I Promise, I am NOT 19...

Some of you already know that one of my part-time jobs is that I am a reporter for our local online news website: Monticello Live. I have been doing this since July of 2010.

This week is what I refer to as "week-o-meetings" where I go and sit in on numerous school board meetings, city council meetings, quorum court meetings.. you get the idea.

So far I've already hit up two separate school board meetings... and at BOTH of them, I was asked if I was a college student. Yes... seriously. By the people that are running the meetings. One of which I'm quite certain I've seen at no fewer than 4 meetings... in a row. What college student has that little to do on a Tuesday night?

I am still young... depending upon how old you are... but to be mistaken for a 19yr old? (and yes, that's the age I was mistaken to be.) Wow... Apparently having TONS of children is the key to keeping your youth!

Not that I'm complaining about supposedly still having my baby face - but it makes me wonder if anyone really takes me seriously, if they all are silently assuming I'm there by force from a professor?

Will My Hair Hold me Back?

I posted recently about how I accepted a part-time writing position for our local news website Monticello Live.  I have to say that so far I LOVE it. This is my kind of job! The hours are my kind of working hours (evenings usually) and they don't require me to be away from home much. I can do the 'real' work when I carve out time at home. Love it, love it, love it!

At one of the last meetings I attended (Quorum Court) I took a glance around.

"Do I stick out like a sore thumb?"

All around me were women, older than I am, probably 40x's smarter than I am, with these super cute, professional shorter hair styles.

"Hmmmmmm..."

I came home that evening to discuss my big hair concerns with my hubby.

"Does my long hair make me look stupid? You know.. like a kid? Like... I'm just here to try to look pretty and not to report on this meeting?"

My hair and I would like to quote you on that.

He was oh-so helpful when his response was basically, "Who cares.... I like your long hair... don't cut it off because of that."

Thanks sweetie.. really.

Since that night I've taken a look around nearly everywhere I go. Most professional women I encounter tend to have shorter hair styles.

I earn twice as much as that long-hair chic..

 I can only think of one friend of mine, off the top of my head, that works full-time and has long hair. Hi Lauren! Her gorgeous locks were the reason I grew mine back out again.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm loving my hair long right now. I've had it shorter for the past few years due to it being easier with little kids, but now, I'm enjoying my "princess" look as a friend's husband used to call it. Hi Amanda and Justin!

What do you think? Does a woman with long hair send a signal that she's not professional or as smart as her peers? Does shorter hair instantly make you appear more "together" in the work place? Perhaps I'm just over-thinking this.

How to Increase Your Blog Traffic - Today!

Since I am a bit brain-dead today due to boarding 4 dogs (one being an incredibly cute 7 week old puppy that has to go out to potty every 20 minutes on the nose) and having the kids home from school over the past two days - I am going to do a really straight foward, totally non-witty, hope you get some good from this, type of post.

One of the biggest questions I see in Blog Land is "How do you increase your readership?" I was asking myself this very question two months ago. I decided to really give Monetizing my blog a good shot, and the only way to make this work is by vastly expanding who visits my insane ramblings each day.

This is not such a hard feat if you have a website devoted to one thing or another. If you are selling something, a marketing wiz, or something that has succeeded in making serious cash blogging - then people will search for you. If you're like me, and most bloggers, you're a little random. I blog about life, kids, work, dogs, politics, news, fitness, health... whew! Where's the market for THAT blog, hu?

If you're a fellow Mommy Blogger and are looking for a way to get more people to regularly visit, then get ready for some linky love. Here are some of my new favorite websites to help drastically increase your page hits, visits, and regular readers quickly.

1. Blog Carnival - Joining up with blog carnivals are a great way to get more people to come and visit. I've actually found some REALLY amazing blogs that I now follow by searching for specific topics that interest me via Blog Carnival. Make sure to pay special attention to when the next addition is about to launch before you submit any posts to blog carnivals. If it's blank.. skip it and find another carnival that's being updated more regularly. Submitting great writing to a dead carnival does nothing for you.

2. 5 Minutes 4 Moms - Whether you're a business blogger or a mommy blogger, you will almost definitely benefit from this site. I've only been there for a couple of weeks but LOVE it. Great source of friendship, fellow bloggers, and people that have succeeded and are more than willing to give tips. Also found a couple of awesome blogs that I now follow here.

