My Two Year Anniversary With Squidoo!

Today marks my second anniversary in the magical land of Squidoo. Thankfully, I followed a link in a newsletter and signed up for a Squidoo account. I started building lenses, hung out at SquidU and never looked back.

Squidoo has become a place where I talk about my varied interests, silly stuff, and products I recommend. I promote my online magazine and talk about all the things I am passionate about. I have met all kinds of lovely people, who have advised me on all kinds of topics. It's a place where I can laugh and learn.

Now I have reached the 100+ lens mark, I plan to make my lenses even more profitable. With study, research and practical application, I plan to make my small but steady Squidoo income grow. I have book projects that are prospering because of Squidoo, and my writing skills have improved 100 fold. I get such a kick out of Googling my name and seeing all my Squidoo lenses pop up!

I know that my experience with Squidoo will continue to be a wonderful experience. Hope you can join me!

Make Romantic Memories At Home On Valentines Day or Anytime!

Don't let the state of the economy affect your love life! There are plenty of ways to keep the love light burning without spending a bundle. All it takes some creativity, a little effort and a whole lot of love. Make your Sweetie a home cooked, romantic meal at home. You'll be glad you did.

Keeping things lively and special in a relationship is very important, and sharing intimate meals together can add an extra dimension and sparkle. It's not the meal itself, it's the thought behind it. Have mac & cheese on your best china, take a picnic to a free concert, or eat take out by candlelight. Anything that says to your Honey "I'm glad you're part of my life!"

Not feeling all that creative and have very little time? Don't know what to make? Can't even set a table? Don't worry, I have you covered! Just check out the best lens for Sweethearts, At Home: A Romantic Dinner For Two. You'll find tips, recipes, and fun ideas for romance that will have you looking forward to your next date night.

I've done all the research, the rest is up to you...have a great Valentine's Day!

Happy Squid Half-Anniversary to Me

Image by coreyweb via Flickr

February 7 marked six months since I skidded through the doors of Squidoo. It wasn't my destination. I hadn't planned on staying long. But as most of you may remember, once the toe of your shoe hits the Squidoo welcome mat, it's hard to pull back. That very day, I sat down and built my first lens.

One lens looked pretty silly sitting there alone, so of course I had to make a second and a third and a...Well,
I'm sure your story is similar.

So, what have I learned in these six months?

• A good lens may require vulnerability. When I published A Quilt Story: Voices from the Great Depression, I knew that I wanted this quilt to somehow connect three generations. It was a sad-but-sweet story I'd been wanting to share for two years, and Squidoo offered a way to do that with pictures and modules that helped shape the topic. But...I would need to open myself up to strangers in order to tell the story. I'm glad I did, because of the wonderful friends I made through that lens.
• Let go of ideas that can't be revived. I've begun a few lenses on an enthusiastic high, only to find them in need of CPR the next morning. I've learned to let them simmer for a week and if they don't excite me anymore, I toss them. No use wasting time on something that's destined for failure.
• Appreciate those who know more, as well as those who know less. I've learned so much about Squidoo techniques, by visiting lenses and hanging onto the coattails of lensmasters who have more experience than I. If I don't learn something new every day, I'm disappointed. I love to write, but a good recipe for a lens takes more than just one skill or ingredient. (Try leaving out baking powder and see what happens to your next cake.) I so appreciate how open Squidoo lensmasters are to sharing what they know. I now try to contact a few newbies a week just to encourage them, because that's what kept me going in the beginning.
• Know when enough is enough! Years ago, I used to watch a painting program on tv. One day this guy was demonstrating the final steps of portrait painting. He sat back for a long moment, cocked his head, and said he was finished...except for one thing. He dipped a thin brush into a light-colored paint and added a reflection of light in his subject's eyes. "There," he said, setting down his brush. He had added life to his work--a final gleam. It's the same with lenses. Knowing when to quit is as important as knowing how to begin.
• Laugh! If I want to mope, the early morning news offers plenty to drag me down. Humor lightens the load of lensmaster and reader alike. Maybe that's why some of my favorite lenses--both mine and others--are in the Humor category. Blame it on Squidoo struck a chord with many of my Squidoo friends out there. Help! I've Lost my Hippocampus gave us a chance to laugh at our ever-aging brains. Laugh therapy is good for the soul, especially in these financially-strapped times.

Thanks, everyone, for making my Squidoo experience such a joy!

Seedplanter (Bonnie)

A Broadway Revival of Hair

Hair was one of the must culturally influential plays that ever hit Broadway. In 2007 The New York Times wrote that "Hair was one of the last Broadway musicals to saturate the culture as shows from the golden age once regularly did."

