The Write Words

Suite 101 has Deleted Close to 50,000 Articles

2012-01-29T21:15:00.009+11:00

I checked the Suite 101 site today and saw a post from early January about how Suite had deleted almost 50,000 articles. Close to 40 of my articles were deleted, leaving 206 of mine still on the site. The reasons for Suite deleting articles were: " not a reflection on your qualities as a writer, but one of two things: our increased attention to our acceptance criteria; our selection process here getting it wrong."

The post went on to say: "One of the biggest problems we’ve faced over the past few years has been the influx of material that doesn’t fit the bill for our audiences - and we have looked at a wide range of indicators to detect such material.

We’ve been primarily looking for articles that fit this criteria:
•Severely keyword stuffed articles
•Spammy affiliate- marketing pieces
•Un-original articles (published elsewhere before being published with us)
•Articles that have received a significant number of complaints from visitors
•Articles that have been the focus or base of persistent click-fraud."

I had a look at the list of articles of mine that were deleted. Now I'm sure that it wasn't due to keyword stuffing, as I was pretty crap and finding decent keywords anyway. It definitely wasn't due to them being spammy or due to click fraud. I rarely got any page views or revenue, lol, and I doubt anything I wrote would be cause for complaint. And I didn't publish them elsewhere, though I may have done some similar pet articles on Bright Hub, though I can't remember and they are all gone now anyway since BH closed their pet channels. So I'm not really sure, but they were obviously not making the cut of Suite's new criteria.

It doesn't really worry me as I haven't been interested in writing articles for a long time, but it did make me wonder if one day all of my articles would eventually be purged. It also made me think about those deleted BH articles again. A few posts ago I wondered whether I should put them on Suite or another site, but then decided that I didn't want to do any more 'work' on them. So today I decided I'd put one of them up on Suite and see what happens. If the editor comes back and asks me to make lots of changes, I'll just take it down. If I don't need to make any changes (or only minimal ones), I might put a few more up there.

Then again, part of me wonders if I should just forget about all that and delete my articles, and chalk it up to experience. Sweep it under the rug like a dirty secret and write my fiction. I sometimes wonder if I ever did have a story or book published, would I be embarrassed about these articles? Like an actor that did a porn film to break into the industry and pay the bills??? Lol

(Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/5969999321/)

Wasting Time When I Should Write

2011-12-26T18:39:00.005+11:00

Immediately after my last post, I started looking up other writing websites with the idea that I would put my articles that were deleted from Bright Hub elsewhere. I spent (wasted) and hour and a half of my time doing this, and then went to bed annoyed with myself for wasting time. I considered putting them on Suite 101, and perhaps I still might do that one day, but even for Suite I would have to change them slightly. So I'm kind of frustrated and I wish I could just let it go and focus on my novel.

It's been almost a month since I have written any more of it and I need to get back to it. The story is far from finished. I am estimating that it will be around 100,000 words, so I'm only half way. I am starting to lose touch with my story and the characters I have grown to like very much. It's unlikely that I will write everyday, given that when I work at the vet clinic they are generally long and tiring shifts, but I can write for a few hours perhaps three or four days a week. The other thing that stands in my way is my gaming. After not playing for a month I have spent a lot of my free time this December making up for lost time. But if I organise my time well, I can do both, and that will make me happy.

Bright Hub Pet Channels - Kaput

2011-12-17T00:13:00.001+11:00

So I have finally checked my writing related emails and some more recent post-panda changes at Bright Hub have included the closing of certain channels and the elimination of internal positions and most of their writers. They mean to focus on topics such as Business, Technology and Education, and will be contracting on an ad hoc basis with a small group of writers and editors. So they have returned my pet related articles (and copyright) to me, so that I can use them elsewhere. If I would like to be considered for future contract work I'm supposed to send them an email, but I guess I haven't been interested in it for a while now.

My gaming articles are still there, and I'm not sure if and when BH will remove them, but the email mentioned that the last revenue share payment writers will receive will be on the 15th of December. So anyway, I suppose I need to consider if I want to put those pet articles somewhere else. I've been paid for them already, but the chance to make a few extra dollars sounds good. Although, will it be worth my time to put them somewhere else, knowing Suites revenue dropped heaps? I might put them on Orato perhaps; then again, I don't really want to spend a lot of time making changes and stuff, if the Orato editors are particular.

I will have to think about it. I can't say I am disappointed, because my zest for article writing left me a long time ago. I had originally joined BH to do gaming articles, but there were rarely articles to claim and articles I pitched weren't always accepted. They already had a lot of writers in that section, who seemed to snap up all the articles, usually several about the same game. That's fair enough *shrugs*.

