Bad Goals Versus Good Goals for 2015 Working Writing Homeschooling Personal

Here are some bad goals for me to make for 2015:

1. Go from 157 pounds to 100 pounds.
2. Homeschool my kids so they are Harvard-ready by the age of 16.
3. Make one million dollars.
4. Travel the world.
5. Make sure all my friends think I am the bomb.com.

Here are some better goals for 2015:

1. Try to go to the gym to treadmill twice a week. Eat fewer sweets and cut back to two cups of coffee per day. Rest when I need it because when I am overly tired I tend to eat.
2. Homeschool my kids consistently every day while still going on outings and field trips and having fun with them.
3. Make $30,000 working solely from home with Younique, Jamberry, Scripted, BlogHer, regional parenting magazines, Amazon Kindle ebooks, blogging and whatever other small jobs come my way.
4. Go to Colorado with the family during the first part of the year and New England during the fall.
5. Make an effort to listen to my friends when they are talking to me. Be less selfish and focus on them more. Talk less and listen more. Be forgiving and less judgmental, yet honest. No small task!

Got goals? Id love to hear about them!

Organizing My Writing Stuff with pictures!

I cant wait to hear your 2013 Writing Goals. Me? Well, I havent set any. Im focusing right now on organizing all my papers and ideas, written on all sorts of different things.

I bought a large plastic tub at Office Depot, and it holds hanging file folders. It also holds my ebook, which Ive printed and put in a binder. Ill be working on updating that soon, but in the meantime it is still my own best resource for getting published. I like the tub because I can tuck it away when Im not writing and drag it out when I actually get some time to hunker down and write. With a traveling, working-a-lot husband, that is not so often!

Anyway, here are some of my hanging file folder titles:

Ideas for regional parenting magazines
Ideas for national parenting magazines
Ideas for religious magazines
Ideas for homeschooling magazines
Ideas for writing magazines
Ebook ideas
Essays

[notice how nothing is in alphabetical order? you have to set up your system how it will work for you!]

Book ideas
Memoir
Published clips
Financials (check stubs, invoices, signed writer contracts)
General writing information

And more, but Im writing this while my kids play at Mickey Ds, so I dont have the tub in front of me. I dont, like, HAUL it everywhere with me!

So Im dying to know how you stay organized and what your goals are!

September 2015s Stupendous Online Income Writing Proofreading Younique Jamberry

Lets get some things out of the way before I show you my rockin infographic I made on the FREE site canva.com. Also, here are the figures for August 2015.

WHO am I?
I am the homeschooling mom of 5 kids and wife to Aron. I graduated from community college at the age of 28 with a 2-year Associate of Arts general degree. My work background: waitress, hostess, secretary, office manager at various places. I got many opportunities to learn how to proofread but have no formal training in writing, social media or direct sales. I quit my job in 2001 to stay home with my first son and never went back to work in an office.

WHAT do I do?
Im a blogger, author of books, writer of regional parenting magazine articles, social media maven, proofreader, Jamberry consultant and Younique presenter.

Why I am sharing my income?
I like to show what can be done. I am able to fit in at least 20 working hours per week and usually more while homeschooling my kids, loving on my husband and taking the kids places to have fun (pool, sports, field trips, co-op, playdates, trips, etc.). I am not sharing this to brag or because I think I rock. I am sharing so you know that someone with no English degree can be a writer and a proofreader and make a decent income.

I recently decided to focus on just six main areas of income, as opposed to the way I used to do it, making pennies here and there in way too many online places. Diversification is still very important to online income for me, but by focusing on six areas, balls are not getting dropped and my time is more focused.

** I call Younique and Jamberry income "online" because I dont do vendor events or home parties.

The dollar amounts I show are what I actually RECEIVED in my hot little hand or PayPal account, not what I EARNED because things show up at different times and take different amounts of time to come around. Some months I may have a lot of articles in publications but dont show much income ... thats because checks will often show up later and many at one time.

*This is the book I reference that helps me make money writing articles and also brings in a little bit of income all by itself ...

Get Organized and Find More Time for Writing and GIVEAWAY!

Okay, just looking at the cover of this book makes me itchy. Not that I am a neat freak by any means. But I do like to be able to FIND things, and you dont have to have 5 kids like me to get very disorganized VERY fast. You can check this label here to see some of my Tackle-it Tuesday projects Ive had going on in the past.

As for writing, you should see the stack of JUNK papers on top of my desk and then in my drawers and then in a large pink tub off to the side, hidden from site. Its full of things I want to get to someday, things that will MAKE ME MONEY to write about, but I cant get past my scary stack sitting right next to me. I needed help, and I needed this book.

