand Studios yesterday and came across "Interlocking Knit Instructions". I was taken back 35 or so years in memory. My Mother didn't learn to knit until she was 60 and she seemed to be in a race against time to learn every stitch available. She learned what she called Double Knit. The way she worked it was to carry one thread in each hand, work the right thread English knitting style and work the left thread in Continental knitting style. This intrigued me because in Continental knitting you pick the thread much as you do in crochet and it was easier for me than throwing the thread as in English knitting.

We sat for an afternoon knitting and I knit my sons reversible ski caps with their initials on them. I've tried several times since then to work the interlocking knit stitch, but I kept coming out with a stockinette stitch on one side and a garter stitch on the other. Granted it was a double knit, but not what Mama had taught me.

I decided to claim that title and went to work researching looking for instructions and information. Information proved to be sparse, but I found a couple of sites that jogged my memory, so I went digging through my craft materials for knitting needles and yarn.

To my dismay I found that I had given all my knitting needles to my daughter except a pair of double point size 1's and a stray size 8 that didn't have a mate. To make matters worse, the only yarn I had was worsted weight.

I was determined to work a sample of double knit because no matter how well I research it, if I can't actually do it my article won't be coherent. So here I sit with a pair of size 1 knitting needles and two very similar colors of worsted weight yarn, working a double knit hot pad. Surprisingly it's working out well enough to see that it is actually working. Yay! I have a hot pad with stockinette stitch on both sides and reverse designs on each side. Now I can sit down and write the article.

Where Oh Where Did My Muse Go

Well, it happened again. My writer's muse visited me this morning. I was half way through an article on herbs for container gardening when I heard a light but persistent knock at my door signaling the arrival of my four-year-old grand daughter from next door. I think when I opened the door for her my writer's muse escaped! So here I sit with a half finished article and a blank mind.

I haven't been able to find any titles that I can write about on Demand Media this month, but have been able to write a couple to publish to fireHow. I'm also in the process of learning to navigate the new Women Who Write Online site. The site offers much more than Ning did, but I'm getting old and adapting to change is difficult even when I welcome it.

We had a nice rain. . .accompanied by not-so-nice wind yesterday so I'd thought I would get out and do some yard work today. I had cataract surgery last tuesday and all's well, my eye has given me no discomfort what so ever, but when I opened the door to go outside, the cool air irritated my other eye, the one I had the surgery on last July. I shut the door and decided I'd do yard work another day. Fortunately I'm retired, so I don't have to wait until the weekend to get out. I just have to choose a day that's not too hot, not too cold, and not too windy. Uh Oh. I live in West Texas. We don't have many days like that. I've tried wearing goggles, but they fog up in about 5 minutes so that's out. I used to scold my son for using the weed eater without the goggles. Now I know why he does it.

Time Flies-Update on My Writing

Oh my goodness! I can't believe it's been nearly four months since I updated this blog. I got so busy making beaded jewelry patterns and trying to write articles that blogging about writing just never got done.

Life has changed quite a bit since my last post. I still haven't mastered writing 10 articles to promote a product and actually getting that strategy to work, but writing is becoming much easier.

When e How shut down their publishing platform, I received a notice from Demand Studios that I was already approved to write how to articles because I was an accomplished writer on e How.

I have to say that the format is much more demanding. I have to think about how I word things. Everything must be in passive voice. I never realized how much I mixed active and passive until I started trying to write exclusively in passive voice. Sometimes it really is a challenge for me, but I'm improving.

The good (or maybe it's bad) thing about Demand Studios is that they pay up front per article. Good because I'm getting money every week, but bad because there is no residual income.

I've started writing how to articles on FireHow and have looked into writing for Break, but I'm still shuddering over having to write a resume for Break. I don't know why that makes me cringe so. I guess because when I retired I thought I was through with all that.

I was invited to join Women Who Write Online several months ago. Friendly people there and lots of good information. Most of the members are willing to share their writing and promoting expertise with those less accomplished.

New Year's Eve Musing

What Will The New Year Bring

A few suggestions for setting and meeting goals to improve your life.

What are you looking forward to in the new year?  Have you made new year’s resolutions?  For many people, based on past experience,  the idea of making a new year’s resolution is just setting yourself up for failure.

Content Source: Bukisa - What Will The New Year Bring