Image from Amazon.

The story takes place in 1878 Paris and is inspired by the real-life model for artist Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, as well as the era’s notorious criminals. The characters are real. Buchanan has taken the real characters and intertwined their stories with each other making this a brilliant work of fiction.

Dancer by Edgar Degas, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Following their father’s sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opera where, for a scant seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister Antoinette finds work – and the love of a dangerous young man – as an extra in a stage adaptation of Emile Zola’s naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir.

Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modelling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Antoinette, meanwhile, descends lower and lower in society and must make the choice between a life of honest labour and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde – that is, unless her perilous love derails her completely.

This historical novel is a story of sisters, family, love, poverty, culture, and even murder. It is brilliantly written with extensive knowledge of ballet, the era, and Parisian ways and language. One cannot help but feel sorry for the sisters and their living situation. Situations separate them emotionally and the reader wants them to come together. Their story tugs at the heart. You may know the real story of the characters but you will not see the events of this story coming. You will have to read it and see for yourself.

You can purchase The Painted Girls here: http://astore.amazon.ca/headwritguil-20

So what I did was create new tags. I did tag you’re it, skin tag and a couple of other stupid tags, heavily rooted in sarcasm, that had absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter of the article. Then, guess what happened? That’s right, it was accepted. This happended to me about three times lately. I am still waiting on an article to be published that I submitted hours ago. It is probably being held up for the same stupid reason.

Hey, who gives a flying crap about tags anyway? I mean, I couldn’t write the most horrible article that uses the most horrible examples of the usage of English grammar, typos left and right, spelling errors up the whazoo and it would be perfectly fine with Triond. Oh, but don’t violate their ever so precious tags policies. Really? I mean, really?

I did notice though that it seems to happen more often with articles that are critical of Triond. I am sensing some sort of conspiracy here. As Elmer Fudd would say: “There’s something a widdle scwewy awound here.” Just saying. So let’s wait and see how fast this one gets published and if I have to edit the tags again. So I’ll send this to Triond and say: “TAG, you’re it!”

I mean, you have really got to be kidding me! Is this some kind of sick joke specifically designed to anger both their readers and their writers? I mean, they even ask you what category the article falls under when you go to submit the article. Why even bother when they put it any old place they feel like?

Oh yeah, this is just what I write articles for. To offend people and to have them placed on a site where they least fit in. So they don’t get the number of views that they should and the few who do view it get offended. That should really be most helpful to me as a writer. So now I have to make a request for it to be placed on a different site. It went up on the site about 2 minutes after I submitted it but to have it switched to a more appropriate site takes much, much, much longer.

Hey, I’m a Christian myself but I still listen to Heavy Metal. I have no problem with it but some Christians do. That’s their prerogative and choice. I’m not going to dictate to someone else what their religious beliefs should be regarding the type of music they should listen to. That’s entirely up to them. Hey, I have certain lines that I draw as to the type of music I listen to. I don’t particularly care for Death Metal myself. I don’t like lyrics with excessive profanity. It’s a matter of personal choice, as far as I’m concerned.

I had an article in the past that was music related but was put up on a computer related website. I made a request to have it transferred over to a music related site, you know, because that would probably make more sense and it would probably get more views. Then I received a response by the geniuses at Triond. Guess what that response was? That’s right, they denied it and left it where it was. I got very few views but at least I didn’t have to guess as to why that was the case. It was probably because the subject matter of the article had nothing to do with the subject matter of the website. Duh!

I hear so many complaints from Triond writers about how little they make or how few views they get for their work. Well, let’s add this to the list of potential grievances. I am not one to usually complain about these sort of things but this one really takes the cake. An article about one of Blue Oyster Cult’s albums going on a religious website under the category of Christianity. The fact that the album cover has the Grimm Reaper riding a horse on it is a big plus too.

So if they refuse to relocate it, I guess I will have to take matters into my own hands and remove it altogether. Boy did they show me. I’ll just put it on another site. I’ve done reviews of Classic Rock albums on other sites before anyway. I don’t need Triond to be able to do that. They really need to get their act together. This is really frustrating. I let it go last time when they put my music article on a computer website. I left it there and am not surprised why it got so few views. I was tempted to remove it and submit it to another writing website but never quite got around to it. This time I will make a point of it , just out of principle. Or maybe out of spite but, never-the-less, I will do it.