If I am more organized, I am get more done ... more work-like, money-making things that result in a vacation with my family, moving to the country, fulfilling dreams. Simple as that.

So if the cover makes me itchy, the table of contents makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

Section 1 is Before We Begin Organizing (cool, so you arent just going to start firing instructions at me)

Section 2 is Lets Get Organized (and is it just me who sees the word LEGO in there?)

Section 3 is Staying Organized which is my biggest challenge ... within a month a table or a space is craptastic once again at my place

Section 4 is Resources

Heres the Amazon listing so you can buy it on Kindle if you prefer, but at least you have take a peek inside at the full table of contents this way! The author has organized the homes of people and I have been to her home and IT IS ORGANIZED and she is a WRITER who has published other books and does so by keeping her space organized!

I am confident that I can get my house in amazing order with just a handful of Sundays (I dont organize a whole lot during the week because Im working/homeschooling, but on Sundays during the winter I am going to be all over this book, making notes and checking off things as I do them!) Once my house is all good and my mind is off that, I can focus on my WRITING CENTER.

Heres the Rafflecopter below so you can enter to win a copy of this great book, but if you are dying to have this book for yourself or to sneak to someone else, you can order by writing the author herself at shuckchristine at gmail dot com (gotta watch out for those spammers, you know), and she is happy to give you a nice discount on the book! Instead of the original $15 + shipping price, shes going to send it to you for only $11 including shipping. Its a book that will change your life!

P.S. Check out her blog ... you can find her on the right-hand side of this page ... Christine Shuck, Writer at Large.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

INCOME and HOURS Report January 2016 Proofreading Writing Fiverr

*UPDATE ... Im going back a few months to when I first starting tracking my time worked each day so I can share that info with you!

Lets get some things out of the way before I show you my rockin infographic I made on the FREE site canva.com.

Here is September 2015 at $2,354.

Here is October 2015 at $1,448. (vacation month)

Here is November 2015 at $2,272.

Here is December 2015 at $2,446.

January 2016 found me slowing down just a tad to focus more on getting out of Christmas break mode and back into homeschooling and life. My husband also had to travel for a week, which meant I had to hyper-focus on home life! I still have lots of Fiverr jobs and a couple of outside jobs, and Ive done a ton of BlogHer work but that wont pay until March so youll see a spike then.

WHO am I?
I am the homeschooling mom of 5 kids and wife to Aron. I graduated from community college at the age of 28 with a 2-year Associate of Arts general degree. My work background: waitress, hostess, secretary, office manager at various places. I got many opportunities to learn how to proofread but have no formal training in writing, social media or direct sales. I quit my job in 2001 to stay home with my first son and never went back to work in an office.

WHAT do I do?
Im a blogger, author of books, writer of regional parenting magazine articles, social media maven, proofreader, Jamberry consultant and Younique presenter.

Why I am sharing my income?
I like to show what can be done. I am able to fit in at least 20 working hours per week and usually more while homeschooling my kids, loving on my husband and taking the kids places to have fun (pool, sports, field trips, co-op, playdates, trips, etc.). I am not sharing this to brag or because I think I rock. I am sharing so you know that someone with no English degree can be a writer and a proofreader and make a decent income.

This past month I went to Hobbyist in Jamberry (no more team)  and decided to not focus on direct sales (this means Younique as well). This makes my time even more focused ... on now just 4 main areas of income. I went ahead and left Jamberry on here since I made a tiny bonus and one sale last month. From here on out Im pretty much just that direct sales lady giving her discount to all her friends so hit me up!

STAY WITH ME HERE!
So what you see above is what I RECEIVED ... in my accounts and in the mail as checks. So a lot of that was EARNED before January. So what I EARNED in January is very close to this amount above for some reason, at $1,855 and I worked 65.25 hours this month, and Ill try to get better about tracking time I worked on my ebooks so you can see time put in on the front end of that for income on the back end eventually.

If you want to divide $1,855 EARNED in January by 65.25 hours worked, you get $28.43 per hour. Yes, that sounds great to be working at home all comfy cozy while my kids sleep and then they wake up and we homeschool and have a blast the rest of the day.

KEEP IN MIND, however, that taxes are not paid on that. And that my health insurance is through my husbands work. If you want to take about 20% off the top of that for taxes, just for fun, then I make $22.74 per hour. Still not bad and I set my own hours and dont work with people face-to-face, which rocks for my ADD!!!!

The dollar amounts I show are what I actually RECEIVED in my hot little hand or PayPal account, not what I EARNED because things show up at different times and take different amounts of time to come around. Some months I may have a lot of articles in publications but dont show much income ... thats because checks will often show up later and many at one time.