3. Blog Frog - super cool site. Lots of great bloggers that you can link up with. When you comment on someone's blog that has blogfrog, it will also link your website on their mainpage.. it can really boost your readership.

4. Link Referral - Just started this.. totally didn't believe it would work - IT DOES. 100% free. You can choose to upgrade and pay to increase your ratings on their website, and that in turn gets more people to read your blog, but I've not done that and have had about 10-20 people a day visit from Link Referral. The more you do on their site (RE: visiting other people's websites and rating them) the more your ratings increase. The more they increase, the more people you'll see. Truly, started seeing results from this on day 1.

5. Search Engine Optimize - SEO is all the rage in the writing world. If you can't write an article that naturally flows and is packed with words that Google, Yahoo, and all of those other search engines seek out every minute of every day - you'll never get work. Why? Publishers that head up online publications need people to find them. Especially if they're an up and coming company. Same holds true for your blog.

You may write the most beautiful, funny, or informative post - and it won't matter a bit if people can't read it. The basis of SEO is simple. Ask yourself, "How would I search for this topic on a search engine?"

Sometimes simply creating a great SEO title for your posts is all it takes. It works for me! I typically avoid witty, cute, or artistic titles to my posts for this very reason. I want more people to read it - so I try to make it easy to find. According to my stats, tons of folks are finding me on Google - so it does work! Give it a try!

6. Build Relationships with Bloggers - Visiting other people's blogs is great, but if you never give them any comment love, a relationship simply won't develop. A very simple way to increase your blog traffic is to find blogs you honestly enjoy, and comment away. Their readers will notice your remarks, and well written comments often lead to well written blogs. (I've found some of my favorite bloggers via their comments on my blog or on blogs I visit.) One rule - never comment and expect something in return. It will just lead to frustration and burn-out. Hence the part about finding a blog you actually REALLY like.

7. Find Blogs like Yours - Aside from The Blog Frog, 5 Minutes for Moms, Link Referall, and Blog  Carnival, another great place to find blogs is Technorati.com. Just try it out... you'll be hooked.

8. Regular Posting - The more often you post, the more you're site will be searched by those great search engines. Also, posting regularly keeps your readers interested. Optimally, you'll be putting up new content 5 or 6 days a week.

I've been following these links and these rules for about a solid month. Since I started, I've almost tripled the hits on my blog a day, and the time people are spending on my blog has also dramatically increased. These steps really do work! Whether you just want to share your information with more people, or want to draw more people in for effective monetization - give these sites a try. Report back! Let me know if they also work for you.

Have your own links to share that have helped you? Drop some link love in the comments!

Navigating Delicious

I just joined Delicious and am totally lost. All of my writing buddies keep telling me I HAVE to get involved in these social networking sites to see what's hot right now online and also to promote my own stuff... so I'm trying it out!

I've made it as far as installing the stuff onto my computer and now I'm at the "You have no one in your network - Yet!" part. Umm... okay.. so now what? I'm used to Facebook, folks... all ya do is type in the name of your best friend and up pops their page. How do I get people into my network? It's amazing how much more I know about this kind of stuff today, as compared to last year, yet how far behind I can still feel! I'm trying to step up my game and get back into writing. The hardest part of writing is promoting your work and getting it out there for people to see. I'm making money daily off of the articles I've already written on a "page view revenue" setup.. but obviously the more page views the better! Also, I can promote some of my favorite writers' work as well!

So, if you're into social networking sites like Delicious, help me out! Give me the idiot-proof version, please!

I Knew We Should've...

... made Christmas cards this year.

For whatever reason, we never got around to making Christmas cards to send out to friends and family. I would have been okay with this if it were not for the fact that we received a record number of cards from people this year. Our refrigerator is literally completely covered with cards, held by Leap Frog Fridge Magnets, on both of the double doors. It has been so fun to find one or two almost every single day in the mail! Some are from old friends that we haven't seen in a good while and some are from our really new friends - and we were so wonderfully surprised that they thought to send us one! Next year... for sure.. we will be hanging on someone else's fridge! All of you that were so nice to wish us a merry Christmas via cards this year... we will return the favor in the future.

