Coffee Required

November Writing Goals

coffeerequired — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 01:06:40 +0000

Hey, if they are public, I might work a little harder at them:

*Double the number of page views at my today.com blog

*Reach the 25 article mark at Suite101

*Finish a second draft of my children’s book

*Write 5 articles for BrightHub

*Make at least one sale at BellaOnline

I guess I am off to rest up before I start plucking away at these.

Vaccine Recommendations

coffeerequired — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 23:50:16 +0000

I can’t walk into a store this year without seeing signs for flu and pneumonia shots. I work part-time doing administrative work for flu shot clinics for senior citizens, and the most common questions I get are about how often people should get flu and pneumonia shots.

The confusion is understandable. Both vaccines have been around for decades, but the recommendations have changed a number of times. Vaccines are one of the foundations of public health. If you could avoid getting either of these illness, why wouldn’t you? I for one would rather get jabbed in the arm once than be stuck in bed sick for a week. For BellaOnline, I have written two articles containing information on both of these vaccines.

Flu Shot Recommendations

Pneumonia Shot Recommendations

If you are at all in doubt, talk to your physician.

Midweek Rant: iPod People

coffeerequired — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:40:16 +0000

Okay, I love my iPod as much as the next person. It is perfect for drowning out background noise on my bus rides and providing me entertainment on my long walks. However, should I run into a friend or need to have a conversation with a person, I have a habit of turning off my iPod and taking off my headphones.

Apparently, I am in the minority. The high school students I pass are often standing around in groups talking, each listening to their own iPod. How much listening can they really be doing if they are listening to music at the same time? These individuals never take their headphones off. Now, I understand the desire to have your life set to music, but a few people are taking this too far.

So please, enjoy your music when you are alone or in need of drowning out others, but if you are actually hanging out with people or having (gasp) a conversation, remove your headphones and enjoy the sound of your friends’ voices.

Product Reviews

coffeerequired — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:39:34 +0000

As I have graduated from the initial training phase of BellaOnline, I am starting to work on setting up some product reviews on the site. On Saturday, I proudly posted my first product review. Why proudly? I was able to recommend a product that I feel is really worth the time. Gaiam’s Covered Resistance Cord workout really is one of the best workouts I have ever had.

I was out looking for a workout video that I could do at home that would help me tone my muscles. I am trying to prepare for the coming months when I will be attending a reunion and getting married. I don’t have a lot of free time to get ready, drive to the gym, work out, and come home, so I was looking for something I could do in my living room whenever I had free time.

I happened across the Gaiam Covered Resistance Cord workout and was easily convinced to purchase it. The set came with the resistance cord and a DVD. The DVD has 3 different 20 minute workouts designed to tone your entire body. I got the product home and immediately tried it. I couldn’t even finish the first workout.

A few weeks later, I can do almost everything in the workouts and I am very pleased with the results that I have been getting. My upper body especially is really feeling all the hard work. I couldn’t be happier with my choice. For more information on this product, please see my review on BellaOnline.

Have a product you would like reviewed? I am looking for items to review for upcoming articles on both BellaOnline and Suite101. If you have or know of a product you think would be great please contact me at coffeerequiredwriter AT gmail DOT com or leave a comment.

Editor’s Choice Award!

coffeerequired — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:17:11 +0000

I just received an email that my latest article on Suite101 received an Editor’s Choice Award. So far, this is my 3rd such award. Whenever I receive one of these award, it makes me so happy. I like to think that it means that I am actually doing something right. Unlike some of the other writers at Suite101, my articles have not made me a ton or money nor do they get thousand of page views. I am being patient, but I also know that my chosen topic is not going to make me rich.

My past two Editor’s Choice Awards have been for articles that get practically no page views. In fact, I am lucky if they get one a day. It is actually kind of depressing to look at them and think “these are really good. Too bad no one reads them.” The newest one has only been up a week, but has done decently well.

If you are so inclined, please check out my Editor’s Choice Award winners:

Theories on the Origin of HIV

New Children’s HIV Toolkit

Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV

Demand Studios

coffeerequired — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:45:47 +0000

For the past few months I have been writing for a company called Demand Studios. Demand Media runs a bunch of websites that they need content for. Writers and film maker can apply to create this content. Initially, writers are approved to write for Ehow, but they can also be approved for sites like Livestrong and Trails. I enjoy writing for them because the work is steady and they always pay on time.

DS pays fifteen dollars an article for the ones I have been writing, which is more than I currently make anywhere else. Writers can either suggest topics they would like to write about or choose from a list of pre-approved topics. When I started, almost all my articles were chosen from their list, but lately I have been mostly suggesting my own. The ones I am suggesting are easy for me to write and greatly improve my hourly rate. If I manage to stay on-task, I can write three of them per hour.