*This is the book I reference that helps me make money writing articles (Make Money to Write About Your Kids) and also brings in a little bit of income all by itself ... I dont hit the article writing very hard because Im super busy with LIFE and MOTHERING and proofreading! Right now its on sale for $2.99 on Kindle while we wait for me to write the 7th edition. Wont be too many changes so grabbing it for $2.99 now on Kindle or even getting it for free for loan on Kindle Unlimited is a great idea!

My Ideal Writing Day WorkingFromHome

Do you ever think about your ideal working or writing day from home? I also call it my Dream Writing Day.

My dream writing day would have more than 24 hours in it. Maybe like 50 hours.

I would not have to take breaks to eat or pee. My little kids would not need me to come sit with them on the steps while they pee because they are scared of monsters. They also would not need to eat. HA!

I would have unlimited energy.

I would have plenty of time for homeschooling my kids in a quality manner and to have fun with them outside of the house as well.

I would go for an hour walk, listening to helpful podcasts about writing and saving money.

I would have a clean email inbox with everything in its place and nothing in the inbox. As emails would come in, I would take care of them, print them for my planner or move them where they go.

I would finish my Tater Tot Casserole ebook update with improvements and also get it uploaded to CreateSpace for print because it is SOCLOSE to being done.

I would then rock out the 7th edition of my Make Money to Write About Your Kids because the 6th edition is about a year old and IT IS TIME FOR THE UPDATE.

I would then begin on a NEW PROJECT (one of about 10) that has been on my mind for a book.

I would write one post for each of my 75 blogs (okay, its not that many but I have a lot and I love them all and they each represent an aspect of who I am and what I can offer readers), especially this one, which is really taking off and is all about our finances!

I think a key for me is COMPLETING SOMETHING, anything. Instead of working 10 minutes here and there on a project, I have to force myself to complete ONE THING. And a problem I have is HYPERFOCUS. I get afraid to start on a project all-in because I neglect other things that need to be done when I get all into one project. I have trouble stopping once I start and often thats why I dont even start.

What does your dream writing day look like and what are your challenges?

Breaking Writing Rules 1 5

I am in love with the book The Renegade Writer by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell. I have a dog-eared paperback copy and consult it often. Recently an author friend of mine wrote a bunch of posts on Bubblews where she takes a book about writing and breaks it down, inserting her own opinions and personal experiences! Here’s #15 of her series, which will take you to the others: http://www.bubblews.com/news/1504842-roberts-rules-of-writing-lesson-15-wave-good-bye

Heres the blog The Renegade Writer, which holds lots of inspiration for writers!

I decided to grab a bunch of the rules to break from The Renegade Writer and then write my own personal take on them based on personal experience or opinion. Definitely check out this book (link conveniently located above), because there is so much more to it. Heres part of my list (more to come!):

#1 Must Have Degree

#2 Must Have Connections

#3 Must Spend Money to Make Money

#4 Must Have Full Writers Guidelines

#5 Must Write for Money

INCOME and HOURS Report February 2016 Proofreading Writing Fiverr AmWriting WAHM

If youd like to see previous income reports, just go to the right side of the site and click on the category of INCOME REPORTS. Tracking my time and posting it is new, so it only goes back a couple of months, but starting in March Im going to keep track of time spent on updating ebooks and writing new ones because it all counts!

WHO am I?
I am the homeschooling mom of 5 kids and wife to Aron. I graduated from community college at the age of 28 with a 2-year Associate of Arts general degree. My work background: waitress, hostess, secretary, office manager at various places. I got many opportunities to learn how to proofread but have no formal training in writing, social media or direct sales. I quit my job in 2001 to stay home with my first son and never went back to work in an office.

WHAT do I do?
Im a blogger, author of books, writer of regional parenting magazine articles, social media maven, proofreader. I dont do direct sales anymore because it split my focus and I need to concentrate on my creative side

Why I am sharing my income?
I like to show what can be done. I am able to fit in at least 20 working hours per week and usually more while homeschooling my kids, loving on my husband and taking the kids places to have fun (pool, sports, field trips, co-op, playdates, trips, etc.). I am not sharing this to brag or because I think I rock. I am sharing so you know that someone with no English degree can be a writer and a proofreader and make a decent income.

STAY WITH ME HERE!
So what you see above is what I RECEIVED ... in my accounts and in the mail as checks. So a lot of that was EARNED before January. So what I EARNED in January is very close to this amount above for some reason, at $1,855 and I worked 65.25 hours this month, and Ill try to get better about tracking time I worked on my ebooks so you can see time put in on the front end of that for income on the back end eventually.

If you want to divide $1,855 EARNED in January by 65.25 hours worked, you get $28.43 per hour. Yes, that sounds great to be working at home all comfy cozy while my kids sleep and then they wake up and we homeschool and have a blast the rest of the day.