Most Broadway plays are almost unknown to people who have never seen them. But Hair was different. By the 1970's everyone knew and heard of Hair:

* Four songs from Hair made it to the top of the charts and became standards.
* Hair was nominated for two Tony Awards.
* Hair was one of the first main-stream plays to feature nudity and so it was widely discussed.
* Hair was incredibly controversial. During its run in Cleveland, dynamite was found in the theater and a bomb was thrown. A suspicious fire in the hotel where the cast was saying cost the lives of four family members.
* In 1979, Hollywood released a movie version of the musical.

Next month there will be a Broadway revival of Hair. For my 99th Squidoo lens, I have created a tribute to Hair the Musical. If I were living in or near New York, I am pretty sure I would go see it.

I would love to know your thoughts and memories of Hair, even if you are younger than the play. Did you see the play? Did you watch the movie? What have you heard of it? What do you remember of it? Would you like to see it? My guess is that 41 years later Hair still remains widely controversial.

How To Review Your Own Lens Development Progress

I found a cool tool today and I wonder if other people are aware of it? I was able to organize all my lenses by the creation date, from the very first lens I ever made until the most recent. Why was it cool? It allowed me to review my own Squidoo development progress. It allowed me to take a walk down my own Squidoo Memory Lane.

It will be two years this month since I started with Squidoo and I had forgotten which was the first, the second, tenth, twentieth lens. It was interesting to line them up and click on each and see how my lens making skills had changed. What tool allowed me to do this?

The tool I am talking about is found on Squidutils. Login and click on your Advanced Dashbord. At the top of your screen you will see "Sort" this allows you to sort your lenses by a variety of criteria including "created", or the date you created your lense. See the image below for a screen grab, the arrow indicates what you are supposed to click (if you click on the photo it will enlarge).

In case you don't know Squidutils, it is a very cool website given to us by TheFluffaNutta, a well known Giant Squid from the UK. Thanks very much Fluff. Perhaps everyone already knew about this except me? Are there any other easy ways to do this?

8,219 Unplanned Pregnancies Every Single Day

Birth Control. For many people it is a topic they prefer not to think about. Some find it uncomfortable or awkward. Others just ignore it all together. As a result every single day, in the US alone 8,219 women have an unplanned pregnancy! That number is just astounding.

Why is there such a large problem? One reason is that people are uninformed or unprepared. Another reason is that many women prefer to leave birth control up to the men. But many men are simply not up to the responsibility. If the man is not responsible, it is the woman who will suffer. It is her body and she will have to make the tough choices. Abortion? Keep the baby and change her life? An unplanned pregnancy will force a woman to make very difficult decisions. Like it or not, nature has determined that women must deal with the consequences for not using proper birth control.

Fortunately, women have more and more options for birth control. American Pregnancy Association offers an excellent review of all types of birth control, from abstinence to the pill.

In addition, there are more and more forms of birth control which women can control and which are easily available without a prescription. To simplify the subject, I have created a lens which reviews five female contraceptives including the female condom, the contraceptive sponge and several forms of spermicides which are available without prescription. I have reviewed each type including pros and cons.

When it comes to birth control, every woman owes it to herself to take control. This is not a problem that will go away if ignored. 8,219 women daily are forced to deal with the reality of an unplanned pregancy. If you are a woman of child bearing years, I urge you to review your choices. There maybe an option that you are not aware of. If you have a female relative of child bearing years, I urge you to bring this information to their attention.

There Aren't Enough Hours in the Day

I don't know about anyone else but I sometimes get overwhelmed. I absolutely love Squidoo and anyone who knows me is aware that my topics are wide ranged. I also belong to just about every social network known to man. I am a content writer who typically writes about 10,000 words a day (for another Marketing company). I'd like to make the most out of affiliate marketing and use Squidoo as a part of it as much as I can, but the things I love most just don't have many products. I even thought of starting my own products but then I'd have to think about the sales page and working on the website (such as for a clickbank product.)

Does anyone else feel like they are running a race against themselves? I work and get nowhere it seems! I get all of these brilliant ideas that I end up going nowhere with because I don't follow through or I get another brilliant idea. Things were so much simpler when I just wrote Squidoo lenses and that was it! Good times...good times.

Information overload is a problem we all face at one time or another. We almost have to spend so much time promoting ourselves that we lose sight of who we are and what we care about. We stop writing about what we love and start looking for things that will make us money. There has to be a happy medium. Instead of trying to work on 15 different projects I need to complete one to the end and then begin another. Does anyone else find themselves running ragged like this?

I miss Squidoo. I miss the community, the committment I used to have to writing and the creativity that was available. There just aren't enough hours in the day