As I say, I'm not too disappointed, as I want to focus on my fiction anyway. Speaking of which, I haven't continued with my NaNoWriMo novel since November ended, aside from putting on the occasional note about a scene in my IPhone. I must get back to it, I feel the characters are fading from my memory *sobs*. I have the usual excuses, work, Christmas shopping and social events, but truthfully, I have been gaming like crazy. Well, I hardly played at all in November and I missed it, lol. But I'll get myself organised again, perhaps after I decide what to do with those BH articles.

NaNoWriMo 2001 Winner!

2011-12-04T21:30:00.002+11:00

Well, it was touch and go for a while but I made it. 51,407 words! I'm so happy with myself. I had a rough month. Early in November my husband and I went away for a week. I wrote on a few days but I couldn't write too much without being antisocial, though I did write in the car while we were driving home. (Very bumpy and a lot of spelling mistakes). Later in the month I had a bit of a person drama which threw a spanner in the works, as they say. Because of this drama, I told myself that if I didn't finish NaNoWriMo this year, then that would be fine. Half way through the month I only had about 9,000 words. By the 22nd November (about 5 days after the drama), I had just under 12,000.

But I changed my mind. I'm such a wank that I couldn't not finish. Fortunately, because I only work part time at the vet clinic, I had three weekdays off in a row. This was my saviour, because every weekend was full of social engagements. I mean Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays. Phew. But I did a few massive days where I wrote 7 or 8,000 words and I thought 'Shit, I just might make it.' By the 27th I only had about 5,600 words to go and I'm like 'Hell yeah, I'm gonna make it!'

And I did and I'm so proud of myself. The story is far from finished though, and it's in quite a random order. To make sure to get big word count days, I'd stop writing the boring bits and skip to the parts I wanted to write. Like certain characters who I thought were cool, or certain scenes. So I'd make a note like 'This chapter to go after the such and such', and things like that. So I have a lot of work to do, but I'm happy with the effort so far. I'm taking a few days break, but not too long because I want the story and characters to remain fresh in my mind. It doesn't stray too far as yet. I went to lunch with my mum-in-law the day after NaNo had finished, and while we were waiting at the table for our order to arrive, she noticed I was absent-mindedly tapping my fingers on the table while I talked, as though I was tapping away at a keyboard. I think that's quite funny.

Anyway, if I wait a month before I continue with the story, then it'll be hard to get back into the swing of things. Not that I will be able to keep up that pace, but I'd like to remain consistent and 'on top of it'. But a rest is in order. Interestingly, I only actually wrote on 15 days of November. Granted, I did stay up into the wee hours of the morning on several occasions, but it made me wonder if I could aim for a higher word count next year. But then again, it was pretty brutal. No sleep, no gaming. Plus my husband said I was being boring. Pffft. But it took a toll on the body too. My back was stiff, my neck was sore and my thumb hurt. Just the one thumb. I seem to sort of hold it in the air out of the way when I type. *shrugs*. Don't know why, I just do.

So anyway, I guess I am all excited about the fiction writing again which is good. I even have a crush on a couple of my characters. Lol.

NaNoWriMo Begins Tomorrow

2011-10-31T11:20:00.002+11:00

With less than a day to go until the beginning of NaNoWriMo I am frantically reading No Plot? No Problem by Chris Baty because I don’t have a plot and I am hoping it wont be a problem. Baty’s advice is to not do too much planning before NaNoWriMo because if you do, you may get attached to parts of the story (characters, ideas, the epic world you have created), and not write with ‘literary abandon’. Given that we only have 30 days, the aim is not to get bogged down with ‘pre-writing’ ideas and just write like a crazy person, with the focus on quantity rather than quality.

Wrimo’s know this and given that I have only done NaNo once before, I am hoping that the No Plot will work for me. In 2009 when I did NaNo, I didn’t do a great deal of planning but I sort of had the plot and a couple of the main characters worked out and I didn’t stray much from the plot line, until the end and then I wasn’t really happy with the end and to be truthful, I wasn’t happy with the novel at all. When I edited it a few months later, I chopped out close to 10,000 words and I’m still not happy. I also wrote a genre out of my comfort zone, a sort of drama/historical fiction, (with not a lot of historical information in it).

