Another Pay Day!

August 2012 royalties (paid out 10/12/2012)

• Total royalty-earning lenses on date: 5 lenses
• Total donated to charity: $0.00

                                                                                                  (BREAKDOWN)     

Lens Payments	Paid	Charity Ad Pool Text Link Ads	Total
Skip-It Toy: Childhood Memories	$0.51	$0.00      $0.39          $0.12	$0.51
How to Save on Major Appliances at Sears	$0.51	$0.00      $0.39          $0.12	$0.51
Dragons: Just a Myth or Real Creatures?	$0.51	$0.00      $0.39          $0.12	$0.51
My Top Three Baby Calming Products	$0.51	$0.00      $0.39          $0.12	$0.51
Top Ten Heroine Suspense Movies	$0.12	$0.00      $0.00          $0.12	$0.12
Subtotal	$2.17	$0.00      $1.56          $0.60	$2.17

Reserve Hopper & Other Account Payments	Total
Subtotal	$0.00

Less PayPal Cash Adjustment
Transaction fee	$-0.04

Grand total paid: $2.12

 

(Hmmm, Grand total matches, but the Subtotal should be $2.16)

 

 

First Pay Day!!!

WOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!

It isn't much, but my first pay day has finally come!  My charity lens hasn't made any money yet, the Discover My Mother Had Cancer article, so you won't see that for a while but I hope it will soon.  I also would like to create more lenses (articles) for charity down the road.  My pay out is at a dollar right now, so I will increase that as I make more.  I have been waiting for this milestone!  Feeling good today and got some good motivation from it all!!!

 

  ~ Cash Paid Via PayPal ~

July 2012 royalties (paid out 09/08/2012)

 

• Total royalty-earning lenses on date: 4 lenses
• Total donated to charity: $0.00

                                                                                                                            (BREAK DOWN)

Lens Payments	Paid	Chrty	TxtLnk AdPool Total
Family Vacation – Driving to Your Summer Destination	$0.47	$0.00	$0.11   $0.36      $0.47
Dragons: Just a Myth or Real Creatures?	$0.47	$0.00	$0.11   $0.36      $0.47
My Top Three Baby Calming Products	$0.47	$0.00	$0.11   $0.36      $0.47
Best Ways to Save Big on Large Appliances at Sears	$0.47	$0.00	$0.11   $0.36      $0.47
Subtotal	$1.88	$0.00	$0.44   $1.44      $1.88

Reserve Hopper & Other Account Payments	Total
Subtotal	$0.00

Less PayPal Cash Adjustment
Transaction fee	$-0.04				GRAND TOTAL: $1.84 PAID

A Lot of Quests and Challenges = Overload!!!

I don't think I have mentioned this before, but Squidoo will send out SquidQuests that allow you to increase your level and trophies...I think it is just a way of helping people get more involved in the community and makes the whole experience a little more fun, but there might be another reason I have yet to discover.  Anyway, these are done at random and there are two quests that I really would like to complete within the next week that each can give me 200 points if I complete the task well.  I also have my second RocketSquids challenge that we are to write a lens in which we ask a question.  With fourth of July today, closing on our home, packing and moving I just couldn't imagine writing so many lenses at the same time.  Thus, as I just wrote my Dragons Myth or Real Creatures lens that would fit this not too long ago, I decided to submit it for this week's RocketSquids challenge.  I fully understand that the point of joining this group is to create new lenses, but I did not want to miss this challenge or create a completely new lens right now with everything going on, especially as I already had one that I could submit.  The question is, will it be accepted?  I tried asking if there is a rule against it and the general answer seemed to be that it is frowned upon, but permitted.  I did revise my lens and republish it from the things I learned from my last RocketSquids challenge, which I think counts.  Just something I wanted to jot down quick for the night - to be continued...