Speaking of having a merry Christmas, I got another surprise this evening when I checked my work email. An article that I wrote around a month ago was purchased by a publisher... HOORAY! They have two more they are reviewing, and they would make it a very merry Christmas if they'd pick up at least one of 'em. I shall wait patiently and see, and try not to get my hopes up too high. You can never tell what these publishers will buy and what they will shove aside.

I've not had as much time lately to devote to writing, but I am making time for it again. Working at home can be extremely tough! I'm still learning the ins and outs of balancing playtime, housework time, cuddle time, and working time. Samuel's now routine afternoon nap is making things a lot easier... but I know plenty of you have had the work-at-home craziness, as well. One day... I will find a system that works.

Any tips for making working-at-home more manageable? Send them my way!

Something For Nothing

Each time I end one writing gig and look for the next, I am appalled at what people expect writers to work for. Though there are many great editors and job providers that see writing as an art and skilled profession, it seems increasingly apparent that several people want massive amounts of work done by completely unrealistic deadlines, and they want it for next to nothing.

One example would be a job that wanted 20 SEO (search engine optimized) articles written on the exact same topic, but each had to be completely different from each other. They needed to be completed, free of errors, in 3 days. The payment was $0.01 a word, for articles of 500 words. This comes to $5 per article. Are they serious?

Making an article SEO and still a great read is incredibly difficult. Making 20 unique articles on the same topic SEO is extremely difficult. To be offered a payment of only $5 an article is pretty offensive to me. Of course, I turned down the job offer. A typical article that I've written lately will sell for closer to $100... and if i can break into print that number will rise substantially.

This makes me wonder what is going on in the world? In the writing world, it seems that many publishers just want content that is "okay" to save them money. Knowing that they can afford to pay for GREAT copy, but would rather not, makes me shake my head.

Are we becoming a society that is perfectly comfortable settling for okay? Do we no longer strive to be the best and the brightest?

I can't help but think that if it were my magazine or online publication, I would only want the BEST. Being the best is what makes you stand out and what makes people flock to your product. The reason publishers are offering ridiculous job offers like these more and more often today is simply because more writers are taking them.

Of course, sometimes you really are just desperate for work. In times like those, any job is better than no job. When you're starting out you often will settle for these crummy jobs just to build a resume and have something to put in your portfolio. I get it.. I just came out of it. To continue to settle for low paying jobs that overwork you and make you suffer "burn out," will only lead to more low paying jobs.

Dr. Phil has a great saying that I use a lot in my life. "You teach people how to treat you."

Once you teach people that you are willing to work yourself to death for mere pennies, they will continue to treat you that way. It can make some wonder why people stay in this position.

In the writing world, the answer is simply the same as in other areas of work. Desperation. The economy is horrible, everything costs double what it used to, and earning one cent per word is better than zero.

Sometimes impatience is the answer. It's really hard for me to not yank up a low paying job sometimes. It's a for sure gig, it will generate some cash, and that can be hard to turn down. The higher paying jobs are a lot harder to get. There is fierce competition and being turned down stings.

I, personally, have decided to totally turn away from low paying jobs. I have the blessing of being able to do so, considering that I've never had an income and we're used to only having Clayton's paycheck. It is a scary place to be... trying to advance. Knowing that no matter how good you are, someone is going to be better. Knowing that no matter how much work you have done, someone else has done more. It can feel impossible to catch a break. I will keep trucking on and I know that when the perfect big job comes up, God will hand it to me. He won't hand it down on a silver platter, for I am working my fingers to the bone to do my part. He will, however, make an opportunity available when the time is right. Waiting for him to provide is incredibly difficult for me. Waiting for his perfect timing, and his perfect situation, is such a learning experience.

Putting Myself Out There

Yesterday I got a dash of courage, after a great pep-talk from my writing mentor, and called the editor for one of our state's larger newspapers.

The first phone call resulted in it being a bad time. I offered to call back later.

Later rolls around and I call again. The editor's receptionist informs me that he is in a meeting but she will give him my name and number. I couldn't help but notice that she didn't say that he would call me back...

Feeling down and defeated before even being rejected, I was happily stunned when my phone rang and I recognized the area code as being him. Unlike a previous editor I have spoken to, he was very friendly and laid-back. He didn't shoot me down, and most importantly, he didn't say, "no." He also didn't say,

"We can't afford to hire anyone else on at the moment."
-or-
"We only let our on staff writers do op/ed pieces."
-or-
"Two calls in one day? Stop stalking me, lady."

