LakeMom's Lensography

My lens count is not very impressive currently (6 - actually 7 with this one!) but I have lots of ideas and can't wait to find the time to write them!

I do have a goal! Goals are good - they keep you motivated and on track! I want to double my number of lens by the end of January, 2009. That gives me two weeks! Check back to see how I do! I will come up with another goal after that!

January 31 update - I reached my goal today! I posted #12 today! I believe that if I didn't have this goal I would not have completed those needed to reach it. I plan on setting goals monthly to increase my lens numbers. My goal for February is to add 6 more lens. I currently have 7 lens focused on Motherhood and 4 focused on Girl Scouts. In February I want to add more lenses to the Girl Scout group. In February I also want to start another group (check back later to find out the focus of the group!). In February I also want to start writing some lenses on people I admire or books/movies that have inspired me. Wow! this sounds like a lot, but I think if I break it down to getting 2 great lenses posted per week, I can accomplish this goal!

March 2 update - February went by so fast! I did not meet my goal for February. I did add 2 lenses and created one group - Mom (& Dad) Humor. The group is slowly finding a following - I am very happy about that! If you are a parent and can find humor in parenting - write a lens! It is very therapeutic! Ok so I need a new goal for March! I would like my lenses total to be at 24 by the end of March! If I can post a minimum of 3 lenses per week I believe I can reach my goal. I will continue to expand on the Girl Scout theme and also add some lenses on the books/movies that inspire me.

May 7 update - Well it has been a while since my last update - over 2 months!. I admit - I floundered in March and for the first 2 weeks of April. I had lost my focus and way with Squidoo. I really didn't know where to go and what to do with it - so I was about to do what I usually do when I jump into these great projects - I was going to abandon it. Then in the middle of April I received a special invitation. I was invited to be a part of a special group - Rocket Moms. This is an awesome group of women (mom's - as the name implies!) that are writing lenses on Squidoo and supporting each other. Our moderator - Bonnie is AWESOME! She is our cheerleader, our supporter, our encourager and our teacher. Each week since joining she has given us assignments. So we have a topic/idea to create a lens. After reading some of the other lenses created, I got inspired to create a new lens - something I hadn't done in over a month. Our first assignment was to create an "About Me" lens. I created a lens about 10 places I want my family to go on vacation. Family Vacations is the result of this assignment. Since beginning with Rocket Moms I have written 5 new lenses and have 2 lenses that are works-in-progress. I hope to complete the two new ones in the next few days. I also have about 6 ideas for other new lenses - and I haven't gotten the assignment for next week yet!

Overall - I have to say that Rocket Moms was the boost I needed to jump start me on the Squidoo trail.

June 3 update - I did it! I graduated from RocketMoms! I wrote 6 (actually I wrote 11 new lenses!) new lenses over the past six weeks! This is the lens I created to showcase all the lenses that were created during the RocketMom classes: LakeMom RocketMom Lensography. I even received a graduation certificate lens! LakeMom RocketMom Graduate. I discovered new areas of Squidoo while on this amazing journey. I wrote a lens under the co-brand - SquidLit. One of my favorite children's authors/artists is Shel Silverstein. I loved reading "The Giving Tree" to my children. The Giving Tree - Review is my lens for SquidLit. I also discovered SquidFlix a place to review movies. I have two favorite movies - The Wizard of Oz and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. I took the challenge and wrote lenses on these movies. Writing the lenses in SquidLit and SquidFlix was quick and easy ... and fun!

I am going to stay with the RocketMoms group over the summer and see where they can take me (to the moon!). I will update over the summer!

July 2 update: Summer has begun - and with it all the unpredictability that goes with it! The kids are out of school all day and I have had to readjust my writing time! I have been staying up later and writing lenses. RocketMom's summer school has started. I have been hit and miss on completing the weekly assignments. However, there is also a weekly challenge and I have been trying to complete them on a timely basis.

The first challenge was to use a new module: Caption Contest. It was a lot of fun! I love thinking of captions for photos! The next challenge was to write about a "prized possession" - something that you would grab and take with you if your house was on fire! I choose an antique candlestick phone that use to belong to my grandparents. It was a lot of fun to reminisce about them! Our 3rd challenge was to write a restaurant review. I completed that lens in July, so I will show it off when July is over! I can't wait to see what challenges we have for July!

I have been getting great information from one of the groups I belong to: Income Boosters. Alison has done a great job of reminding us how to make our lenses better. By slowing down and doing some homework, I am hoping to get more traffic to my lenses! Also in June, I had my first sale via an Amazon module (Woo Hoo!). I can't wait for more! My total lenses completed for the end of June is 30! I can't wait to ramp it up in July!

August 5 update - Well I'm a little late in getting this update done this month. I have been busy writing/publishing lenses, just no time to update! July has been a busy month! RocketMoms produced 2 assignments per week - the regular assignment and the advanced challenge. The regular assignments were similar to the first session so these were easier to complete sometimes. The advanced challenges were more challenging sometimes. I am still thinking about the topics for a couple of them and hope to finish some of them soon.

I got the invitation to join a group of mentors to help others on the road to becoming a Squid Giant. My task is to write 50 quality lenses by September 30th! I belong to a great group that is helping to everyone toward their goals. As of the end of July I have completed 36 lenses! Only 14 more to go before Giant status! I am excited!

Wow, where did summer go! I decided in July to go for Giant status. As of September 30, I had written 50 lenses. I submitted my application and was granted Giant Squidoo status! I am still trying to recover from the writing frenzy I imposed upon myself in September to accomplish this feat! I joined a team and received some support there. I also continued to receive support from the RocketMoms group. There is also a lot of other great lens writers out there supporting each other! Squidoo is the best support group ever!

I am up to 4 categories that my lens writing has expanded to: Motherhood, Girl Scouting, RocketMom assignments, and Unique Gifts. I have a lot of fun researching unique gift items! I want to work over the next couple of months to focus on these niches and produce some awesome (ie paying!) lenses!