It’s things like this that really annoy me. I go through the effort of writing a lengthy article and submitting it just to have something like this happen. It gets me to think “What’s the point?” I go through the effort, I get no views and the few I do actually get offends someone. Not exactly a winning scenario for me. Uh, where is the incentive for me to continue writing here? I am having a hard time figuring that one out. It all kind of makes me wonder where this article will end up. It’s like a roll of the dice these days. Feel lucky punk?

I mean, you have really got to be kidding me! Is this some kind of sick joke specifically designed to anger both their readers and their writers? I mean, they even ask you what category the article falls under when you go to submit the article. Why even bother when they put it any old place they feel like?

Oh yeah, this is just what I write articles for. To offend people and to have them placed on a site where they least fit in. So they don’t get the number of views that they should and the few who do view it get offended. That should really be most helpful to me as a writer. So now I have to make a request for it to be placed on a different site. It went up on the site about 2 minutes after I submitted it but to have it switched to a more appropriate site takes much, much, much longer.

Hey, I’m a Christian myself but I still listen to Heavy Metal. I have no problem with it but some Christians do. That’s their perogative and choice. I’m not going to dictate to womeone else what their religious beliefs should be regarding the type of music they should listen to. That’s entirely up to them. Hey, I have certain lines that I drwas as to the type of music I listen to. I don’t particularly care for Death Metal myself. I don’t like lyrics with excessive profanity. It’s a matter of personal choice, as far as I’m concerned.

I had an article in the past that was music related but was put up on a computer related website. I made a request to have it transferred over to a music related site, you know, because that would prbably make more sense it it would prbably get more views. Then I received a response by the geniuses at Triond. Guess what that response was? That’s right, they denied it and left it where it was. I got very few views but at least I didn’t have to guess as to why that was the case. It was probably because the subject matter of the article had othing to do with the subject matter of the website. Duh!

I hear so many complaints from Triond writers about how little they make or how few views they get for their work. Well, let’s add this to the list of ptential grievances. I am not one to usually complain about these sort of things but this one really takes the cake. An article about one of Blue Oyster Cult’s albums going on a religious website under the category of Christianity. The fact that the album conver has the Grimm Reaper riding a horse on it is a big plus too.

So if they refuse to relocate it, I guess I will have to take matters into my own hands and remove it alltogether. Boy did they show me. I’ll just put it on another site. I’ve done reviews of Classic Rock albums on other sites before anyway. I don’t need Triond to be able to do that. They really need to get their act together. This is really frustrating. I let it go last time when they put my music article on a computer website. I left it there and am not surprised why it got so few views. I was tempted to remove it and submit it to another writing website but never quite got around to it. This time I will make a point of it , just out of principle. Or maybe out of spite but, never-the-less, I will do it.

It’s things like this that really annoy me. I go through the effort of writing a lengthy article and submitting it just to have something like this happen. It gets me to think “What’s the point?” I go through the effort, I get no views and the few I do actually get offends someone. Not exactly a winning scenario for me. Uh, where is the incentive for me to continue writing here? I am having a hard time figuring that one out. It all kind of makes me wonder where this one will end up. It’s like a roll of the dice these days. Feel lucky punk?

Some of the writers out there seem to mix up the words, to, two and too. Here’s a little tip for you: to and too do not make for, fore or even four, for that matter. Only two and two will make four. In all seriousness, though, too, with two O’s, is another word for also, whereas the word to, with one O is used when you want to say that you are going to give something TO someone. Like I am now giving advice TO you. Maybe you’ll give me some advice TOO.

Another thing is if something is larger, it is bigger THAN something else, not bigger then. That is one I see quite often. The word then is usually in reference to what happened next. Like: “THEN he went home.” Then and than are two different words with two different meanings. If you already knew that, though, THEN you are probably a better writer THAN some who don’t.

It really doesn’t matter if you are the world’s foremost authority on a given subject. If you attempt to convey your point with a poor usage of the basic rules of grammar, the point somehow gets lost in the shuffle. You may have a bit of a problem getting people to take your writing seriously; especially, if you start out with some of the aforementioned errors in the title. Then (not than) it’s all downhill from there.