This year I am going to write a fantasy novel and I have a brief idea of a couple of characters and the way the story will begin, but no idea where it will go from there. Hopefully this will work in my favor. I am feeling anxious about the fact that I haven’t done any research/work into the ‘world’ bar a very basic scribbled map with 3 towns on it, but in No Plot? No Problem, Baty tells the story of a fellow WriMo who put a lot of effort into creating her world, including customs, culture, religions, clothing and weaponry, only to have it fall apart during NaNo because she wasn’t happy with anything she wrote.

So my lack of preparation is supposed to be a benefit according to Baty. We shall see. I am feeling very anxious and a little excited about starting, and I guess only time will tell if this method works for me.

Kindle Keyboard

2011-10-20T00:27:00.004+11:00

Ah the Kindle. It's been around for quite a while and I was adamant I didn't want one. Here's what I wrote in a blog post in May 2010:

"Now I personally don’t have, nor do I want a kindle. A nice idea I suppose in theory, to be able to carry around this one small thing that stores many, many books on it, but I like to see my bookshelf full of books, and I like the feel of a book in my hand. It’s very satisfying, the slight bendiness of a paperback, the hard firm cover of a....well, a hard cover, new books smell good, and I like the sound and feel of the pages as I turn them. You just can’t get the same experience from a Kindle"

I still agree with the part about preferring an actual book, curling up in bed with a Kindle doesn't seem as much fun, though it would be easier than curling up with a large hard cover. But recently, I have begun to see the pros to the Kindle. It's lightweight and I can take it on holidays with me and thus have several books at my fingertips, instead of trying to decide on which books to take and weighing my bag down with said books.

Sometimes at the vet clinic due to how busy it is, I get stuck having lunch by myself and I always wish I had brought a book with me. Carrying the kindle in my bag would solve that problem.

I will also be reviewing an ARC for a Suite author and if I continue to review books, it would probably be easier to transfer the pdf files to a Kindle than read them on my laptop or PC. So anyway, I have ordered a Kindle which is to be a birthday/xmas present. He he, what a turncloak I am.

The Kindle is that way of the future, and I can no longer deny it. There are so many writers on the Suite forums that have published eBooks and I wonder if eventually I'll do the same. Anyway, while the Kindle wont totally replace my lovely real life books and bursting bookcase, I can certainly see it being a useful eReader and I must say I can't wait until my new toy arrives!

(Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wjkiem/60309876/)

The Importance of Describing Food in Books

2011-10-16T10:02:00.004+11:00

I had been thinking about what I could write for Blog Action Day that was related to their topic of Food, but still have it be a post relevant of this blog, which is of course about writing.

So I was toying with the idea of Famous ‘Writers and their Favorite Foods’, but having done a bit of a Google search, I realised I didn’t care what these long dead writers ate. Then I thought it might be cool to write about what normal people/writers like myself snacked on while they write. I could post on Suite 101 and NaNoWriMo Forums and ask people what they munch on.

But then I decided that I didn’t really have much time and I would get perhaps 10 or 20 responses and maybe it wasn’t so interesting after all. By the way I often snack on Arnott’s shapes in the middle of the night when I am writing. But not always. Is that interesting? Not so much.

But eventually my thought processes lead me to the subject of Food in Books. Describing food in books is like describing the house, the town, the clothes, the people; it helps with immersion. Particularly fantasy novels where the foods mimic ‘olden-day’ foods. You know what I mean. The character doesn’t grab a burger and fries, he eats crusty bread, with hard cheese and washes it down with sweet wine or ale. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted crusty bread and cheese when I am reading one of these scenes. And it doesn’t stop there. The really good authors will describe the food so well; it’s like a character itself. Let me give you some examples.

The food described in George R.R Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire sound sometimes disgusting, but always interesting, such as lamprey pie and honeyed locusts (ewwww), or something I’d love to try; Arbor wine and then to help with the hangover, some milk of the poppy should do nicely. Martin used a lot of medieval history books in his research so it’s safe to assume that some of these foods were similar to those eaten during those times.

I remember an episode of the TV series Supersizers Go … Medieval (I’m pretty sure it was that episode), where Giles and Sue partake in large wheel of cheese covered in maggots, a delicacy of course. Very gross.

Anyway, Martin describes meagre fair that lesser people must eat as well as the lavish wedding feasts of kings and queens. In some parts of the world, they eat dog, rat and horse meat, in other parts, meat that seems more normal to me such as sheep and fowl. In any case, the food is varied depending on the culture of the people, and so descriptive and awesome is it, that there is a blog dedicated to cooking the foods called The Inn at the Crossroads.

