Blogging is something I enjoy, especially when I get to hear feedback from my readers.

But as a blogger, when you’re not sure what to write about, it makes sense to find out who your readers are.

First, let me remind you about who I am: mother, freelance business writer, business owner, blogger, wannabe computer geek, and social networker. I’ve been juggling and struggling with being the single mother of a now four-year-old girl while trying to have a successful freelance writing business. I’ve stopped my dream while working at part-time and full-time jobs, I’ve been a stay-at-home/work-at-home mother, and who knows what’ll happen next.

Now it’s your turn! In the comments, tell me a bit about who you are. Besides telling me who you are, let me know why you read my blog, how you found me, and how often you visit.

I’d like to get to know my readers so you know the other readers you’re talking with, and so I can get a better idea of what you might like to read when you visit Crayon Writer.

And if you’re a blogger or Twitterer too, feel free to leave a link to your blog and/or Twitter username. You might make a few friends while you’re here too!

So introduce yourself and talk amongst yourselves. And welcome (back)!

Yaro Starak and Gideon Shalwick sent me an urgent note to let you know they are very briefly opening up their powerful blogging coaching program again.

Why?

Well, they said that they got HEAPS of people that missed out because of the Independence Day Holiday in the United States last week.

And they wanted to give us another opportunity to join their amazing program, along with all the other 420 students who’ve already signed up this time round.

If you missed out last week for whatever reason, this is your chance to get in.

They’re opening doors on Tuesday, July 7th at 2pm EST Daylight Savings Time, and they said they’ll shut the doors again 24 hrs after that.

Here is the page where you can sign up:

Become A Blogger

Let me know if you sign up! Enjoy!

Thanks to Twitter, I’ve been reading a ton of wonderful articles these days. Now I want to share some with you in this Monday Minute. And if you haven’t joined Twitter yet, you really should. And you can start by following Crayon Writer.

Without further ado:

1. While you wait for tomorrow’s announcement, learn a bit about how to make a banging blog with 10 Ways to Launch a  New Blog with a ‘Bang’
2. You can price your services using 2 of the 3: fast, cheap, or good.
3. Interested in magazine writing? Here’s a short video with some great advice on writing for magazines.
4. We all get stuck from time to time. This article talks about the most powerful way to get unstuck.
5. Finally, one of my favorites. As a web writer, it’s key to know how to write effective web content.

I hope you enjoyed this Monday Minute! Let us know what you found useful.

Blogging hasn’t died, as many predicted it would have by now. People are still starting new blogs, and some of us maintain our old ones. Blogging still makes money for people and companies, and it’s still a fun way to self-publish.

I just received an email from a reader of mine who said she’s been sitting on the blogging fence for some time now. I asked her, “What are you waiting for?” I also recently setup a blog/website for a relative of mine who needed to have an online presence for an upcoming play (if you’re in the D.C. area, check out TalesByOne).

So no, blogging is alive and well.

But what are you going to do about it?

If I had a little extra money, I’d sign up for a course on becoming a blogger. Why, when there’s tons of information online about how to start and run a blog already? Time is the simple answer. It takes time to research it all, and you’re bound to make some avoidable mistakes.

An online course can help you get your blog started physically, and then help you run and grow it successfully. The research will have already been done for you, so all you have to do is pay attention and follow through.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.  pacific I’ll be announcing a program that will help you start your own blog from scratch.

A few days ago I decided to upgrade Crayon Writer to WordPress 2.8. No problem, right?

Well something went drastically wrong, and in an attempt to “fix” things, I lost my entire blog! Every post, every comment, every page. Two years’ worth of blogging were gone in a flash.

Amazingly, I didn’t panic. A blog is nothing in the larger scheme of things (Michael Jackson died the day before I lost the blog, and my little corner of the blogosphere pales in comparison to the death of such a wonderful human being). But it still hurt to lose it.

Luckily I had done a backup before the installation using my host’s (AN Hosting) backup wizard on the Cpanel. Not that I knew what I was doing. I still needed a ton of help from them to do a recovery.

Just in case that didn’t work, I found out that my mother keeps every post I write (she’s subscribed to my blog…are you?) so I could’ve re-written my whole blog if necessary.

As you can see, things are back up. I lost some plugins and a recent post (which I just re-posted), and I lost my entire theme (it was time for a new one anyway…what do you think of the new theme?) But it was a harrowing and eye-opening experience.

My plan now is to learn how to do a backup to my own computer or a disk, and then I’ll learn how to recover said backup. And I’ll try to keep my hands out of the Cpanel (or at least not click anything that has a pop-up that says, “Warning”). And I will not click anything that says, “Remove” or “Delete” unless I know for sure what’s really going to happen.

What’s the best method to backup a blog, though? In my case, the Cpanel saved the MySql database, but I had no clue how to use that for a recovery. I’ve heard of a WordPress Plugin for backing up, but I’ve also read suggestions that you should do your own backups with an FTP client. Then you can setup a domain that’s just for testing your recovery skills. I’ll admit, though, that I’m a little confused about the whole thing.

