Broke, Busy and Bustin a Move with Bukisa

Well, as the title above indicates, I'm pretty broke right now. Sure, I'm paying the bills, but my goal is to increase my residual income, and it seems to be stagnating. So no time for moping around, I'll just work harder and evaluate my goals.

Originally, I was spending most of my time writing for Suite101. Though I'm still writing quite a bit for the site, my earnings seem to be standing still. Who knows if this will turn around in the short term, though I'm sure that the earnings will pick up over time as I write more content. That said, I need to put my eggs in a few different baskets. With that in mind, I have decided to pursue another 100 article challenge.

My next goal is to publish 100 articles on Bukisa and track their earnings. I primarily use Bukisa as a place to promote my articles for other sites. Their 200-word requirement makes writing articles a breeze, and I have seen some decent earnings for the minimal amount of work involved. I might as well track those earnings and see just how profitable Bukisa actually is.

I have already done this experiment with eHow articles, and it will be interesting to compare my earnings from eHow with the earnings from Bukisa. I'd like to get 100 articles completed within two months, but this is also a very hectic jewelry-making time for me, so we'll see how things go.

Anyway, feel free to try this experiment with me. I would love to see exactly how much one can actually benefit from the earnings on Bukisa. I'm excited to track the progress. Be looking soon for my 100th article announcement.

Letting the Creative Monster Loose

Lately I have been spreading my creative energies quite thin, but enjoying every moment of it. I've been taking a bit of a break from the written word to focus on my jewelry. I've got a big show coming up in a week in Nashville, TN. I also have three other shows booked so far this year and I'm selling my work in a store in Indianapolis. Oh, and I'm going to be in the Emmy Awards gift baskets in August. Not too shabby for my first year in business ('scuse me while I pat myself on the back). Just Kidding.

Anyway, I'm trying to get a lot of product made and I'm also trying to come up with some new designs. Meanwhile, I'm still writing my minimum of one ceramics article a week for Suite101 and one crafts article a month for Associated Content. And, in the meantime I did this:

Yep, that's pink hair. I don't know what possessed me, but I am happy with the outcome. I cut and colored it myself with Manicpanic Cotton Candy Pink on top of a light ash blonde bleach. I had never highlighted my hair before, even with natural colors. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. Overall though, I think the color is great and actually pretty subtle.

I let my creative energies run wild this month and I ended up with pink hair. I'm just so glad that my work incorporates so many different creative outlets. Whether writing, making jewelry, or streaking my hair, I'm glad that I've chosen a creative life.

Where has your creativity led you? Into or out of a job? Into a new relationship? To new friends? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Lost is Over, Now What? My Top 10 Ideas for Lost Spin-Off Shows

I thought I would take a little diversion from talking about writing to comment on my favorite television show, Lost. It has sadly come to an end, and I do mean sadly. I bawled during the entire episode, and then totally lost it (no pun intended) over the final scene with Jack and Vincent. Now that Lost is over though, I've got some ideas for spin-off shows that I'd love to see.

1. Lost in LA: What happens when a washed up pilot (Lapidus), a formerly-immortal assistant to a metaphysical being (Richard) and a psychic who can talk to the dead (Miles) share an apartment in Los Angeles?  Hilarity ensues as they learn about life, love and each other.

2. Heaven Can Wait: Ben reunites with the daughter he helped kill and romances her cougar mother, Danielle, all why trying to teach history to inner city youths.

3. The Really Odd Couple: Join Ben and Hurley as they battle the immortal forces of evil and protect the cave of light on the island. On the next episode, Hurley makes a cake and leaves a huge mess in the Dharmaville kitchen right before obsessive compulsive Ben's book club meeting.

4. Punky Kwon: After Ji Yeon's parents (Sun and Jin) both die in an unfortunate submarine accident, she is orphaned and forced to live with her curmudgeon grandfather. She gradually teaches the old codger to embrace life again and take time to smell the flowers.

5. Behind the Music: Driveshaft: An in-depth look at one of the least influential bands in recent history.  Discover how bass player, Charlie Pace overcame his addiction to heroin and reunited the band for one last world tour.

6. Daniel Faraday, The Quantum Physics Guy: Hey kids! Want to learn about quantum entanglement, worm holes and particle accelorators? Join wacky Dr. Faraday as he explores the wonderful world of quantum physics.

7. Everyday French Cooking with Danielle Rousseau: This week, learn how to cook wild boar with rosemary and sage.

8. Cop Out: A gritty crime drama set on the streets of Los Angeles. Two detectives, (Miles and Sawyer) have to work with a tough-as-nails street cop (Ana Lucia) to solve crimes.

9. Glee Club: A look at what happens when new music teacher, Daniel Faraday, has to take over the high school glee club. Can he compete with fellow teacher, Dr. Linus, for funding and students?

10. Dharma and Greg: Join us in the 1970's as new Dharma Initiative recruit, Greg, joins the motor pool and helps conduct scientific experiments on a mysterious island.