(Image source: http://innatthecrossroads.com/)

Another book I read a few years ago called The Left Hand of God, was good but not nearly as good as A Song of Ice and Fire series, it did have a did have a memorable food scene in it which I’d like to share with you. Cale lives with a bunch of other boys in the Sanctuary of the Redeemers, a horrible place where they must suffer the harsh regime of the Redeemers as well as their cruel punishments and crappy food. One day Cale and his mates are sneaking around the sanctuary and stumble upon the kitchen…..

“Absolutely still, absolutely silent, the three boys continued to stare down into the kitchen, for that was what it was. Every surface was covered in plates of food: there was roast chicken with its crispy skin rubbed in salt and ground pepper, beef in thick slices, pork with crackling so crisp to bite it would make the sound of a dry stick being broken. There was bread, thick sliced with the crust so dark it was almost black in places, there were plates piled high with onions tinged with purple, and rice with fruits, fat raisins and apples. And there were puddings: meringues like mountains, custards of a deep yellow and bowls of clotted cream.” - excerpt from Paul Hoffman’s ‘The left Hand of God’

The boys basically began carefully scavenging food by placing morsels in hidden pockets of their cloaks, and only taking small portions then rearranging the plate so it didn’t seem like any food had been taken. Having previously read of these boys hunger and desperation, my mouth watered when I read this part and I could imagine how hard it would be to not dive head first into the food, and how disappointed they would have been that they couldn’t carry more.

Hofffman then goes on to compare this lavish feast to the food that the boys were accustomed to such as “giblets and feet and brains boiled together and minced into offal tubes”. Later when Cale ate a custard- topped biscuit, his pleasure was short lived as he began to feel sick and had to resist the urge to vomit.

Most of the fantasy author’s I have read write about food at least a bit. Hoffman didn’t write about it a lot, just enough for my mouth to water as though I was one of the poor half-starved boys of his novel. Describing food so well is almost crucial to getting the reader to really be a part of the world, whether it’s nice food or yucky food. It’s something I didn’t realise was so important to me until I started this post, and it’s something I’ll have to bear in mind when I am writing.

I’ve spoken mostly of fantasy novels and I suppose one could argue that describing food in novels set in modern day times is less important, but I’d disagree. If I am reading a book set in the US or China, I need to know what the characters are eating because we don’t have cheese fries or scorpions on a stick here in Australia *grins*.

(Image source: From the You Tube clip of An Idiot Abroad - China)

Blog Action Day 2011

2011-10-14T12:59:00.002+11:00

Attention fellow bloggers! October 16th is Blog Action Day, where bloggers from all over the world blog about a particular topic. This year's topic is FOOD because it coincides with World Food Day. Bloggers can register here and then on October 16th, simply write a post about food with the tag #BAD11.

Suggested topics listed on the B.A.D. website include hunger & famine, vegan, vegetarians or meat eaters, fair trade foods, favorite foods, strangest foods you've ever eaten, what food means in your culture etc. So you can be political and passionate and make a stand about something you feel strongly about, or write something a bit more fun and food related.

I'll most likely do the latter and try to somehow make it relevant to my blog. *ponders*.
Or I'll just write about how great fairy floss is *grins*

NaNoWriMo 2011

2011-10-12T00:56:00.001+11:00

For the last few days I have been wondering if I would do the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), this year. I did it in 2009 and wrote over 50,000 words, but I really wasn’t happy with the story and when I edited it in March 2010, I chopped out almost 10,000 words of crap, and now this mini-novella sits in my cupboard gathering dust.

Last year I decided not to do NaNoWriMo because November is a particularly busy time for me socially. I was also planning a wedding which added extra stress and overall busy-ness, plus the pressure of meeting my article quotas for the month and doing shifts at the vet clinic.

Well the social situation is much the same, though I am doing fewer shifts at work than I signed up for last year. The other thing is that my husband and I have planned to take some time off and visit his relatives. I really forgot about NaNoWriMo when I made plans for November, but I figure that since I am not writing articles anymore, I’ll be able to manage NaNoWriMo.

The only problem is that I have no story idea. Nothing. And I will have to take my laptop away with me and write; otherwise I will never make the word count. Antisocial? Perhaps, but not if I write when the relatives are sleeping *grins*

I really haven’t been writing much lately and I think NaNoWriMo might get me back into the swing of things. Even if I spend a month writing crap (which I’m pretty sure I will, LOL), at least I’ll be writing fiction again.

Wikio Experts Migrates to Overblog

2011-10-09T23:00:00.001+11:00

Recently Wikio Experts has closed down (it was in beta) and has given all of its writers the chance to move their articles to Overblog. To continue to write and receive revenue, writers need to move their articles to what is essentially a personal blog, on the Overblog site. Only revenue sharing articles can be moved to Overblog, not the upfront payment ones, as Overblog will be rev share only.