Now, I am not referring to your typical typo because we all make them. An occasional you instead of a your is acceptable because it could just be a coordination problem on your part. Perhaps you just simply did not hit the R key hard enough. Hey, it happens to the best of them; especially before their first cup of coffee in the morning. Oh, and speaking of your, I see a lot of people using your when they should be using you’re and the other way around as well. Your has to do with possession. Like your car. Or worry about your own writing and leave me alone. You’re is a substitute for you are. As in: “I heard YOU’RE writing articles on the Internet for YOUR brother’s website.”

I am not going to name anyone specifically regarding these matters because that would be unnecessarily cruel. What would be the point? It’s just that some may want to go through the process of self analyses, as it would pertain to their writing abilities, and make some adjustments. There is a Dummies book for English grammar. Hey, I know because I have a copy of it for my own enrichment. I might suggest that more people who happen to write articles and blogs obtain a copy for themselves. Just a suggestion.

There are so many ways a person can brush up on these things. The only requirement is some level of dedication and the time to devote to it. Learning the rules and then immediately applying what you’ve learned by writing a new article, using that new-found knowledge, would probably be most helpful.

I have recently read some comments on Triond’s various websites theorizing that the reason behind Triond’s declining popularity is the poor quality of the articles posted on their sites. That may or may not be true. However, I do think that there should be an open forum to some extent, so that everyone is free to express their thoughts. It’s just that if you intend to do it with some form of regularity, you should probably hone your writing skills. That is all I am trying to say in this article. I probably could have said it with a bit more tact but maybe that’s a skill I will need to work on.

When I first started writing articles for Triond I had already done a couple of dozen or so on other websites. To be honest, I don’t remember exactly what prompted me to give Triond a try. So I got started with an article on how to save money on music equipment, since much of my background is in music. Eventually I would branch out into other subjects and the rest is history.

Recently, I was considering the option of giving up on writing for Triond. The reason being that my articles weren’t getting the amount of views I would like. Yet something prompted me to try new subject matter out for my articles to see how they would do. Luckily I did because my article views went through the roof. So I had determined that my lack of views wasn’t necessarily as a result of Triond websites not getting enough traffic or poor quality writing on my part but perhaps it had more to do with the fact that there wasn’t as much of a demand for articles dealing with the subject matter that I was writing about.

This prompted me to do an article about writing articles people would want to read. It’s really a shame that I had not stumbled upon that concept sooner but at least now I can advise those just starting out to experiment with writing about different subjects to see what people are looking for. Then, once you find that out, concentrate on writing those type of articles.

To give you some idea as to the difference in the number of views, I will provide you with some statistics. I would have to say that prior to my writing about 3D animation and software and technical computer related articles, I probably didn’t get any more than a few hundred vies in a month. I’m guessing here but I’m probably fairly close and, if anything, am rounding up. Just yesterday I got almost 1,300 views in one day. It set a new personal record for me. Today, as it currently stands, I stand a good chance of surpassing that.

My writing isn’t any better than it was previously; it’s just that there is more of a demand for what I am writing now than for what I was previously writing. So it is important that anyone just starting out now remember that if you are not getting the number of views you think you should be getting, don’t get discouraged. Just try to write about something different.

Obviously, since I am getting significantly more views now, the temptation to quit writing for Triond has subsided substantially. The numbers of fans and subscribers have increased at a faster rate as well. As for my plans for the future, I will continue to write about those popular subjects but still, on occasion, write about the same things I had written about in the past. I just won’t be focusing on them as much. I still enjoy writing about those subjects and they are probably my main areas of expertise, so why give it up entirely?

I know there are a lot of people writing for Triond that have written significantly more than me. They are probably saying “100 articles? Big deal!”  That’s okay though. If someone is more prolific at writing articles than I am, I am happy for you. Although, I can say that I try not to be too redundant in what I write about. I do try to offer something new in each article that I haven’t covered in the past and I do try to write articles consisting of nothing less than 750 words. Two standards I have noticed that a lot of writers don’t necessarily adhere to.  That’s their decision though. Whatever floats their boat. I would personally advise someone starting out to try to at least do 750 words or so and to try to cover something new in each article. It’s okay to touch briefly on some things previously covered but I usually do that for the purpose of driving a different point home.