Thanks for indulging me in these silly rants. I really am sad to see Lost go, but all good things must come to an end. I guess that's really what the final show was all about anyway.

Use Bukisa to Increase Page Views on Other Writing Sites

 Bukisa is an online writing site that pays residuals to writers. The site works on a revenue-share basis and writers receive money based on page views. At a minimum of only 250 words, Bukisa articles are short and simple to write. Membership to the site is free and anyone can quickly sign up and start writing.

Beyond the potential to make money with Bukisa articles, writers can also use the site to drive traffic back to articles on other sites. By using this simple strategy, writers can increase their income.

Start by finding articles you wrote that highlight a couple of different points. For instance, say you wrote an article entitled, "The Top Three Sushi Restaurants in Chicago" or "Three Green Craft Projects that use Recycled Supplies"? Both of those articles highlight three distinct items under one unifying theme.

After finding these articles, start promoting them through Bukisa. Start by writing a short article about one of the topics in your larger article. For instance, if you want to link back to the article on the top three sushi restaurants, write a Bukisa article on one of those restaurants. Because the original article contains three restaurants, three seperate Bukisa articles can be created and linked back to promote the original article. So for each larger article, you will create multiple Bukisa articles that link back to it.

The great thing about this strategy is the fact that you end up making money on all fronts. You increase your  page views for your other writing sites. You also earn residual income from your Bukisa articles. It's also a simple way to create a great amount of content with the same key words and topics. This helps to prevent research burnout and writer's block.

Use this writing strategy to work smarter instead of harder. Sign up for Bukisa and start writing short articles that can promote larger articles. It's one way to generate a larger audience and greater income without much more effort.

Suite Writers Now Accredited to Write Google News Articles

Yesterday I received a message in my inbox informing me about the new Suite news accreditation program. Suite writers who have written over 30 articles have the opportunity to become accredited to write Google news articles. The accreditation process is extremely simple and it doesn't seem like there is much of a difference in the article formatting of news articles.

Suite has provided new learning hubs to help writers understand which articles are considered newsworthy. It also provides help on formulating titles and attaching seo-optimized images. Aside from those tips, the basic Suite style of using seo sub-headings and third-person writing is still intact.

So what's the advantage of writing Google news articles? Well, news articles, on timely issues, could result in a high number of page views and added clout to a writer's resume. I must say that it was quite a thrill to see my first news article intermingling with big-name media conglomerates like BBC news and MSNBC.

The down side to writing news articles is the fact that they will eventually lose their appeal and cease to generate page views or income. Even at their height of popularity, these articles will probably not bring in as many ad clicks as the evergreen Suite articles.

All in all, I think this new opportunity is fantastic. I probably won't be writing a ton of Google news articles, but it's nice to know that I have the option now. It's just one more way of expanding my writing experience. I'm sure I'll also learn much more about writing online news stories as the program continues.

If you want to, check out my first dive into the deep end of the Google news pool here.

Say Hello to the New Ceramics Feature Writer

I've taken the next step at Suite101 in becoming the ceramics feature writer. Now I will be writing four articles a month on all things clay. As a ceramics minor in college and someone who has taught high school ceramics, I'm excited to share my knowledge on the subject. Beyond the obvious instructional articles, I will also be writing about mosaics, art schools, specific artist bios and ceramic art history. It should be fun.

In exchange for my clay knowledge, I will earn an extra 20% on top of my current residuals, and then an extra 10% once I reach 100 articles. I'm pretty excited about the added income and the extra motivation to keep writing.

Because I also need a lot of time to work on my jewelry, I'm focusing on writing ten ceramics articles to save in my drafts. They will be my emergency backup articles for those times that I'm too busy with jewelry to focus on writing. I've got two down and eight more to go this week.

Anyway, I just want to emphasize again how much I appreciate Suite101. I have discovered numerous opportunities through the site from contests to my new position. I'm excited to be on board and I can only highly recommend the site to anyone else who enjoys writing.

eHow's Writer Compensation Program is Over

I can't really say that I'm surprised that eHow decided to end their WCP. Though administrators continually told eHow members that nothing was changing, they announced this Monday that articles could no longer be published through the eHow publishing tool. Instead, all future articles must be written through Demand Studios.

Though I am a Demand Studios member, I am upset that eHow publishing tools are no longer available. Publishing with Demand Studios can be so much more arduous due to the inconsistent editors and the time it takes to find a title. Ofcourse you can create your own assignment, but it is still not as simple as eHow.

I also think that the closing of the WCP will only logically lead to mass article sweeps. It only makes sense that Demand Media would want to flush out old content in favor of flat fee articles that would make them more money over time. Because of this, I strongly encourage all eHow writers to back up their articles as soon as possible. If the articles get removed, you can post them to AC or Bukisa.

Anyway, I'm hoping that the transition to the Demand Studios publishing model for eHow content will be relatively simple. I guess only time will tell. I do know that I will continue to diversify my content over a number of sites to protect myself from any future sweeps or problems.

How do you feel about eHow's decision to drop the WCP?