Crystal is a valuable member of the NJFM community. She poses great questions, offers encouragement and provides information that has helped many of NJFM’s readers.

She recently unveiled her new website Crystal Clear Edits. You see, Crystal has this uncanny ability to spot typos and errors in manuscripts that have been reviewed by several pairs of eyes. Not only does she have the ability to find these mistakes, she is very compassionate when bringing these errors to your attention.

Her love of reading, respect for language and her eagle eyes makes Crystal Clear Edits the perfect business for someone with such qualities (not to mention that a name like Crystal is the icing on the cake).

If you’re writing a book, have written a book or have documents that require a fresh set of eyes, get in touch with Crystal. Crystal charges a fair price and provides a top-notch service. You won’t regret having Crystal review your manuscripts.

Crystal, I’m excited for you and I wish you all the best. You’ve been a tremendous help to me and I know you will be a tremendous help to others.

In those 5 years I’ve earned and learned quite a bit. The largest contributing factor to my online writing success was the decision to transition from up front to residual earnings.

The Changing Seasons

If you’ve been writing online for longer than one year, you know how much things have changed in that short period of time. I’ve witnessed even bigger changes over the past 5 years.

The one underlying constant is quality content works and people like to be told what to do. So much of the Internet is either providing information to help people make a decision or telling people how to make the decision. We are a thirsty bunch for being told what to do and how to do it.

Switching Gears

Regular NJFM followers may have noticed the decline in posting frequency. As I look at the evolution of the Internet, the evolution of my interests and changes in my off line life, I’m finding that NJFM holds a different position in my list of priorities.

While I still enjoy blogging here, I’m finding my enthusiasm is waning. There’s nothing worse than placing uninspired content on a blog just to keep things going.

What am I Saying?

I’m not quite sure. It’s like this. I like to blog, but I like to be inspired when I blog. There are times when the inspiration is hot and on fire and there are other times when it’s not. It seems that I’ve temporarily lost my enthusiasm for writing about writing. I haven’t lost my enthusiasm for writing, it just writing about writing has lost its luster for the time being.

This is not a “RIP” post for the demise of NJFM. It’s an “I have to follow my gut” post because the one thing freelance writing has taught me is to follow my gut.

I’ll continue to post here from time to time, but not as frequently as in the past. Call me crazy, but I think you would much prefer to read inspired content instead of prattling drivel about writing online.

Many moons ago I created my online playground, Tidbits and Stuff. You guys know the story. It was a hand-coded site, then a WordPress site, then a Joomla site and now…I’m converting it back to a WordPress site. I expect the process to take a month or two.

I learned a lot since March of 2006 when I first created the site. This site, as you know, has been beat down, picked back up and then Pandalized. It has been ignored, plagiarized and the object of constant experimentation. Tidbits has been one of my greatest teachers.

Paid to Learn

Over the years I’ve earned a bit of money from the site. Some years more money than others, but it consistently earned each month (earnings have dropped since being pawed by Panda).

When I first created the site I didn’t know I could earn money from it. It was a labor of love. Then I learned I could earn money from it and took the  “let’s add as much content to the site as possible” route. Sound familiar?

To populate my site with fast content I used free article directories. Not knowing any better, I used Digg and Reddit to gain quick traffic. I was brand new back then and didn’t realize I was spamming the social media sites.

My efforts gained results. I received record traffic and my earnings increased. All was going fine until one day, while on vacation, I checked my stats and the bottom fell out. Traffic dropped and so did the income. Tidbits was nowhere to be found on Google. My heart was sick (not to mention that Digg kicked me to the curb)!

When You Know Better…

To use Maya Angelou’s phrase (as spoken several times by Oprah Winfrey), “When you know better, you’ll do better.” Now as I look back at my major blunders, I understand why Tidbits never holds on to Google favor. If I were a search engine, I would Pandalize it too.

I stopped using article directory content on the site, but I’ve got hundreds of old articles that need to be removed. Additionally, the site is visually unappealing, which brings me to another lesson: When you find a tool that works for you, work it. Become an expert on it. Spend time learning the nuances and the quirks. By mastering a tool, you’ll reduce your effort and maximize your results.

Playing with Joomla was fun, but non productive. Joomla was too much of a tool for my needs. WordPress, on the other hand, is a nice comfortable fit.

Closing the Circle

I’ve returned to my first online love and am in the process of revamping Tidbits and Stuff. The difference this time is I’m approaching it with a different philosophy. I’m applying the philosophy that I’ve been developing over the past 4 ½ years as an online writer (online writing has transformed my life in many ways).

Slow, steady and honesty wins the race. I want long-lasting results. If I had taken this approach initially, Tidbits would only need a few nips and tucks. Instead I’ve got to perform major surgery in order to transform it into the site I want. Don’t read that as a complaint. It is a learning experience and I love playing around with themes, colors, images and of course, creating content.