KEEP IN MIND, however, that taxes are not paid on that. And that my health insurance is through my husbands work. If you want to take about 20% off the top of that for taxes, just for fun, then I make $22.74 per hour. Still not bad and I set my own hours and dont work with people face-to-face, which rocks for my ADD!!!!

The dollar amounts I show are what I actually RECEIVED in my hot little hand or PayPal account, not what I EARNED because things show up at different times and take different amounts of time to come around. Some months I may have a lot of articles in publications but dont show much income ... thats because checks will often show up later and many at one time.

*This is the book I reference that helps me make money writing articles (Make Money to Write About Your Kids) and also brings in a little bit of income all by itself ... Grab it now on Kindle or even get it for free for loan on Kindle Unlimited!

August 2015 Awesome Online Income Writing Proofreading

Lets get some things out of the way before I show you my rockin infographic I made on the FREE site canva.com.

WHO am I?
I am the homeschooling mom of 5 kids and wife to Aron. I graduated from community college at the age of 28 with a 2-year Associate of Arts general degree. My work background: waitress, hostess, secretary, office manager at various places. I got many opportunities to learn how to proofread but have no formal training in writing, social media or direct sales. I quit my job in 2001 to stay home with my first son and never went back to work in an office.

WHAT do I do?
Im a blogger, author of books, writer of regional parenting magazine articles, social media maven, proofreader, Jamberry consultant and Younique presenter.

Why I am sharing my income?
I like to show what can be done. I am able to fit in at least 20 working hours per week and usually more while homeschooling my kids, loving on my husband and taking the kids places to have fun (pool, sports, field trips, co-op, playdates, trips, etc.). I am not sharing this to brag or because I think I rock. I am sharing so you know that someone with no English degree can be a writer and a proofreader and make a decent income.

I recently decided to focus on just six main areas of income, as opposed to the way I used to do it, making pennies here and there in way too many online places. Diversification is still very important to online income for me, but by focusing on six areas, balls are not getting dropped and my time is more focused.

** I call Younique and Jamberry income "online" because I dont do vendor events or home parties.

The dollar amounts I show are what I actually RECEIVED in my hot little hand or PayPal account, not what I EARNED because things show up at different times and take different amounts of time to come around. Some months I may have a lot of articles in publications but dont show much income ... thats because checks will often show up later and many at one time.

*This is the book I reference that helps me make money writing articles and also brings in a little bit of income all by itself ...

New Market WOW! Women on Writing

Heres one Im going to try to pitch. Check it out! Heres the website so you can peruse.

SUBMISSIONS

We depend on talented freelancers to write for us. Please send your query and/or submission in the body of your email. For more details on submissions, see our writer’s guidelines and details below: WOW! Writers Guidelines WOW! welcomes queries and submissions from its readers. Remember each issue focuses on Women, Writing and the monthly Theme. Columns, Word Counts and Pay Rates: Twenty Questions:  $50 How 2 (1,500 - 2,000 Words): $75 Inspiration (1,500 - 2,000 Words): $75 Feature Interviews (up to 3,000 Words): $75 Feature Articles (up to 3,000 Words): $150 Rights: We do not accept reprints. If you would like to repurpose a previously published article, please notify us at the time of your query and include the proposed changes that will make it specifically suited to WOW!.Acceptance is not guaranteed and is up to the discretion of the editorial board. We require First Electronic Rights and the right to archive the article indefinitely. After one month from the date of publication, rights revert back to the author. Although we support you in republishing your article in other online and print publications, we request that you not syndicate your article on sites that provide free content. This practice lowers the value of the piece we have published, and using those sites strips you of your rights to your own article. By submitting your work to WOW!, you are agreeing to these rights and terms. Compensation: WOW! pays on publication by PayPal or check. When your submission is published, you will receive a “live link” email notification. When you receive the notice, please reply to the email with an invoice that includes your social security number and payment preferences. *Note: if you opt for payment by check, please understand that it may take up to one month after publication for you to receive your payment. If you opt for PayPal payment, you will be paid within two weeks of publication. How to Submit: You may either query or send the completed article in the body of an email. WE DO NOT OPEN ATTACHMENTS. In the subject line you MUST include the words "Submission” or “Query.” Because of the high volume of spam we receive daily, emails that are not clearly addressed with the appropriate subject line may be deleted without being read. Editorial Response: WOW! has grown exponentially since its launch September 2006. While we are excited by the incredible interest and wonderful submissions from so many talented freelancers, we have found the need to amend our editorial response procedures. We receive hundreds of queries every month and can no longer respond to every single query we receive. We will respond to freelancers whose queries show WOW!spirit, knowledge and understanding of our audience, a solid, fleshed-out article or interview idea, and which fit into our editorial calendar. We have set up an auto-responder to let you know your submission has been received. However, if you do not hear from us, please understand that it is not a disparagement against your writing, it is most likely that your submission does not suit our needs at this time. Helpful Hints: Study previous issues and take note of our tone and style. Consider the contents and structure of our various sections: Feature Articles, Feature Interviews, How2, Inspiration, etc. Once you have a feel for what we publish, consider your own expertise and interest. We are looking for queries that have a fully fleshed-out idea, a rough breakdown of the content of the piece you are proposing, and any sources if applicable. Please also include your bio, writing samples, and any other information or links you feel are appropriate for our consideration. Do not send an email containing nothing but links. We will not follow them across the web to seek your writing samples. Choose your best and most appropriate sample to include in the body of your email. (Yes, we know it will be a long email.) If you arent sure your piece will fit WOW!, query and let us look at it. Send email to: submissions[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com Please format your submission in “web friendly” 14pt Verdana font, single-spaced lines, block paragraphs, with one space after periods and other ending punctuation. Response times vary but we try to get back with you within 2 months. If you havent heard anything after that time, please query and mention your submission. Good luck! And we look forward to your submissions.