Do you backup your blog? How often, and what method do you use? Do you know how to do a recovery, or will your web host help you out?

Internet security is getting so complex that we have to remember a zillion different passwords…or risk using just one and having it stolen.

It’s not a huge deal if the websites you frequent allow you to click on the “forgot password” link, and then they just email you a new one. But it can get quite annoying, especially if your main computer goes down (and you, therefore, have limited access to your email (and just hope you didn’t forget your email’s password too)).

Recently I had to call my hosting company to get a lost password, but I didn’t remember the email address I’d used to sign up! It was a mess, but I finally got it.

So what’s a frequent computer-user to do?

I just read an article that suggested having a base password that you use most places, and then using some form of the place you’re visiting in the password. For instance, if your base password is your street name, and you’re making a password for your Ebay site, you might use “MainEbay”.

Another site suggests using a computer program (which probably requires another password…aack!) I’ve tried making a list of all my sites, as I go to them, and writing down my usernames and passwords for each. But if I were really paranoid, I would only write clues about the passwords, just in case a password thief breaks into my home.

What do you do to keep track of your 101 passwords (and the associated usernames)? Or do you just throw caution to the wind and use the same one whenever you can?

Blogging often and well requires a bit of blogging inspiration. But is it wise to wait until that next “big idea” hits you? This has been my problem lately, so that even when I have time to blog, I just can’t think of what to write.

But there is help for blogger’s block! Here are 6 ways to getting something written on the page (in no particular order).

1. Open the posting page, or whatever program you use to write your blog.

2. Start writing something. Anything!

3. Look at some old posts from your stash of feeds (you do subscribe to others’ blogs, right?)

4. Go to your Twitter or Facebook pages and read what your followers/friends talked about recently.

5. Read your own past posts. You can recycle old posts, perhaps putting a new spin on them, or even re-analyzing what you thought in the past.

6. Open your favorite stock photo source and glance at a few pics. Sometimes a pic will give you an idea about what to write.

7. Now that you’ve written something, go back and check it over for errors. And make sure it actually makes sense.

And that’s it! Don’t spend too much time researching, thinking, or agonizing over what to write. That’s why it’s important to at least get that writing window open.

How do you find inspiration to write new blog posts?

I joined Twitter a while back, but I didn’t really “get” it until recently. I just got a new job (the PERFECT job, I think), that will use my multi talents. I’ll be doing business writing, Tweets, Facebook, blogging, and more!

Being the diligent new employee, I quickly did a crash course on Twitter this weekend, and boy! There’s a lot to learn!

What’s amazing is how involved Twitter can get. I’ve subscribed to a great blog about it (ProBlogger’s TwiTips), and I’ve started following some of the top Twitterers.There’s so much to learn and read, and it’s all shared by fellow Twitterers.

So have you joined Twitter yet? Follow me @crayonwriter and be sure to let me know in the comments below that you’ve started following me. Twitter will be my microblog, so enjoy and join in the conversation(s)!

Crayon Writer is officially two years old! Happy Anniversary, Crayon Writer!

Though I haven’t been writing as often as I used to, I’m proud to have made it to the 2-year mark. Now it’s time to reexamine my goals, both for this blog and my life and hopefully that will help me keep Crayon Writer going for another year.

When I first started this adventure, I just wanted a place to talk about my life as a work-at-home single mother. But as my daughter grows and changes, I’m finding that I do too. Working from home is still my goal, but it may not be a reality in the near future.

My daughter’s already been going to preschool, and kindergarten is right around the corner. She’s turning into a lovely, independent child, who often prefers to “go somewhere,” preferably without Mommy hanging around. On the other hand, I’m still not keen on sending her to school for 10 hours a day, so I have to have some type of home-based work (along with a part-time job).

So join us in our next adventure(s)! This year, with my daughter as a 4-year-old, things are going to be exciting. There’ll be adventures in babysitting, possibly a move to a new state, interesting jobs, and definitely some freelance copywriting gigs.

Thanks for being part of our lives these past couple of years!

I’m going to break one of the long-standing “rules” of blogging. But it’s no problem, especially since the blogosphere is ever-changing.

One of the first things I learned was to never explain why you were away so long. Well, I’ve had some loyal readers who might actually want an explanation…at least, I’d want to know what happened if I were in your shoes.

When my blog was regularly updated, I had loads of time on my hands. But then I started working an 8-5 job (sometimes I worked 7 days a week), and I had to prioritize. As a single mother, when I got home at 5:30 or 6:00, my only priorty was spending quality time with my daughter. When she went to bed, it became wind down time and/or get all my household chores done before I crashed.

So there you have it! My first blogging rule disobeyed. Hope you didn’t mind too much.

Hopefully, with the help of that huge post-it note, I’ll find a way to get back to blogging. While you’re waiting, feel free to go back and read some earlier posts. I’ll be doing the same, hoping to get inspired once again.