I've decided not to bother to move my few articles to Overblog, for a couple of reasons.
* I have stopped writing articles so I have no desire to continue writing for them.
* I didn't make any revenue apart from a few cents.
* I was really unhappy with the editing/formatting and thought some of the articles looked pretty tacky (and therefore embarrassing).
* I already have a blog and I doubt the Overblog will bring in much revenue anyway.

Anyway, just thought I would mention it to anyone that was considering writing for Wikio/Overblog or is currently writing for them but was unaware of the changes. Here's the Migration to Overblog FAQs.

Suite 101 Update

2011-10-01T23:21:00.003+10:00

Oh, and I thought I'd let you know that I officially resigned from the Topic Editor and Feature Writer positions. I only ended up editing those two articles, of which one was a complete nightmare and piece of crap, and I haven't written a mammals article since the end of June. So someone else who is all passionate and excited about it can have a go and I'll focus on reading, writing fiction, gaming and enjoying life *grins*

A Few Changes to My Blog

2011-09-28T21:54:00.001+10:00

Since I am no longer writing articles, I decided my blog needed a little upgrade. I have removed the article widgets as well as the article progress bars. I haven’t been writing much lately because I have been working lots and my down time has been spent reading and playing RIFT.

Revenue from Suite & Bright Hub continues to be minimal, so at this stage I have no regrets about not writing any articles. Will I feel different in the future? *shrugs* Doubtful, unless the revenue suddenly increases. I think I’m happy to keep working on my fiction. I mean, when I was 12 years old and decided I wanted to be an author or an animal technician, I wasn’t thinking, “I want to write online articles”. Ok, well, there was no internet when I was 12, but you get my point. I wanted to write fantasy novels, not articles. Now I’ve been an animal technician and a veterinary nurse, so I still have to work on the novel :)

Wikio Experts

2011-08-31T13:25:00.000+10:00

So I haven't written any articles in almost two months. It didn't feel that long really. Probably because I was dealing with that Topic Editor crap. Anyway, I'm not talking about that in this post. Though I'm not writing articles anymore, I wanted to tell you a bit about Wikio Experts in case you wanted to give them a go.

I heard about them from the Suite forums and thought I'd check them out. They are easy to write for in that the article word count is 350 - 450 words; they provide you with keywords to use and a choice of templates depending on the type of article you are writing. There are a bunch of categories to choose from, however, you need to write a sample article for each section you want to write for. Once you are accepted you can reserve articles under those topics.

They have 3 types of payments, depending on the article.
$2.50 euros, plus up to $15 in revenue share for 1 year.
$5 euro articles upfront payment
$8 euro articles upfront payment, which you can only reserve when you are expert in that particular topic (sub-category). To become an expert you need to have written 10 articles for the sub-category.

It took 45 days to get my payment for the articles I had written in June, and at the time writers had to have earned $50 euros. Now the FAQ's say they only need to make $10 euros and payment is monthly.

As I said the articles were pretty easy and not too time consuming. The editing is only so-so. Well, it's more the formatting that is lacking, but for $5 euros, how much can I really care? I'm over putting in lots of effort for measly amounts of $$. You can also now become a premium or platinum expert in a category, but as I haven't logged in since July, I don't know much about that.

So would I recommend writing for Wikio? No more or no less than writing for Suite or BH, but bear in mind that I am disenchanted at the moment. There has also been less and less of the upfront payment articles in the sections I had written in and I had heard complaints in the forums about that occurring in other sections as well.

When I started writing articles I was hopeful and excited and I enjoyed it. Then it was a matter of churning out articles and it became tedious, and I can't really say that I'm proud of my work anymore. I said to a friend once that if I ever had a book published (fiction), I would probably be embarrassed by these articles. She replied that I have to eat and shouldn't feel bad. But I'm starving now.

So I hope this information is helpful. Now I'm off to work to pat cute puppies and kittens *grins*.

I'm Sick of Writing Articles

2011-08-04T18:47:00.003+10:00

I've been stressing myself out lately with this whole article writing business. With all the changes that have been made with Bright Hub and Suite 101, there's an increasing amount of work to be done and less money to be gained. It's really frustrating and I'm sad to say, I don't think I can be bothered anymore. Well, perhaps sad isn't the word, but I don't write for Constant Content anymore and I've barely written for BH or Suite in the last few months either. I've been doing extra vet nurse shifts and I think to myself "Tomorrow I'll write an article", but when the morrow comes, I sleep in then spend the afternoon reading or watching TV and feeling guilty that I didn't write. This cycle is on repeat.