Holding Yourself Accountable Writing Time

Im pretty sure you are like me.

You sit down to write. All distractions have been removed. Your writing space is quiet. It is time to write. You have at least an hour of uninterrupted time to write, to reach your writing and financial goals that you have for yourself and for your family.

You maybe even get a few good lines out.

Then those sirens Facebook or email call your name. They make you think you HAVE to check them. You wonder if you have OCD as you cant. resist. clicking. over. to. them.

You piddle around there for a while. It is, after all, to stay social, especially since you are the reclusive writer type (not!).

You go back to writing. Get a few words down. Perfect! You are in the groove. BUT ...

Oh, you know you just cant sit here on your butt writing while the sink is full of dishes. And speaking of your butt, a few squats could not hurt. Is that the phone? A radio survey? Absolutely I have time to do a very important radio survey!

Okay, writers, how do we stop doing this? I would love to know your tips because I am like a chihuahua with ADHD when it comes to writing.

And if you have no tips, lets just commiserate!

The Art Business of Writing by Chris Jones

Loved this book. So much helpful advice. Perfect size ... not too long and not too short. It even went beyond where I am in my career right now and took it to business cards (I do have a mommy card with all my businesses on it) and web hosting (I just use free Blogger and have for about 9 years) advice.

Here are some takeaways for me personally, and I have been writing for publication since about 2006 and ebooks since 2009:

• Check out the Pomodoro timer in your phones app store. Interesting to see how much work I was actually getting done versus how much time I THOUGHT I was spending working. It was much less, actually. Heres my post about discovering this helpful app!
• This book made me realize that it would be doable for me to write 500 words per day if I made room in my life for that and did it first, BEFORE sitting down to my proofreading jobs. Its all about priorities.
• The book is about the Art + Business of writing. To me thats like being good at English + Math, you know? You cant be all about the art of it ... because you also have to worry about record keeping, collections, getting clients, marketing and so much more!
• Who is my reader? What do I hope they will learn and how will I help them? Like with my cookbooks, thats easy. And same for my book about making money to write for magazines. But my parenting Christmas and Halloweens? Kinda general and might need to be reworked into a more general Holidays book thats more focused on solutions.
• Am I writing for them or for me? You have to somewhat write for yourself. Like most of my parenting articles were for me and same for the tater tot cookbook and even the magazine one was to compile all my markets but then I wrote all the tips in the beginning for the reader! I put all the tater tot recipes in one place so I would have them. Then I spiced them up and created more and added desserts! This gets me so excited to work on my other 8 projects I want to do, like this one!

What are some helpful things that work for you in your life as a writer?

**There were typos that were distracting to me as a proofreader. If there were only a couple I would not even mention it, but there were many and they were easy-to-catch things like commas for pauses and "your" instead of "you" ... and others. I have to admit I do proofread my own work because Im a proofreader, but I probably should not be doing that. I recently read something decent with few typos and knew the author did not use a proofreader and she said she used Grammarly. Im just saying Word and Grammarly are not humans, so spend the money to hire a proofreader for your baby (your book) or someone like me is going to mention it so you fix it. We dont do it to be mean, we do it so youll make it right and do better on your next book! I promise I am not even trolling for new clients when I point these things out; I am so busy on Fiverr already! I loved this book so much that I am choosing to ignore the typos and give it five stars on Amazon!

