What I've Been Writing About

I've decided to branch out a little and actually own something that I published. Although I've owned Brookelorren.com for a while, I hadn't really done anything with it, except put up a blog. I actually put something up today, using a content manager called Joomla. I think finding a way to efficiently publish what I write was what was keeping me back from actually using the site to its full potential. My husband does all this stuff in flash, and although it's nice, I just want something that I can quickly publish my content with.

But that's not my Olympics site. As you may know, I have several Olympics Squidoo pages... so many that I have an Olympic lensography. I've decided to branch out a little with an Olympics blog and Olympics web site. They each have their own strong points. If you like the Olympics, I hope that you check them out.

In December of 2008, I was in a bad situation. Our family's income was less than half of the poverty level, and I didn't know what we could do to change things. I was a homeschool teacher and didn't want to give that up. Listening to Dave Ramsey, I thought about what he would say, and he would say that our income needed to go up. I needed to make money working from home.

I knew that I couldn't sell things. I could write though. So when I learned that people could make a living by writing from home, I decided to give it a try.

Over the past year, I've learned a lot of things. I have been building up my business from practically nothing to earning more than $75 a month (nearly everything is profit). I have written articles, produced Squidoo pages, and have designed t-shirts, mugs, postcards, and other products for Zazzle. Becoming a freelance writer/content producer is one of the best things that I have ever done.

Read more about the story of my first year as a freelance writer.

Obamacare by My2Cents
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The government has been really active lately, spending our money. One of the proposed programs that the government wants to spend our money on is health care. The bill is still in development, has been protested by many, and is deceptive. Barack Obama says that he wants people to have choices, but the bill says otherwise. If you have private health care in 2013, you'll be able to keep it, but if the company folds or if you don't have health care on that date, you'll be stuck going to Mexico for decent health care (don't expect it here).

Cash for Clunkers finally ended. It was a bad program to begin with, as most of the cars that were eligible for the program were actually decent cars, and you had to buy a new car, rather than a nice used car with good gas mileage. It took a lot of cars that poor people would otherwise be able to purchase. I guess it was a nice stimulus package for the auto industry though... and we can expect to see some of those new cars on the repo lots in future years.

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Who would ever think that inventing the clock would have been interesting? When I was in college, I read The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin, and I discovered that it was really interesting. I never really though about how they developed the week, or the leap year, or even the hour. This book, and my lens on the Invention of the Clock, will tell you a little bit more about it.

Articles About Kids

Preparing Children for a Summer Trip
Keep Your Student Athlete Hydrated
Summer Activities for Preschool Students
Kids Should Be Given Responsibility
Green Ideas you can Teach Your Elementary Student
Basic Things Preschool Children Should Know About Safety
Pool Toys For Boys and Girls
The Joys of Old Toys
Make a Crown-Shaped Birthday Cake
5 Financial Lessons for Elementary Aged Children

Articles About Homeschooling

Spelling Game: Rocket to the Moon
How to do well in the Scripps Howard Spelling Bee
Physical Education for Homeschoolers

Articles About The Bible

Barack Obama's Name and the Bible
Is Swine Flu in the Bible?
Moses In Egypt As A Young Adult
What I Timothy 6 Says About the US Economy

Articles About Arizona

The Arizona Science Center in Phoenix
Visit Fish Creek, Arizona

News

Swine Flu Reaches America
Obama Volunteers Test Citizens for Loyalty
What the New York Times Can Learn From Club Penguin - Circulation is down in the New York Times, but the Club Penguin Times is doing well.
Influenza is Becoming Resistant to Flu Drugs

Entertainment

Pssst... Wanna Buy an Oscar Winner?
Where to get Free Magazines
Back To The Future: A Classic '80s Movie
Whitney Houston's Debut Album

Food

Growing a Container Garden
Easy, Cheap Meal Ideas You Can Make in Under 30 Minutes
Five Healthy Snacks for Busy Families
Cola Without High Fructose Corn Syrup, Splenda, or Aspartame
What the Labels on Beef Mean
Baking Potatoes in the Microwave

Money

10 Frugal Summer Activities for Kids
Safety Tips For Driving an Old Car
Old Debt Doesn't Stay Forever - There is a statute of limitations on debt, check your state law before you make a payment.
Getting A Musical Instrument Without Spending a Fortune
Summer Jobs For High School Students
Legitimate Work From Home Jobs
How To Have A Sunny Financial Future When The World Is Drowning" How to survive financially in this economy.

Health

Health Habits that Can Prevent Swine Flu
An Apple Juice A Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Things to do if You're Planning on Getting Pregnant
What is Sickle Cell Anemia?
Smoke Detectors Save Lives if You Don't Sleep Through Them
What You Need to Know About Sunblock
Life Insurance For Diabetics

Sweepstakes

How To Win Prizes With Online Sweepstakes I won thousands last year! And the picture is a picture of my daughter as a baby :-)

Product Reviews

The Last Days by Joel C. Rosenberg
Toy Review: Thomas And Friends Wooden Railway Oval Set My little boy loves this.
The Parents Magnet School My kids have this.

Other

Getting Ready for Navy Boot Camp"
Was George Washington Bulletproof?
How I Got Work As A Movie Extra in Los Angeles
Is the Military For You?
Top Three Camping Spots in Western Washington
Web Sites that Support the Troops
DIfferent Types of Car Seats

Should We Pimp This Bum?
Will Bodybugg Revolutionize The Way We Lose Weight? I don't think so.
Military Husbands Serve Their Country Too! My husband was a military husband. Everybody always remembers the military wives, but not civilian spouses married to military enlisted and officer women.

Photo by Lusi at sxc.hu

Some things to keep in mind when you write:

* Write about something that 1) interests you or 2) you know about. When you write about something that interests you, you are likely to want to learn something about it before you write about it.

* If you aren't a great speller, use spellcheck. If grammar isn't your thing, type your content out in Word and do a grammar check. Even if you are adept at grammar, sometimes you discover small mistakes when running a grammar check.

* Don't expect to make millions overnight. You can make money writing on the internet (I do), but don't expect to support your family on independent contractor work right away (I don't, yet).

* Promote your work. Quality links to your site will help increase your status on Google, which will lead to more page views.

* Use keywords. Think about what people might be searching for as you write your content. Use those keywords throughout your article. Run your article through a service like Textalyser to see if your keywords are used between 2 and 5%.

Photo by typofi at sxc.hu.