I'm not getting out of this rut and I have to say, that at the moment at least, writing articles is no longer fun. I make more $ for 1 hours work at the clinic than I do for any article I write and they take me longer than an hour to write. (Perhaps with the exception of Wikio articles, which I'll tell you about another time). So I ask myself "What do I want?" What I really want is to write fiction, but I don't do that because I think I should be writing articles. *Sigh*. I am quite bummed out about this and I know it's serious because I haven't even played RIFT in about 3 weeks!

So what to do? Do I give up on the article writing and write fiction in my spare time? I considered just doing the minimum for Suite and BH but lately I can't even be bothered doing that. I'm reluctant to quit the sites in case I change my mind and than lose my feature writer bonus at Suite or be forced to re-apply at BH. Perhaps I just need a break? I thought if I took on the Topic Editor position that it might give me a pep, but that has been a bit of a pain and the 'real editor' for the section has left so I don't have that support.

I just don't feel free anymore. I'm off to ponder some more.....

Mammals' Topic Editor

2011-07-26T21:12:00.001+10:00

So I accepted the Mammals' Topic Editor position and spent many hours featuring articles to make the mammals topic pages look pretty. It took so long because some of the articles I featured had photos that were too small, but I could only see this once I had featured the articles. With the articles that had writers that still write for Suite, I sent a note asking them to re-size the images. Some other articles I was going to feature were a bit too old and the writers no longer write for Suite. Some writers responded straight away, the others I'll give a bit of time to fix their photos, otherwise I guess I'll have to change them.

As for editing articles, I have only had 2 so far. One was easy with only a minor thing to change, but aside from that, a good article. The other has been a headache. It's very biased, preachy and fails to follow Suites guidelines. The writer doesn't offer an objective point of view, references or examples of contradicting opinions, as well as other smaller errors. I disabled it and asked to writer to make the changes and she simply put it back on line. I spoke to the 'real editor' about this for advice on this as well. I was hoping she would take it off my hands as this is way more work than my 'pack-of- gum fee' (see previous post). She offered good advice but didn't take it off my hands so I disabled it again and once again asked the writer to make the changes. *sigh* It's been a real pain.

Topic Editors at Suite 101

2011-07-16T19:45:00.000+10:00

Another recent change to Suite 101 (since the Panda saga) is the addition of Topic Editors. Where both feature writers and contributing writers can apply for a topic editor position. Suite has ‘downsized’ their editorial team and introduced the TE to help the remaining editors with the workload. Topic editors will be required to:

· Fix minor spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
· Remove articles that are unreadable, inaccurate of violate Suite’s guidelines
· Nominate bad writers for removal from the site
· Provide feedback to writers to help fix problems with their articles

The said benefits of this for TE’s are:

· The ability to oversee articles on the topic homepage
· The define and tone the progress of the topic
· Edit articles in the topic
· Advise writers regarding articles in said topic
· Ability to send a writer to the ‘real’ editors for review
· Help create topic promotions etc
· Option to feed their blog to Suite’s blog and topic homepage
· Ability to contribute to Suite’s blog
· Will receive a nominal fee (ie: a teeny tiny amount of money) for each article edited
· Have prominence on topic homepage
· Get revenue share from topic homepage receive

Is it just me, or do most of the things on the ‘benefits’ list sound like more work? I am unsure as to what I want to do here. On the one hand, it seems like the only way to stay ‘attached’ to a topic. What I mean is, I can stay a feature writer, but I wont be the mammals feature writer. Well, I sort of will be, but it won’t say so under my name. The feature writers are listed as feature writers only now, and you can’t tell which section they are FW for anymore.

The nominal fee is basically nothing. I have chosen not to say what it is as I signed a contract saying I’m not to disclose Suite earnings, so I wont. But lets just say, you might be able to buy some gum with it. Depending on what gum costs in the country where you live, but I’m guessing in most countries, it’s not much :)

The mammals’ topic is not a popular one so there would not be too many articles to edit, perhaps 4 –5 per month, therefore the TE is not likely to make much money. I’m not sure how much revenue the topic page will bring in, but I’m sure some topics will be more lucrative than others. Plus there is the added pressure of maintaining each sub-sections main page by adding nice pictures, a short summary and featuring articles there.