So, hopefully, I have encouraged someone new to stick it out for a while to see how it goes and maybe, with any luck, my advice may help them to get more views of their articles. One could only hope. Ina any case, I have just finished my 100th article for Triond and I thought this day would never come. Thank you Triond for the opportunity. Now, where is my badge?

I am sure that if you ask a number of people as to what they think it would take to be a great online writer or blogger, they would each have their own unique take on the subject. This article is my take. They say that the first rule of writing is to write about what you know. I myself have adhered to that philosophy to a significant degree. I find that the more I know about a given subject, the easier the thoughts come to mind that could be typed up to form a new article or blog entry. So rule number one should be to write about a subject you know a lot about.

I have often read that establishing yourself as somewhat of an authority on a given subject is most helpful in marketing yourself. For example, a musician writing about music theory or the music business may create the impression that he is an excellent musician. That added credibility could be used to market his live performances, CD’s and possibly lessons or instructional videos or materials. So that obviously adds credibility to the belief that you should write about what you know.

We all make typos and occasional errors in grammar and spelling. Some people will do that much more than others. Do you have to be an English major to write a decent article? I would say probably not. The standards for online article writing are pretty relaxed, to say the least. I would suggest, though, that you have some idea as to how to construct coherent sentences and follow the basic rules. I would also suggest that you avoid using too much slang as well.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t profess to be the best writer in the world. I do think that I do some things well and that writing is one of those things. I’m no Willy Shakespeare but I’m not a complete babbling idiot either. I think I manage to get my point across, whatever that point may be, according to the subject matter of the article. The basic point I am trying to convey in this article is what someone who is considering taking up online article writing should take into consideration before setting out to write those articles.

Among those items for consideration is your target audience. Who are you gearing your articles toward? This one is geared toward that particular demographic I just referred to.  I write articles for musicians, people interested in Internet marketing, people interested in 3D software and writing. I do articles on a few other subjects but, overall, I try to just remain within the areas of my expertise. I have tinkered with some humor articles but that will be on rare occasions. I think that someone interested in writing humor, could probably get away with a lot more than someone writing technical articles.

So do your articles need to be lengthy? I have my own personal rule where I try to write an article of at least 750 words or so. Some might be slightly under, on rare occasions, but most are well over that number. I just believe that if you can’t write an article on a given subject that is at least 750 words, then you probably aren’t saying much. Although, I have seen occasions where people babbled incoherently and said basically nothing with a multitude of words.

So to sum it up, I would say write about what you know, know the basic rules of grammar, punctuation and spelling, try to at least have 750 words or so and know who your target audience is. Oh, and always proofread before and after you post. I catch a lot of typos after I post. That’s pretty much it in my opinion. For whatever it’s worth. Give it a try, I’m sure you’ll do just fine.

 The minimum required is only 400 characters, but I do recommend that you write at least two three paragraphs to meet it as in the future it can always be increased.

 The site pays really well as you get one cent for each unique view, comment, like, and even dislike anyone makes on your posts. Writers are allowed to promote their own content on other social media networks, but are forbidden from creating or participating in mutual support groups that require view/comment/like exchanges. We are also not permitted to ask other Bubblews members for reading, liking, or commenting on our posts though generally if you connect with other writers there and read , like, or comment on their posts that are interesting to you; they will be more likely to read yours even without you asking them for it.

 Bubblews is very strict on their rules and very straight forward that anyone who breaks the rules will not get paid, which is very good because it weeds out those who plagiarise or spam the site, but on the down side it can also get in trouble some innocent newbies there or experienced writers who post their own previously published elsewhere material. Any writer who wishes to do that needs to provide a link to the site of original publication or make sure that there are no duplicates of their content anywhere on the Internet or their account might be flagged for potential plagiarism and their payment delayed.

 The site understandably experiences tremendous growth, so there are delays sometimes. I had to wait for over a month for my first payment, but it did come through.  They also recently updated the server, so the site is much faster now and they plan to clarify rules better, so that hard working honest writers would not be lumped up with the crooks, which is great.

 You need to accumulate a minimum of $25 before you redeem and it took me just over one month to get there with 52 posts and over 1000 views. Now, I am almost there again and this time with only 18 posts and over 1600 views. So with time the earning potential really grows there. So, I am glad that I gave it a try.