He even asked me to send him some stuff via email... which felt like a big positive. I am going to patiently wait until Monday to contact him if he hasn't gotten back to me in that time. I'm sure he has more important things to do than worry about me, so I will have to be a small thorn in his side until he agrees to publish me.

Throwing myself, and my work and ideas, out there for someone to see and possibly reject is extremely hard. My writing mentor, that I mentioned above, has already given me "it's only one man's opinion if he isn't into it..." talk. He also gave me wise words of a seasoned writer,

"A willing editor is half the battle won!"

I hesistated to post about this because I really do not want to have to come back later and post if nothing comes of it. Swallowing my pride is tough. I am being brave in hopes that my struggle to make my dream come true will encourage others to do the same. Doing nothing will always result in nothing. Christians would call that reaping what you sow.

Business, Businesses, Online Businesses

This picture has NOTHING to do with my post... I just realized I never posted a picture of Samuel eating his first birthday cupcake, so here's one. I love this one because he's cutting his eyes over at me, almost like he was waiting for me to come take that sinful food away from him. lol

I wish I could tell you all the number of times I've written the word "business," in all of its possible forms, over the past week. Whew! My new job is working out well. I'm getting a lot more work done each day than I thought I'd be able to and still spending good amounts of time with the kids and getting the important house work done. (I've vowed to dust the living room sometime today or tonight though.. those little things have been overlooked.) My work at home system is slowly finding its rhythm. The job is very tedious, but the good news is, I probably know more about businesses, business franchises, online businesses, work at home businesses, businesses in NZ, businesses in South America, and businesses within other businesses than any other person you know! That's all I do right now is write about business stuff. (FYI: I am not 'into' business stuff - hence the tedious nature of the job for me.) I am just so grateful that God gave me this opportunity. I never could have pulled this off on my own!

Another thing I am really excited and grateful about is our children's ministry at Journey! Holy Moly! Anyone that was in church this morning almost couldn't help but laugh at the massive amounts of children we had going back for children's lessons before the sermon began. I looked at Tammy, our preschool teacher for this Sunday, and asked if she wanted me to help her. She declined my offer.. what a brave soul! Clayton did JKids and said they did great, and Tammy also reported a great lesson as well. Hooray! Man, my kids don't know how good they have it. When I was Madison's age (going into 2nd grade) I had already been sitting out in church services for two years! Ack! Can you imagine? I must admit, I did some of my best artistic work on the backs of visitors cards in the Baptist church I grew up in... I was so glad they kept the ink pens conveniently placed beside the cards that I assumed were there for my doodling pleasure.

I just wanted to take a break from writing about opportunities for entrepreneurs looking into businesses to purchase so I came here to clear my head a bit. You can probably tell I'm writing out of my head by the randomness of this post... forgive me. I needed a small creative outlet. Now I'm refreshed and delve back into the last 34 Q&As I have to complete by Monday night.

Well, it's official

I can officially call myself a paid writer and a work at home mom. Wow... this is weird.

I have been applying to different writing jobs for 2 months now, and for two months I've heard nothing. Not a word. Do you know how hard it is to be patient and keep applying to jobs when you have no incentive from anyone hiring to keep trying? Well, it's hard! In the meantime I kept writing to publishers and getting things picked up here and there. I kept building my portfolio that way and finally, FINALLY, I just got my first real writing gig!

Now, let's not glamorize this. It's not my dream job and it's not what I really want do be doing. (how many of us have those jobs, hu?) It will generate a steady pay check, and a fairly good one at that.. I am so excited!! To describe what kind of writing job this is would be to say I'm in charge of coming up with questions and answers to them (like a FAQ section of a website) based upon keywords sent to me for a big company. I get to use my creative side and my research skills... so it's not terrible. But, I'm not writing the inspiring kinds of works I'd like to be. To compare it to a different job...

Let's say your dream is to be a chef at a 5 start restaurant... and instead you're flipping burgers at a fast food joint. Yeah.. pretty equivalent. You'd be grateful for the opportunity to get your foot in the door, and the paycheck twice a month... but you're not exactly living your dream. Ah well, I'll keep applying to other jobs in the meantime. Having one good writing job under my belt can only help get me another, better paying, more fulfilling job in the future.