I am not quite sure that I have really grasped what is being asked of the TE. The forums as Suite are abuzz with opinions both pro and con. FWs had first dibs at being the TE of their section before it was offered to CWs, so I hastily applied because I didn’t want to miss out. Though I feel there is not enough info yet on what the TE needs to do. What I mean is, when you sign up as a writer, there is a plethora of tutorials to help you along the way. At present, there are no tutorials for the TE’s.

So I trawl the forums looking for information on what I am supposed to do, and to be honest, I feel like I have wasted a lot of time already and I’ve made no money. The views on the forums have kind of put me off too, with comments about how much work is expected for so little reward. I guess I tend to agree. I signed up to be a FW because I have a passion for writing and for animals, so it seemed a good fit, but I think the fact that I have made barely any money has put me off wanting to put too much effort in.

It’s not just Suite, it’s all the writing sites, lol. If I calculate how much time I take to write an article and how much money it earns me, I can get a bit depressed. Especially when I make more being a veterinary nurse, which is NOT a high paying job considering the skills and responsibilities required, at least not in Australia.

So had the topic editor position come up a year ago, maybe I would have been more excited about it. Now I feel like maybe I jumped the gun and I should step down and let someone else grab it. I’m not an editing expert. No doubt you’ll find a few errors in this blog that have slipped my notice. Or I haven’t chosen to bother with because it’s my blog and I want to just rant/write how I like.

My point is how long will it take me to read and edit someone else’s article? 3 minutes? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? Longer?! I’m not sure, I haven’t tried yet, but I’m not inclined to do a half-arsed job and have a bunch of sloppy articles in my topic, so I’m just trying to decide if it all this work is worth a pack of gum…….

Plagiarize and Google Will Get You!

2011-05-28T13:14:00.004+10:00

As I’ve been away for a while, I had a backlog of emails to get through. Eventually, as I cleared my inbox, I got to some old DMCA complaints I had submitted. I checked each one and I am happy to say that all but one of the infringing websites that plagiarized or completely lifted my articles have been taken down. I love Google. It may take them a while but eventually they remove either the infringing site or page, and while these people that pinch articles from others may make a bit of money in the meantime, Google will get them sooner or later.

Perhaps they will learn their lesson, but most likely not. I suspect they will just steal from elsewhere, but most of the writers I know, will lodge a DMCA and follow it up when one of their articles have been stolen/plagiarized. It’s a pain in the ass to do, but I follow it up too. When you spend hours researching and writing, there’s nothing more frustrating than someone lifting you articles. So to those people that want to make a quick buck from someone else’s hard work….Google Will Get You!

(Image source : http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/jfm/plagiarism/plagiarism-jfm.htm)

Changes at Suite 101 and Bright Hub

2011-05-27T01:01:00.003+10:00

Well a lot has happened over the last 2 months since I've been away from Suite and Bright Hub, mostly due to Google's algorithm change (Panda). Lots of writers on the Suite forums have complained of drops in revenue, and Suite and BH management have also discussed this issue.

Changes at Bright Hub

Changes at Bright Hub (BH) include adjusting some of the longer two-page articles and turning them into one-page articles. Where once a page break was considered a good strategy, apparently Panda likes longer articles. Articles longer than 450 words (BH's minimum) will rank higher, and those with 450 words or fewer may be considered 'incomplete' or 'unsubstantial'.

As a result of BH asking more from writers (ie: fixing old articles etc), BH have promised writers a pay rise in June, though the amount has not been posted yet.

Bright Hub are also doing a purge of inactive writers and those who don't produce enough articles each month, so I hope they don't boot me. I did email both of my editors before the wedding and I have emailed to say that I am back, but I haven't heard back yet. I've also pitched 2 article ideas, so I shall see if they are accepted, but at least they know I am still interested in writing for those channels.

Changes at Suite 101

Suite has been working on changing the layout of articles to be less 'ad-heavy'.

They also eliminated the Feature Writer (FW) blogs because they weren't getting enough traffic or revenue, and the FW quota has been reduced from 4 articles per month, to just 1 article per month. Suite was actually discussing these changes before I took my break, but they have been implemented now, which is good. I am glad to see the FW blogs go. I found them glitchy to work with, having to upload photos several times before they would save, and having to rewrite data that didn't save. I also didn't really feel inspired to blog much.

As for the FW quota being reduced, that's also a good thing. Some months are very hectic and I myself have struggled to get all 4 articles in on time. One is more manageable and there is the option to do more if I want. Another benefit is that Feature Writers wont get 'burned out' or sick of their topic.

Yet another positive change from Suite is that they are now paying $10 for Editors Choice Awards. That's pretty exciting, though I haven't had an Editors Choice article in a long time.