I’m back to where I was 4 ½ years ago; playing with a site that I created out of love and taking it to a new and improved level. If I’m lucky, I’ll have it done by January. However, with the holidays upon us February seems to be a more realistic target.

I can’t help but understand why you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. The old dog has been around the block enough times to realize the tricks aren’t new. They just have a new façade. Why spend the time trying to master a new trick when the tricks only work for a short time?

In 2011 my word for the year was focus. My goal was to focus on residual income instead of up front pay. My word for 2012 is sustainability; only work on projects that have a long and enjoyable shelf life.

BTW: If you don’t have an online playground, I strongly suggest you create one.  It will teach you more than any guru can.

The Road I Took

I started out on the more frequently traveled road. That road involved lots of writing, querying, higher-paying gigs and lots of frustration. After spending time on that road, I realized it was very similar to the 9-5 employment road. It was paved a different color, but the frustration was the same.

Both roads required me to spend time working for someone else in order to get paid. I had to abide by their rules, regulations and guidelines. This, in and of itself, isn’t such a bad thing. It was a lot better than getting up and going to work, but it started to put a damper on my spirit and take my writing joy away. Anyone who has written for Demand Studios understands what I’m talking about.

Actually, I have to thank places like Demand Studios (for their frustrating editorial process) and Bright Hub (for their out right rejection of my application). If it weren’t for my frustration and rejection, I might not have concentrated as much on my residuals early on.

Thinking Long-Term

During my days of writing frustration (and rejection) I had to stop to think about what I wanted from my writing career. So, in usual style, I wrote a list of what I wanted/needed. Here’s the list I wrote oh so long ago:

• I want to write
• I want to write books
• I want to help folks via my online properties
• I want a sustainable business model that allows me time away from the computer and isn’t dependent upon my being online all day.
• I want to write evergreen, timeless, motivational content that does not require updating (or very little).
• I want my online properties to support my lifestyle
• I want to experience life and write about it
• I never want to retire.

The last line about retirement is key. In the 9-5 world people grit their teeth and try to stick it out until retirement only to find that retirement isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. The cost of living continued to rise and the retirement checks did not.

Humans are the only species that retires. The rest of the animal kingdom remains useful until they die. If an animal retires, it becomes dinner for the working folks.

Back to the Road Less Traveled

In order to shape my online writing career to meet the goals I listed, I had to change direction. I slowly transitioned off of the frequently traveled road in favor of the side road. The side roads aren’t smoothly paved, nor do they have the white reflective paint, which makes it easier to see when traveling at night. There were no Facebook or Twitter rest stops on this road.

There were one or two Wrong Way signs, but that was about it. Choosing to ignore the Wrong Way signs, I continued down the path.

Choose Your Path

I didn’t mean to get all Robert Frost  on you guys, but I think you should take a little time to jot down your writing goals. Take a moment away from the craziness and the frustration. Find some quiet time to think about where you want to be in the next 2, 3, 5 years or so.

Once you know where you want to go, use that as your measuring stick to see if you’re on the right track. Learn to work from the inside (from your own goals, dreams and aspirations) out instead of the outside (what everyone else is telling you to do) in. I find inside out living so much more rewarding and you will too.

If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up for NJFM’s Motivation for Writers Newsletter. A dose of motivation will be sent to your inbox every Monday.

NaturallySpeaking 11.5

The version I’m using, 11.5, has a neat feature, which makes it easier to post to Twitter and Facebook. Because I like to look at the glass half full, I’ll call it a neat little feature (actually, it’s a pain in the rear).

The feature allows you to quickly dictate a new tweet or post to Facebook just by telling the software to do so. By giving it the command of either “tweet that” or “post to Facebook” NaturallySpeaking opens a small dictation window. For tweets the window holds the maximum of 140 characters. I’m not too sure of the character limitation for the Facebook window.

Unwanted Software Feature

Since I don’t post to Facebook nor do I tweet, this feature is wasted on me. The problem I have with this cool feature is that during my dictation, the software mistakenly thinks I want it to tweet something so it activates the “Post to Twitter” window that only holds 140 characters.

When I dictate, I pace away from the computer. Imagine my surprise when I return to home base only to see the difficult concept I was attempting to explain had been reduced to a 140-character tweet! This has happened one time too many and I’ve yet to find the menu option in NaturallySpeaking to disable it.

A Hack Workaround

Not wanting to waste additional time playing around the software, I did a Google search on how to disable the post to twitter or post to Facebook NaturallySpeaking option. I came across this blog post (NaturallySpeaking Tips and Tricks) that was a lifesaver.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who doesn’t like/need/use the feature. After following the instructions, I was able to disable the post to Twitter and post to Facebook feature. It’s unfortunate that NaturallySpeaking didn’t put a quick and simple way to disable the feature in the software.

I look at my software as a tool to help me accomplish a given task. It should not become the task.