As with any job, there are down sides. You can only claim a certain number of articles at a time and cannot get anymore until those have been approved. So far, this has not been a problem for me, since I have never been stuck waiting, but if I were to start devoting more time to this site it could be frustrating. The editors can be very slow to edit articles. Granted, DS has a huge number of writers producing large amount of work, but faster review times would be helpful. At times, the edits I am asked for are ridiculous, but most of the time they are useful criticism.

The best part is that they pay me every Friday. Some weeks I get a lot of money, some weeks it is a little. At least every week I know I am getting a check that has nothing to do with the number of people who view my page or click on an add.

My Brown Thumb

coffeerequired — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:27:06 +0000

I love looking at people’s beautiful gardens full of blooming flowers that are perfectly coordinated. I believe one of the reasons I love this so much is because I could never do it. Living things, aside from people and dogs, do not seem to last long around me. Sure, I would love to have multiple blooming plants scattered throughout my home, but sadly that will never happen. This conclusion was only reinforced when I discovered that I have killed my cactus. The only real plant in the house and I managed to kill it.

To put this in perspective. cacti are unusually suited to harsh environments. They shrink in order to conserve water and go weeks in the desert with no water at all. Heat, drought, and wind are among the things that will not kill a cactus. Living in my house is the one thing that will. Typically the problem with plants is that I forget to water them. Unlike dogs, plants do not whine or beg for water. This is unfortunate for them, because if they don’t whine, I won’t water them. This is exactly why I thought a cactus might do well.

So where did I go wrong? I tried overly hard to make sure to provide the cactus with enough water. Unfortunately, this is exactly what killed it. Too much water made the cactus grow too fast. It took over its entire pot and strangled itself.

So for now me and my brown thumb will leave the beautiful gardens to the experts and I will enjoy the fake flowers that adorn my windowsills. If anyone asks, they’re real.

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF

coffeerequired — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:47:08 +0000

When I was a kid, Halloween always meant trick-or-treating. I grew up in a cold climate, so our Halloween costumes always had to fit over snow suits. My mom would often drive my brother and I up and down the block to make sure we didn’t get too cold in between houses. I always came home with both a bag full of candy and a box full of change for UNICEF.

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF has been around since 1950 and has raised close to $20 million for children in need. This is a great program because it draws on when kids are already doing. Parents do not need to coax their kids into going out and fundraising: their kids already want to be out going door-to-door.

UNICEF is a wonderful program that has a long history of providing the basic necessities to children who might not otherwise receive them. Just a tiny donation can help make sure a child lives to see their 5th birthday. So please, this Halloween when you are filling your pillowcase with candy, remember those children who go without food and collect something for them.

Free Trick-or Treat for UNICEF boxes are available at Hallmark Stores and at UNICEF’s website. For more information, please see my Suite101 article about this fantastic program.

Why I Love Suite101

coffeerequired — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:13:33 +0000

Suite101 is an excellent site for both new and veteran freelance writers. This site allows you to hone your web writing skills while building a stream of revenue. The editors that I have worked with have all been fantastic and are friendly and supportive.

Suite101 has two different kinds of writers: feature writers and contributing writers. Contributing writers can write in any category on the website and are required to write 10 articles every three months. Once a contributing writer has 50 articles running on the site they get an increase in the amount they are paid per ad click. A contributing writer can apply to be a feature writer after they have ten articles on the site. The majority of these are usually in the topic they are applying for. Feature writers must write at least 14 articles every three month in their topic area. They are free to write more and to contribute to other areas as well.

The community at Suite101 is better than anywhere else I have written. The forums are always helpful and supportive. After only a few months I feel like I actually know some of these people. There is always someone with an answer to your questions. When I started, I went back and read many of the posts that had been up for a long time. I learned so much from all of the writers and they helped me find other ways to continue making money while writing.

Suite101 is not perfect. The editors do the best they can to get through articles in a timely fashion, but they are human and can get behind. There has recently been a lot of turnover at the home office that has led to some confusion and frustration from the writers. I would also warn that this is a long term investment. The money trickles in very slowly at first, but does pick up steam. I have been told that it really picks up once you reach 100 articles. Hopefully I will be able to report back on that in the not-to-distant future.

HIV in Zambia

coffeerequired — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:06:45 +0000

My newest article on Suite101 is on HIV in Zambia. I love doing the research for this kind of article. While the devastation HIV/AIDS has caused in sub-Saharan Africa, I also see so much hope in the work being done.

After spending a semester in South Africa, the whole continent has stolen my heart. The media tends to leave us with a view that everything in Africa has gone haywire and that there is very little hope. There is in fact more hope than anything else. Policies are adjusting and lots of amazing people are doing great work.