So, my life is taking a bit of a spin! Clayton is thrilled, to say the least. I think he's really appreciating all of the hard work I've been putting into not only making extra cash for the family, but generally bettering myself. I think he sees my confidence rising each time I sell an article and put money into the checking account, and he likes it. Hey, I like it too! It's cool to feel like I'm not only good at being a mommy and a wife, but I'm good at other stuff too. Who knew?! ;)

To add to the last post

Jeff mentioned that I should link an article he and I collaborated on together. So, go here if you want to read it:

http://ignorantprotestant.com/

Some of you were gracious enough to either contact ppl to help with my list of questions or answer them yourselves and THANK YOU. Without you and your help and the honesty I received, this article would not have been possible. I can tell you that it has been a huge eye-opener for MANY. (myself included) So, thank you again.

Sorry to Keep You Hanging

So, I lied when I said I'd post pics of the house "tomorrow." My hubby keeps running off to work with the digital camera and I keep forgetting to load the pics onto the computer when he's home. Eventually, I will share the pictures.

To change the subject totally, I must take my hat off to all moms that work at home. I never could have imagined what a challenge it was! I have been slowly entering into the world of becoming a writer. Yeah, like a real one. I'm even possibly going to look into going to school for 2-4 years for an English or Journalism major once I find my niche in writing and what I want long term for myself. (possibly major in one, minor in the other?) If any of you have majored in these areas, give me some love and tell me what classes it would entail and what kind of work is necessary. None of these life changing things would happen until Samuel goes to Pre-K. So three years from now. (unless I find a great online course that transfers college credits to a college of my choice... we shall see.)

In the meantime, I am actually being published and getting paid for articles I have written. I am stunned to be honest. I've always been a "writer" at heart. As a little girl I had to have a journal from the time I could spell out words to form a sentence. I wrote down everything. My thoughts, what happened that day, my fears, and fictional stories to boot. I was probably the only teenager in high school to love those mandatory essays we had to write. For some reason, I find it exciting to get a topic that I know little about, research it to death, and write an article, essay, or story about it that makes total sense and is enlightening to someone that is in the dark on that topic like I was before I wrote about it. (and that, my friends, is a writing no-no. That sentence was much too long and wordy. Hey, this is my blog and I say it works here.)

This brings me to how hard it can be to be a mom and work at home at the same time. I REFUSE to be "that mom" that stays home with her kids but spends her entire day at the computer, cleaning house, or doing things totally not related to her children. When I start to think that my children would get more attention and more structured playtime at a daycare than here with me, I have a problem with it. So, I'm having to learn to balance all of this. It's new, and a challenge I'm ready to accept. So far, so good.

So, I suppose my best work title right now would simply be a freelance writer. It's great for me. I can do it in my own time, whenever I want, as long as I meet my deadlines. As I get published more and more, I hope to get more regular "jobs" instead of the "Hey, I need someone to write 10 articles by Friday!" gigs. I'm getting braver now and starting to write things to submit to big name magazines, and lesser known ones as well. I might even try my hand at writing for some newspapers. I'll never know if I don't try!

Isn't it strange how scary it is to just try? I have to keep reminding myself that I definitely won't get selected for a particular job if I don't apply. I hate the feeling of rejection. The only good thing about not trying, is you have zero chances of being turned down. But, you also never progress.

I've never had feelings like I have now in my adult life. All I've ever wanted before was to have children and be a mother. While that is still #1 on my list, I'm slowly creeping up there too. What do I want for me now? I feel complete in the parenting department. The stronger my urge to succeed as a writer becomes, the more I'm sure I'm done having babies. I'm praying for God to direct me to opportunities that will glorify him, not just me. (this is a very hard thing to pray AND MEAN for me, I admit.) Amazingly, the very first article I ever had purchased by a publisher was to a christian resource magazine and it was about overcoming low self-esteem. It's a little ironic that my self-esteem when writing that, about myself as a writer, was nil. But, God guided my words and helped me succeed! I pray he continues to guide me.

How weird to be embarking on a career... I never saw this day coming. It came from NO WHERE.