UPDATE:  The article was not only accepted, but mentioned and number three on the list of articles submitted!  I didn't realize I had gotten featured until people started leaving me comments.  I still wonder how they decide to put that list in order on RocketSquids - maybe it is the order that they are received because I put that one in pretty early.  Here it is in all it's glory. lol:

Edit and Revise

Well, the last couple days I have just been editing and revising my lenses, which I'm sure I will periodically do throughout the future, as I learn new things. The main thing I've been working on is making sure that all my lenses have right around 20-30 tags. A tag is a word that people use to find your lens. It seems my ranking has gotten better since I've done this, but I have read on some lenses not to have more than that general number of tags. I've also been changing some of the words, as they were not quite as good as others I could have chosen. I also received a message from another lensmaster saying they could not read the fantasy font I had on my Dragons More Reality Than Myth lens.  I really appreciated the heads up on that!  I was worried that not everyone could see that font on their computer depending on the type of computer or web browser they are using.  Thus, I changed it to Times New roman, hoping that will correct the problem.  That is one change I would like to see happen on Squidoo; more ability to format the page and font.  Right now you can't change the font at all except using HTML and there are different themes for your page, but that is about it when it comes for format changes.  I wonder why it is so limited in that aspect?  I also spruced up the Save Big On Large Appliances At Sears page that I created for the upcoming 4th of July sales event that Sears has.  I finally added up all the purchases we made at Sears and found out we actually saved more than I thought, which was great to add to my lens!  I also have added a prediction module and will give credit on the lens to those who get the prediction correct.  I will be updating that at every major sales event that I mention in the article.  I found out about this module from the RocketSquids page and am very glad that I decided to join so far!  If you see anything that needs to be changed on any of my lenses it would be great if you could send me a message letting me know, as I probably don't catch everything.  It is still early, but happy upcoming Independence Day to you all and if you are shopping I hope you find some amazing deals!

PS:  Updated, edited, and reformatted my blog today, what do you think?

Learning More About HTML

“Look at what I can do!”

It may not be very exciting to some, as most people writing blogs probably know a lot more about HTML than I do, but I was very excited to find these tips given by another lensmaster: www.squidoo.com/basichtml! I tried some of these neat tricks on my lens www.squidoo.com/dragons-more-reality-than-myth, as well as on this blog entry as you can see, and it really made some things pop and added the color I was looking for. The formatting on lenses seems a little restrictive with certain subjects you may be writing about and I noticed other could change their fonts and add color, but I just didn't know how. I'm excited to use these on future lenses, I just have to make sure not to get too carried away! This is great for anything that you would use HTML for, not just blogs and Squidoo articles. This lensmaster has also written an advanced HTML article...

On a side note, I was invited to join RocketSquids! From the description I was sent, as well as looking at what others have said, this is a work at your own pace Squidoo boot camp. Only those that have less than 25 lenses published can join. Challenges are given throughout the week and you are taught new things as you go. I think this will be a great way to get more involved with the community, highlight some of my lenses, as well as allow me to get some good feed back on how I am doing. I haven't seen my lens rankings changing much and I really need those to get better if I am to make any money from this venture. I am still very new to all this though and have to remember all good things take time - or something like that.

You will notice that I am very casual on this blog and nontechnical, as I want it to be more of a journal rather than a thought out process - my unedited writings, if you will. I take a lot of pride, as well as put a lot of effort into, my writing on Squidoo. I want it to be my stay at home job, not just my hobby. It is fun and very enjoyable, but I also want my lenses to be informative and helpful. Well, wish me luck and I will keep you updated on what happens while being a member of RocketSquids, which I should be starting in about a week!

Dragons - Reality or Myth?

I just published a lens, in the wee hours of the morning, in which I looked into the possibilities of dragons actually existing. I did the most research and had the most content in this lens than any other, thus far. It took three days, several hours a day, to write the content and I started putting it on Squidoo at about 11pm and did not finish until 3am! I obsessed a little too much on this one probably. I tried a few new modules and kind of took a different formatting approach. In my lens, Dragons More Reality Than Myth, I wanted my readers to look at dragons in a different light and, if they aren't believers, to plant the seed of possibility. I personally love dragons and think they could be real. What fun is life if we can't keep an open mind and imagination? I also featured another lensmaster that had written a lens about free dragon clipart, which sure came in handy when I was putting my lens together. I cover dragons throughout history, the world, and here today. It still amazes me that practically every part of the world believes in a type of dragon! How can anyone explain that?!? I haven't heard of any other mythical creature or folklore that has been so widely spread amongst people, with the exception on Santa Clause, but that that is a lens for someone else to write, as the research on this lens took way longer than I want to spend on others. It is so much easier when you write about something you know well - that is almost part of who you are.