Wrap Up Posts About Writing

Happy Hump Day, fellow writers! Thought you might enjoy a selections of posts I write over at Bubblews that you can pick and choose from to read whenever you like. Lets begin:

1. Heres where I share with you about a book a writer friend of mine has written.

2. Here I want to know if you could write a book in 9 months.

3. Heres where I challenge you to even just write one article a month to submit for publication and then reap the benefits of it being a reprint.

4. Heres where I answer the question, "Why blog at Bubblews?"

5. Oh, dear. I had to say it. You should never be friends with a writer.

October 2015 Ostentatious Online Income Writing Proofreading Younique Jamberry

Lets get some things out of the way before I show you my rockin infographic I made on the FREE site canva.com. Also, here are the figures for August 2015. Here is September.

Keep in mind I took a week off this month to have a vacation with my family at Eugene T. Mahoney State Park in a cabin in Ashland, Nebraska. We went to Omaha Zoo twice and Lincoln Childrens Museum and the Safari Wildlife Park and just had a relaxing time with no laptop in sight! This explains why my figures are lower than usual. Im hoping to go crazy in November so check back!

WHO am I?
I am the homeschooling mom of 5 kids and wife to Aron. I graduated from community college at the age of 28 with a 2-year Associate of Arts general degree. My work background: waitress, hostess, secretary, office manager at various places. I got many opportunities to learn how to proofread but have no formal training in writing, social media or direct sales. I quit my job in 2001 to stay home with my first son and never went back to work in an office.

WHAT do I do?
Im a blogger, author of books, writer of regional parenting magazine articles, social media maven, proofreader, Jamberry consultant and Younique presenter.

Why I am sharing my income?
I like to show what can be done. I am able to fit in at least 20 working hours per week and usually more while homeschooling my kids, loving on my husband and taking the kids places to have fun (pool, sports, field trips, co-op, playdates, trips, etc.). I am not sharing this to brag or because I think I rock. I am sharing so you know that someone with no English degree can be a writer and a proofreader and make a decent income.

I recently decided to focus on just six main areas of income, as opposed to the way I used to do it, making pennies here and there in way too many online places. Diversification is still very important to online income for me, but by focusing on six areas, balls are not getting dropped and my time is more focused.

** I call Younique and Jamberry income "online" because I dont do vendor events or home parties.

The dollar amounts I show are what I actually RECEIVED in my hot little hand or PayPal account, not what I EARNED because things show up at different times and take different amounts of time to come around. Some months I may have a lot of articles in publications but dont show much income ... thats because checks will often show up later and many at one time.

*This is the book I reference that helps me make money writing articles and also brings in a little bit of income all by itself ...

Market WOW! Women on Writing

Heres a great market for you! Heres the site I got these from: WOW! Women on Writing.

Good luck!

We depend on talented freelancers to write for us. Please send your query and/or submission in the body of your email. For more details on submissions, see our writer’s guidelines and details below:

WOW! Writers Guidelines
WOW! welcomes queries and submissions from its readers. Remember each issue focuses on Women, Writing and the monthly Theme.
Columns, Word Counts and Pay Rates:
Twenty Questions:  $50
How 2 (1,500 - 2,000 Words): $75
Inspiration (1,500 - 2,000 Words): $75
Feature Interviews (up to 3,000 Words): $75
Feature Articles (up to 3,000 Words): $150
Rights:
We do not accept reprints. If you would like to repurpose a previously published article, please notify us at the time of your query and include the proposed changes that will make it specifically suited to WOW!.Acceptance is not guaranteed and is up to the discretion of the editorial board.
We require First Electronic Rights and the right to archive the article indefinitely. After one month from the date of publication, rights revert back to the author. Although we support you in republishing your article in other online and print publications, we request that you not syndicate your article on sites that provide free content. This practice lowers the value of the piece we have published, and using those sites strips you of your rights to your own article.
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WOW! has grown exponentially since its launch September 2006. While we are excited by the incredible interest and wonderful submissions from so many talented freelancers, we have found the need to amend our editorial response procedures.
We receive hundreds of queries every month and can no longer respond to every single query we receive. We will respond to freelancers whose queries show WOW!spirit, knowledge and understanding of our audience, a solid, fleshed-out article or interview idea, and which fit into our editorial calendar.
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Study previous issues and take note of our tone and style. Consider the contents and structure of our various sections: Feature Articles, Feature Interviews, How2, Inspiration, etc. Once you have a feel for what we publish, consider your own expertise and interest.
We are looking for queries that have a fully fleshed-out idea, a rough breakdown of the content of the piece you are proposing, and any sources if applicable. Please also include your bio, writing samples, and any other information or links you feel are appropriate for our consideration.
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If you arent sure your piece will fit WOW!, query and let us look at it.
Send email to:

submissions[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com

Please format your submission in “web friendly” 14pt Verdana font, single-spaced lines, block paragraphs, with one space after periods and other ending punctuation.
Response times vary but we try to get back with you within 2 months. If you havent heard anything after that time, please query and mention your submission.
Good luck! And we look forward to your submissions.

Im Writing for a Penny a Word

Im cringing as you read this, but I have done something I said I would never do. And I did it because my kids all like their little weekly gymnastics class.

I wrote for a penny a word. I wrote 10 pieces that were 250+ words. I put my kids to bed then stayed up til 1 a.m. finishing up something, a topic that put me to sleep. A topic I did not feel strongly about and maybe didnt even agree with.

And I would probably do it again.

I mean, if it supplements my reprint income from writing for the regionals, why not?

So I made sure the others in these writing groups knew about my ebook. Because if they can write ANYTHING for a penny a word, they can certainly come up with something interesting in the parenting and family arena.

And I am soooo not a heartless, money-hungry witch. I definitely have a sort of Hardship Program, if you will. I offer a deep discount on my ebook, all you have to do is ask. I just want to get it into the hands of those who need it! I love my fellow writers and want to die with a clear conscience!

STILL working on the 5th edition! Got this cool cover made at Fiverr.com for 5 bucks!!!

Writing Helps and Gripes

Here is a hodge podge of writing stuff for your reading pleasure. If you arent already on HootSuite, you hafta get on there NOW! What are you waiting for? Its free and you can schedule your tweets and other social media shares so you arent inundating followers when you happen to be at your computer. After that I have chosen some other fun posts for you. Enjoy! And remember, I always love to hear from you in the comments section!

HOOTSUITE 101 FOR DUMMIES LIKE YOU AND ME

SEE WHAT BUBBLERS ON BUBBLEWS MAKE WITH BUBBLEWS MATH

OVERWEIGHT FREELANCERS

WHATS YOUR WRITING ROUTINE?

WHAT I WISH MAGAZINE EDITORS WOULD DO

Chicken Soup for the Soul Writing Opportunities ChickenSoupForTheSoul

Chicken Soup for the Soul has an astounding collection of inspiring books! I remember about 15 years ago when I got the one for mothers for Mothers Day and I still have it, all Post-It noted and highlighted! Click here to check out their possible upcoming books, which you can contribute to! They update it all the time as they publish more and come up with more ideas!

"If the story or poem you wrote is published by us, you will be paid $200 upon publication of the book plus you will receive ten free copies of the book your story or poem appears in."

We have many Chicken Soup for the Soul books in development and we frequently add new titles. If you have a great story or poem you want to submit but it doesn’t fit with any of the topics below, please save it and check this page again in the future to see if we have added a topic that’s a better match.

If you have a story or poem that you think fits two of the topics below, you may submit it to both. Then let us know in the Comments section that you’ve done so. Also, you may submit more than one piece for each book.

We are always looking for new talent. So whether you are a regular contributor or new to our family, please share your story or poem with us. If this is your first time, please visit our Story Guidelines page, which will answer many of your questions about subject matter, length, and style.

Please scroll through the topics listed below to see what were working on! Then click on the Submit Your Story link and you will be taken to our submission form.

If you are a college student, please click here to learn about "What’s Your Story?" Find out how to submit your story in writing or in video form.

**Chicken Soup for the Soul is in my book Make Money to Write About Your Kids. The 6th edition is currently on sale for $2.99 on Kindle while I work on the 7th edition (if you click over and its still $4.99 please come back; Amazon is updating)! Grab your copy. Its also always free for download on Kindle Unlimited! AND you can get it in print version as well!

Why Are You Writing for FREE Part Two Blogging

See Part One here where I kinda sorta rail on Huffington Post Parents online and I rail on YOU for not buying my book and giving getting published FOR REAL MONEY a shot! Lets recap: you cant buy your bottle of moscato with COVERAGE (coverage = lots of people who read a popular website see your piece and MAYBE share it and MAYBE follow you and MAYBE care).

I love blogging. I started doing it around 2006 when my third kid was just a baby nursing and in my arms all the time. It was something I could do one-handed and feel like I was using my brain. But I didnt make any money doing it. I had to figure out a way to make money while also doing the stay-at-home mom gig I loved so much. I mean, really, WHY NOT?

Blogging keeps your mind fresh. I do it because I dont have time to scrapbook anymore and it has become our online memory book of vacations and other fun times. Sometimes, though, I will pop off something I think is pretty damn brilliant and I copy it and paste it into a new document and its like 500+ words and I say to myself,

"Hmm. Thats long enough to submit to the regional parenting magazine markets I have all set up in my email contacts list. Im going to go ahead and publish this on the blog for some lovin for it and at the same time submit it to print and online magazines. And yeah, I think its good enough for the amazing Huffington Post Parents online or some other parenting site that does not pay, but Im going to try to get some money out of this thing."

By the way, why am I writing about this topic HERE instead of pitching it to writing magazines that pay? That, my friend, is a good question and has been on my to do list for a very long time. Lets see if I can hit that goal while the kiddies are out of official homeschool for the summer!

ANYWAY, another great reason for blogging is so you can take a ton of blog posts and turn them into a possible book or ebook. You might THINK you are just blogging but then all of a sudden you realize you have a lot of great posts that all link up and form a coherent idea that could really help people!

So where would you start if you wanted to send a piece to a magazine? Well, um, Writers Market put out by Writers Digest. Its been around FOREVER. And if you wanted to submit to the family and parenting markets? Well, Writers Market sucks for that, sorry. They only have a tiny handful of those markets.

But I have a ton of markets! And they pay! After I realized Writers Market sucked, I spent hours collecting them while my kids slept or nursed on me or played happily and I did it for you! I know a writer who had a regional parenting magazine see her piece on her blog and buy it and she got to leave it on her blog. But why wait for that? Why not go straight to the mags? You can do both if you want! And by "both" I mean EVERYTHING!

This is important, so please pay attention!

You can have a piece on your own blog while you also get it published MULTIPLE PLACES ... Houston Family, San Diego Family, Pittsburgh Parent, Baton Rouge Parents, Treasure Coast Parenting, Western New York Family and more all at the same time or in the same year or whenever they want to use your piece. There. So now you are on your own blog being wonderful YOU and you have $200+ in your bank account on top of it!

I am done lecturing and scolding you. But you have to go here to buy my book, which is available in both ebook and print versions!

This is where I write. At this Formica table. Thats my little blue wireless mouse, and the kitchen is behind me since I seem to spend a lot of time there! I have a corner office with a window (so I can see what the naughty McKids are up to!)

And come back because, as always, I have more to share!

Part Three will ask why you are writing for content mills for 5 bucks an article

Organizing Writing Projects with Self Diagnosed ADHD

A writing friend of mine recently asked me:

Do you have one block of writing time for all your writing projects or does each project get its own time? Sometimes I feel like a fat man at a all-you-can-eat buffet. I want to do every project on my heart. It is hard for me to focus solely on one until completion.

Im not sure Im the best person to ask! I mean, I do a chunk of  my work in the mornings, some more in the evenings and try to sneak in 15-minute pieces here and there throughout the day depending on what Im working on and how busy my life with my kids is at that point in time.

Here are some things I generally have going on:

1. Proofreading
2. Blogging
3. Bubblews
4. Regional parenting magazine articles
5. Self-published ebook projects
6. Private writing clients
7. The Kindle Pixie author promotion business

The short answer is: I dont finish anything in one sitting usually. I try, but my self-diagnosed ADHD makes me flit from thing to thing and I cant focus on one thing for long. I recently realized Ive always been this way and have often been given crap about it by my husband, parents and friends, but its working for me obviously.

So a typical morning might look like this, starting around 7 a.m.:

• Make coffee, grab a protein bar and some water
• Check Facebook for messages, check email
• Get distracted and check Amazon to see if any ebooks sold
• Check Bubblews bank balance
• The checking of Facebook and email will generally lead to other things I need to do or fix or write or whatever
• Now its time to focus on a project. I have a list on a spiral notebook and I start a new page each day to refresh the list. I start with the most urgent thing first.
• I keep a wall calendar to tell me what I should be doing and when stuff is due.
• I start on the most urgent thing, get bored, and move to the next thing.
• If the projects suck, I procrastinate them and move to something I usually dont want to do, like delve deeply into an ebook Im writing. I put it off because when I start I get lost in it but it does not immediately pay the bills.
• If all my projects are crummy, I can be found cleaning the bathroom or doing dishes, two things I hate.
• I sit down, I check realtor.com to find the perfect house even though I dont want to move.
• The kids start to get up, we homeschool, we head out for the day, we come home. Around 7 they settle in for a movie in the wintertime and I sneak in a few little work things if the homefront is quiet.
• I keep a plastic thing in front of me at the kitchen table (my "office") to hold all my files so I dont lose things or spill chocolate milk on them.
• I try to write 10 Bubblews per day to max out on Sundays around $75 so I write and post those throughout the day and spend about 15 minutes at a time on them.
• I check email like a crack addict and like to keep it clean and organized in there because I HATE not being able to find stuff and after my grandpa died last fall my email was overflowing and was a freaking mess.
• Right now I am doing this blog post to procrastinate working on a nightmare formatting job, so there.

I hope that answers that for you with about 1,000 too many words, friend!