Anyway, hopefully once things settle, my revenue will creep up again. I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get stuck into some article writing again, although, I just finished my mammals article; Paw Preference in Pets (which was actually and old mammals blog post that I extended), and gee I felt rather rusty :)

Writing to be Moved to the Passenger Seat

2011-05-24T00:23:00.006+10:00

Hello fellow readers and writers,

The wedding is over and I am back from the honeymoon. I was feeling refreshed, but I had a lot of catching up to do and a lot of work to do as well. As I've been inactive on Suite and Bright Hub, my revenue has dropped quite a bit, which is disappointing, but no matter, I plan on getting back into the articles by the end of the week.

I have many, many emails to read through first though, which is kind of daunting, LOL, but it must be done. So hopefully I'll get back into the writing routine and post a bit more regularly on this blog.

Writing Taking a Backseat for Now

2011-03-13T14:38:00.000+11:00

Just a quick post to say that I haven’t completely forgotten about this blog, but I have been busy with work and wedding plans and I haven’t been writing much. Hopefully after that’s all over, I’ll post a bit more often. Not much has changed recently in the writing area. Still writing for Suite, CC & BH and all still going well. Take care :)

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T12:19:00.009+11:00

Have a safe and merry Christmas fellow readers and writers!!!!

Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl

Patience is a Virtue with Constant Content

2010-12-03T12:52:00.005+11:00

I haven't written any articles for Constant Content in ages because I've been so busy, and unlike Suite 101 and Bright Hub, there are no minimum article requirements. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to have sold another 2 articles recently. While it's true that you may not get your pay out straight away as with other sites such as Bright Hub, you usually get more for the article. Of course this depends on what you charge, but either way, it's nice to know that even though an article may sit there for a while doing nothing, it can get sold when you least expect it. Yay :)

(image source: www.andreadygas.com/?p=24)

Writer and Editor Communication

2010-11-12T12:57:00.003+11:00

So after my hissy fit last night at around a quarter to midnight, I emailed this new editor and told her I was confused about what she wanted from me as I had thought I had met all the requirements. It turned out she was happy with my intro/conclusion etc, so now I feel like a bit writer-sook. I probably should have emailed her first about the miscommunication instead of having a big rant on my blog :)

When you write for a small amount of $$$, you don't want to spend ages on an article, and when you think you have the system down pat, and someone new likes it a bit different, that can be frustrating. But anyway, it all worked out in the end, and hopefully, if she edits any future articles, I'll have her system down pat too, lol.

When Editors Attack

2010-11-11T23:47:00.004+11:00

A humorous title to a problem that most writers have to deal with at some point. I've been writing at Bright Hub for a few months now and haven't had any articles come back to me for changes for ages so I'm feeling pretty confident, until one day, one of my articles is being edited by a new editor.

Now this editor was nice enough, saying "Great article but..." she wanted me to write my references and photo credits differently and add a bit more info. So I did. Then she wanted me to add more keywords at the beginning and end of the article, which I did. Then she wanted me to add an intro and conclusion. And I went *hmmmppff*. I already have an intro and conclusion. I even made it longer.

So I'm at a point where I'm not sure that I'm truly getting what she is asking. But that's not the annoying thing. Well, it is, but more annoying is the fact that I spent hours researching and writing it to begin with, and have already made several changes, and I'm thinking "How much more time do I want to spend on this article for a measly $10?".

The answer of course is no more time. When a writer and an editor have a good working relationship, the writer knows what the editor wants, both the writer and editor are happy. Suddenly the writer gets a new editor who wants things done differently, and it's very frustrating. Now I realize that editors from different sections/topics often differ, but this is for the same topic, so why is the back-up editor not editing in the same way as the head-honcho editor? *sighs*

/rant over.

Plagiarizers Beware!

2010-11-05T09:19:00.001+11:00

Recently the Suite forums have been a buzz with the story about a writer whose work was plagiarized by a print magazine. A friend of this writer had called to ask how she managed to get her work published in the mag, and that was when she realized they had pinched her article.

She contacted them and got a very rude response from the editor, including statements like these:

quote/ “But honestly Monica, the web is considered "public domain" and you should be happy we just didn't "lift" your whole article and put someone else's name on it!”

“I have a bit of a difficult time with your requests for monetary gain, albeit for such a fine (and very wealthy!) institution. We put some time into rewrites, you should compensate me!” /unquote

Since then, the mag’s facebook page has been bombarded with comments from other angry writers. If you haven’t seen this yet, check out the original writer’s post and the facebook page.