 If you wish to join you can follow my referral link: 

http://www.bubblews.com/?referral=5109a60e806c08.50247525

 Or you can go to the site directly and sign up. The choice is yours. I found that it is a great writing opportunity and decided to share it with you, especially now that I personally tested the site and found out it is not a scam.

Here is my payment proof some of you have asked for:

Some of this may be trial and error. You may not fully realize the potential articles on certain subjects will have. I have enough knowledge in a few subjects that allow me to write articles about them. So I write articles on those subjects. I will write articles about internet marketing, web development, music business, business management and other subjects. Some articles are read by more people than others. There are reasons for that. Probably the most important reason is what people are looking for.

The Internet is great. It provides so much information at your fingertips. Just type something onto a search engine and page after page of results appear before your eyes like magic. Sometimes you may have to sort through it to find exactly what you are looking for but you can find information on just about anything online. You can even run a search on what the top subjects are on the internet, what the top searches are and what the most popular websites are. Once you acquire that information, you can use that information to determine what kind of articles to write.

As an example, I will write an article about something related to the music business. Something like tips on trying to score gigs at various venues. It’s a subject I know a bit about. Then I might write something about business management. I have had management and supervisory positions in the past and I’ve read numerous books on the subject. I also write articles on computers, internet marketing and web development. Some articles will get significantly more views than others. Those are the ones I need to concentrate on if I want to maximize the number of people reading them.

So I will basically create articles on different subjects to see which ones are in demand. Once I determine what is in demand, I write more articles on those subjects. Sure, I may know more about music and enjoy writing articles on that subject than 3D art and animation but if the ones on 3D art and animation are getting read by many more people than the ones on music, I gotta do what I gotta do, and what I have got to do is write on the subjects that pull in the readers. It’s just the way it is.

I have recently hit on some subjects that have boosted my readership significatly. They have pulled in more readers in one day than I had previously been getting for a month. That really says something. Did my writing get suddenly better or more interesting? Probably not. It most likely has more to do with the fact that more people are looking for that information than the information I was previously providing. It’s just that simple.

You might be in a situation yourself that is similar to the one I was in. Mabe you’ve been writing one article after another, thinking that the more you write, the more readers you will pull in. Yet that number of readers per article doesn’t really seem to increase substantially. Well, it could just be that not too many people are looking for the information you are providing. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you are a bad writer or that the information you are providing is worthless. It simply means that you may need to employ a different strategy.

so, what you need to do is first try to determine what people are looking for. Then make an itemized list on the subjects that you know enough about that you could write articles on. Try writing a different article on each of those subjects. Then wait and see how well each one does. When you find a winning subject, work more on that one than the others. Then you should notice an improvement over the number of views you had received prior.

Certain things will need to be taken into consideration though. Like the time of year. In the summer, less people are online because they prefer to be outside enjoying the nice weather. So I wouldn’t necessarily compare views from one season to another. Try writing articles on a few different subjects around the same time frame to get a more accurate assessment of the situation.

Anyway, try out the suggestions I offered and see how they work for you. The truth is, though, I am not entirely sure how well this article will do until after I post it. We’ll see. If it doesn’t do as well as the other types of articles I write, I will just have to do more of the others. It’s just the way it is.

WORKERSONBOARD. They have a comprehensive list of work from home positions. 

ABOUT.COM. Seek writers for their worldwide guides. If you have specialist knowledge, then share it, and earn a living.

CHACHA. They are a questions and answers site. You get paid for answering questions.

AMAZON MECHANICAL TURKS. Complete tasks and get paid. 

FREELANCE WRITING.COM. Several jobs listed here.

GURU.COM. Bid for writing jobs. A vast listing on this site for freelance writers.

Fancy becoming a GHOSTWRITER? Write a book for someone else.

China Topix need freelance writers. Find out more HERE.

A builder needs A GHOSTWRITER FOR A BLOG.

IMPROVE YOUR SNOWBOARDING needs writers. Check out the advert, HERE.

SCRIPT WRITER WANTED.

Other articles by Glynis Smy: 

GOOGLE ADSENSE TAKINGS DOWN

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL