Good Content Writing

If you are reading this then you are curious enough to check out my writing capabilities, or trying to improve your own. There are a few way to showcase writing abilities when writing articles for people online.

Some of these ways include but are not limited to:

-Writing lists 

       + Writing lists can be tricky since most of the time people who look at online lists are known for skimming through them. It is important to grab their attention quickly, because people want to see the information that brought them there in the first place.

-Keeping readers engaged 

        + This is one of the most important things when writing. No one wants an article half read before it gets boring which  makes you loose a potential follower to a site, or blog. Make the content engaging, upbeat, and entertaining. 

- Keep your content "short and sweet"

        + The reason for this is that most of the time  people read the first two sentences of a paragraph before moving on to the next. Of that on average, viewers will look over the first three paragraphs and then decide if the material is worth finishing.  At that moment they will decide if the page they  are on is even right for them. This is a key point for search engine optimization. 

-Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 

        + The closer your article is to what they are searching, the more likely they are to read it in full. Great back links, keywords, and choosing the right headline are important. Using search engine optimization can make a website one of the top on the list when people use Google, Bing, and Yahoo search. 

Understanding search engine optimization (SEO), keeping content short, having readers engaged, and lists can be very benificial when showcasing what type of work you can do for people who own websites, or blogs looking for the right writer for their specific needs. 

Freelance Writing

I recently began Freelance writing in an effort to gain a little bit of extra cash doing what I love. I must say I fell in love quickly. There are a few sites I am looking at to expand my options. I must admit there is something thrilling about getting an E-mail saying “Congratulations your article has been accepted.” As a writer you don’t get to hear that too often.
Starting Out
I began writing small $0.80 articles to test the waters. They were short and easy so I began to move up from  those to bigger assignments. Now, keep in mind I do not make that much money writing these articles. Just starting out means you do not have the qualifications or experience to get paid very high.
Once your work begins to showcase you will find yourself climbing up to higher paid articles. For example a person starting out would get paid almost $1.00 for 100 words. When you move up you might get paid $2.00 for 100 words. Move further still and you could make even more. I saw a top rated article go for $40.00 for 700 words about SEO (search engine optimization). I wrote an article for same topic and got $5.00.
As you can see there is a latter of progression in freelance writing, but it doesn’t happen overnight. As a primary income I wouldn’t suggest Freelance writing until you progress enough that you make the bigger bucks.
Benefits
The benefits of Freelance writing goes further when you realize it can significantly improve your writing. Think of them as good writing exercises. When taking a creative writing class they often give you writing prompts to get you to write all kinds of things. The more you write the more you improve so why not get paid to practice your craft.
Another benefit is that it can be an added experience to put into query letters if you are a novelist just starting out. Most publishers and literary agents want to see some history of your work. Proof that your writing is good enough is a great way to start. New writers don’t have published work, and so being able to put something is better then nothing.
Websites
I can’t give a decent review on two of the sites I started on since I literally just started with them. I have yet to write an article for Odesk and iWriter. They seem like great sites I just haven’t found an article to write yet.
Textbroker is the site I fell in love with. You have 24 hours to write the article you choose. It’s great for a person like me since I have four small children and can’t always sit for 2 hours straight. With them I can choose an article and complete it during naptime then choose another and do that one at bedtime. If I can’t get to the article by naptime it’s okay too since I have 24 hours I can do it later.
Love What You Do
The first $5.00 I made I literally jumped for joy because I was getting paid to write. I couldn’t believe it. In a matter of two weeks I wrote fifty articles anywhere from 100 words to 1200 words. The best part about it is that you can choose which ones you want to write.
The fact of the matter is in life a person is happiest when they are doing what they love. If you are trying to make a living with your writing, but don’t know how then maybe Freelance writing is something to look into. It won’t make millions but some money is better then none. 

I'll Always Wait For You

        I can loose all possessions,
        I can loose the house,
        I can loose my friends,
and be as worthless as a mouse.
But all that wouldn't matter for all I want is you,
and that's why you should know I'll always wait for you.
        I can have another,
        I can have myself,
        I can have a separate life,
or have sex with someone else.
but all that wouldn't matter for all I want is you,
and that's why you should know I'll always wait for you.
        I can only be a friend,
        I can only be a wife,
        I can only be a mother,
and that's perfectly alright.
because THAT is all that matters for all I want is you,
and that's why you should know I'll always wait for you.

 **Dedicated to my husband during his deployment**

im yours by ashley

What You Could have been

“Mommy I just love to paint! Can I paint at home, and not just in school?” A beautiful seven year old girl asked her mom when she came inside from the bus stop. She had art class today, which was her favorite part of school.

“We don’t have the stuff you need to paint, and we don’t have the money to get it.” Her mother replied.

“ I’ll ask for it for Christmas and maybe Santa will get me some. Then could I?”

“ Sara darling I’m on the phone.”

Christmas came and went and to her surprise she got paints from her grandma. Her curls danced happily around her face as she jumped up in down. She waited a few days to ask her mommy if she could paint. Anytime it was busy mommy always said no to her.

“Mommy can I paint?”

“No it’s far too messy, and I don’t feel like making sure your little brothers don’t get into the paint.”

She asked at least once a week for a while, but eventually as the paint brushes sat and the colors were left unopened, the little girl stopped asking.

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“Monica I know you love to wear your tutu and dance around the house, but with my work schedule I can’t take you to a ballet class. As it is I work two jobs and ballet is expensive.” Monica’s father replied.

He did work a lot, and with the divorce his ex-wife was taking even more money he needed. He would love nothing more then to indulge every whim of his daughters, but he couldn’t see spending so much money on something she will get bored of in a few months.

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“Billy, quit destroying everything in my house to build these things! My sweeper is now garbage!”

He knew he shouldn’t have done that, but he couldn’t help it. He had all these cool ideas in his head about different things he could built.

“I’m so tired of getting yelled at I should just give up.” He muttered to himself.

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Sara sat in the lunch room with her work friends Monica and Billy. They all hated their jobs, but stayed year in and year out. Each of them regretted Mondays, and couldn’t wait till Fridays.

“I would try to search for another job, but honestly I don’t think I will be much happier anywhere else.” Sara grumbled.

“I know what you mean. It doesn’t matter where I work. A job is a job.” Billy added.

“ I wish we were like other people who had dreams in life.”

“Like a famous painter.”

“An inventor..”

“Or maybe a ballerina.”

Why People Do Not Know I’m A Writer

I have been writing since I was around thirteen or fourteen. At that time it was poems, or short stories about my friends. Nothing impressive enough to show anyone.

 The reason why I starting writing was mostly emotions I couldn’t cope with.
My mom got into a bad accident by a drunken driver. All these emotions were running haywire inside of me, and the only way I could process them was on paper. It was the first time in life that writing had helped me. It soothed my aching heart, and by the time I was finished with something I felt better. It was as if what I felt inside moved onto the paper, stayed there unburdening me until I was almost free.

One day, I was at my great uncles house showing him a scrapbook I made. My great uncle ran across my poems as he flipped through it at the bar in his basement. He grabbed the first one I had ever wrote and then looked at his small fourteen year old great niece in almost a shock. 
This is what my much younger self wrote:

What do you do when all hope is gone?
What do you do when things come undone?
What do you do when life feels unbearable?
What do you do when everything is terrible?
What do you do when your only escape is sleep?
What do you do when feelings run more then skin deep?
What do you do when no one notices good deeds?
What do you do when no one hears your pleas?
What do you do when you just feel cursed?
What do you do when things get worse?
What do you do when you think of suicide?
What do you do when you always hurt inside?
I guess the only thing to do is to give up, or suck it up. Believe that sooner or later things get better.

“This is how you feel? Why didn’t you talk to anyone about it?” He asked.

I got embarrassed when he asked if this is how I really felt. I shrugged nand asked him not to tell anyone about my poems. I didn’t want anyone to make fun of me. He never did, because no one ever knew that I liked to write.

My point in all that is that writing, for me, became a comfort. It was what got me through things, and I didn’t want people to see who I really was. Poems that have such raw emotions, no matter how good or bad they are, can make a person see right into your soul.

After I went from poems to stories I remained private. I may not have been exposing my soul as much, but I was afraid someone could take my writing away. If I was told it wasn’t good then I wouldn’t be a writer. After all, a writer who sucks at writing isn’t really a writer. I was wrong.

Writing isn’t about how good you are at it, or what others think. It isn’t about how many books you write, or how much money you make. Being a writer isn’t even about being published or unpublished (though it is a big part of it).

It’s about a story inside of you that needs to be written. Without you to write it then it would never be told. Those characters, their story, and screams for life would disappear forever.

If I never get published, and not a single person reads my work I will still be happy. The reason is because I still wrote it, and I am still a writer. I still got the comfort from the pages, and I still felt the emotions of my words. Nothing else really matters.

It is only now that I have finally realized no one can take it away, that I began to look into publication. Anyone who knows the life of query letters, publishers, and literary agents knows it’s hard to get published without previously published work.

I bought The Writers Market, and it gave me some really good tips. A blog and social media presence is important to get work noticed. The idea frightened me, and still does a little, but I made this blog and my page anyway.

Even now as I share what I write, and my heart beats wild with every new view I am still happy being hidden. I still don’t like to admit I’m a writer, and to be honest, most of my family still doesn’t know.

Why do people still not know I’m a writer?
My work should speak for itself. The world will find out eventually i'm sure of that, but let them find out from something that I write. Let them read the words, and know the meaning. Let them see my writing instead of me.

My Disney Experience

There are a few things I wish I had when I went to Disney the first time. It's not to say it wasn't an awesome time it just wasn't as good as my second trip. That being said I decided to offer a bit of my opinion in the hopes that someone who reads it could have an even better time for their first trip.

                           **First thing first is to recommend the hotel on the park.**

1- If you only take one thing from me let it be this tip. Mydisneyexperience.com offers an amazing way to view rides, maps, shows, and the times each are open.

** A hotel on park means you can upload your reservations to the site, view your park hopper, water park choices, choose which days you want to go to which park, and even see which parts are open earlier or later for hotel guests only.**

2-  An itinerary. You don't have to stick with it, but it's a great way to know what you would like to do at each park. We all know the minute you get there you forget the things you were dying to try.
   The worst part of a trip to Disney is realizing you forgot to meet Elsa (for example) which was the one thing that you wanted to do most.

** If you have a hotel on the park they print it for you when you arrive.**

3- A map showing your itinerary. You are going to use a map or wish you had one. Its a big place with a lot of walkways with all kinds of things. Nothing is worse then walking around in zig zags trying to find what you wanted to ride. Then again, scrolling through a huge map to find what is on your list could be. Take it from me and make a pretty map with the top 10 things you definitely want to do being highlighted. You won't regret it, and if you don't end up using it then no harm no foul.

**hotel on park also has maps, or you can go online and print one out yourself**
 
5- It sounds weird, but plastic baggies. Use them for snacks, water proofing wallets, loose change, little souvenirs, and organizing your bags so dirty laundry doesn't mix with clean laundry.

6- Color code your family for each day. Now I know that no one wants to be that kind family, but there are a lot of people and it's hard to pick each other out of a crowd. Color coding helps more then you think when it comes to small children.
7- Key chains, temporary emergency tattoos, or something for each of your children to have on them at all times in case they get lost.

8-Disney gift cards from giant eagle for spending money. The gift cards help you from loosing money, swiping your card ten times a day, and gives you fuel perks if you plan on driving.
   
**Give each persona gift card (with an amount for the whole trip) so they get to buy something, and you don't have the urge to over spend on souvenirs. Gift cards will save you more money then you think.**

9- Give yourself one day from your trip to NOT go into the park. Either the day you arrive in Florida or the day before you leave. Relax in the pool, rest up, and enjoy your hotel. You paid for more then just a bed after all.

**While relaxing I suggest Epsome salts in the bath to ease the aches from walking all day.**

10- Last tip I can give you is to let it go(no pun intended).
   If your husband doesn't want to wait in line to see Cinderella, and your son sees the buzz light year line then let them go.
   If your in a big group for a grand family vacation, and everyone wants to go every which way then let them all go.
   Your in a good spot for the parade, and your excited because you didn't get good pictures of it last time. You saved that spot for an hour, and someone sits right in front of you. Let it go.
 
**It's every family's grand vacation**