Fan the Flame: Help Spread the Squidoo Fire!

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 37 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #531 in Squidoo Tips, #83,292 overall

Find Your Flaming Niche in Squidoo




Have you ever come up with one idea spark after another, untll you felt like a cat with its tail on fire? Same here. Squidoo offers creative lensmasters helpful tools to set those sparks ablaze, but they'll take plenty of fanning, too.

Sometimes today's hopeful spark turns into tomorrow's cold, blackened kindling. If you live with elementary-school aged children, grab their attention and ask this question: Which comes first, smoke or fire?

No spark, no smoke.
No smoke, no fire.
No fire, no lens.

This lens will look at how to take an idea and develop it into a lens. We'll celebrate lenses that touched our hearts, inspired us to act, or changed an attitude.

Fan the flame of your own lenses by adding the one you're proudest of to the Plexo. Fan the flame of lensmasters you admire, by adding their Squidoo page to another Plexo. Let's help spread the fire that is Squidoo, while supporting one another's pursuits.

Make your own lens--begin today!

"Ideas are great arrows, but there has to be a bow." - Bill Moyers

Sparks 101 

So you wake up feeling lighthearted, the day filled with Squidoo promise. The spark of an idea that nagged at your noggin' yesterday now has you in a stranglehold. Do you race to the computer, bulldoze your way through a handful of modules, add a couple of clever images, then give that orange Publish button a good punch? Not so fast, Pilgrim. You have options, y'know.


►You could ask your mother what she thinks about your oh-so-creative idea, and whether she believes you can pull it off. Motherhood is programmed to believe that success is rooted in genetics. Hers. She will love your idea no matter what. (In fact, be forewarned: She will love any idea you hatch.)

►You could ask a trusted friend's opinion, after making him swear he'll be brutally honest. But do you really believe a trusted friend can stand your crocodile tears? Not likely.


So what's a creative genius to do with all those sparks? Put 'em in your pocket and you might scorch a hole through your best pants. Stick 'em in an idea jar and you're sure to forget them. Here's the dilemma: Too many ideas=brain overload.

Next stop? A workable plan. Not just any plan, but a plan that fits your unique personality, writing style, and bent. A plan that allows U-turns without guilt, if you discover three modules into the idea that it's dumber than marshmallows and bound for nowhere.

You need a plan that will add smoke to the spark.

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire 

Your spark is lensworthy. You're sure of it. It glows like hot coals after a BBQ. It's time to fan that flame!

►Decide on the approach you'd like to take. Will it be an educational step-by-step how-to lens, a tickle-the-funnybone lens, or one that shares a more serious side of your life? Visit Steal This Idea! for month-by-months ideas to get you started.

►Choose a good variety of modules. I like dressing my lenses up with quotes, images (The text with BIG picture module or Polaroid is great for this), and text. An occasional Black Box (except I prefer the color options) or Sticky Note adds a nice touch, too. Whatever you choose, arrange and re-arrange your star lineup until you're satisfied they are the best layout for your topic. And remember, don't waste time stewing over it; you can change the order later.

►Gather extras beforehand--quotes, trivia, and other snippets of related text. By the time you sit down to structure your lens, you won't want to be running all over the Web or digging through reference books.

►Don't start a raging fire without kindling. Use your Intro module as you would scraps of wood in a campfire. Go easy, and give it time to spark the rest of your material into a nice glow. Layer additional modules as you would wood, leaving space in between chunks of text to breathe. A campfire without air will smother the kindling.

►If you get stuck, step away from the computer. There's nothing worse than trying to force creativity. Remember, Squidoo is not a form of torture. Go easy on yourself and return when the creative wheels start turning again.

►Once you're published, continue fanning the flame. Update as regularly as possible. Promote without Spamming! Reach out to fellow lensmasters and visit their lenses often. Treat others the way you want to be treated, and appreciate their unique slant on life.

Above all, enjoy the process. Otherwise, what's the point?

Ready...Aim...Extinguish! 

Seedplanter's Rule-of-Thumb: If it ain't flamin', don't waste time on yesterday's idea. Give it a quick squirt with the extinguisher and move on. That's my best advice for lenscrafting.

Have I taken lenses too far before realizing the original spark had gone out? Sure. In my first month at Squidoo, I deleted a few overzealous attempts that were poorly planned. Their topics sounded great until I had to answer the age-old question: Who really gives a rip about this topic? This month I stomped the sparks of two or three ideas that weren't smoking by the time I got down to serious business.

The first time I deleted a work-in-progress lens, I felt like a quitter. Two hours later, I was happily working on a new idea and loving it. I don't waste time looking back. Once the spark's out, it's out.

10 Idea Starters 

Fuel for your next lens

Are you stuck for a new idea? Not sure if you could write another lens if you tried?
Consider the following ten questions. Maybe they'll fan your flame and coax a new lens out into the Squidland.

1. What's your earliest childhood memory?
2. What one person has encouraged you most in your life?
3. If you could relive any year of your life, which would it be?
4. What's your idea of the perfect birthday celebration?
5. What place would you NOT want to visit, even if someone handed you a plane ticket?
6. Are you in love with veggies? Why or why not?
7. What's the sneakiest thing you've ever attempted?
8. Do you have a real-life hero?
9. What have you learned from a child lately?
10. If you could trade places with any celebrity, who would it be?

Whatcha Think? 

Loading poll. Please Wait...

The Stories Behind my Lenses 

just in case you're curious...


I get ideas at all hours, usually at the least opportune moments--when I'm about to fall asleep, driving, or in the middle of a deadline of some sort. I keep a notebook with me wherever I go, because I've trusted my fifty-something brain to turn new ideas to mush unless I record them on paper. Here are a few ideas, and how they went from spark to lenses.
  • The Gift of Kindness sparked while I was Christmas shopping. I couldn't help but notice how many people were grumbling at their kids, yelling into phones about not being able to find a certain store item, or showing clerks how impatient they could be. I thought, kindness is such a simple thing. If we can't display it at Christmas, what's the rest of the year like?
  • In Praise of Paper Letters came about when I was organizing my home office. I moved three lidded boxes to a shelf, and made the mistake of opening the box and reading a few letters inside. I had bought a set of pretty boxes for storing old family letters. Of course, once I began, I couldn't stop, and my afternoon went down the drain. It made me think of how precious those letters are to me, and how different my correspondence has become with email.
  • Try, Try Again: Ants at Work sparked when I ran across a listing for an ant farm on Amazon.com. It was the same ant farm my brother had when he was ten. I used to love studying those busy ants, and watching how each had their special role to fulfill. Ants are a good study, and they teach us a lot about ourselves if we consider them closely.
  • Steal This Idea: A Launchpad for Squidoo Lensmasters sparked late one night as I was thinking ahead to new lenses. What would I create next? And it occurred to me that I had used a book of annual events a few years back when I wrote a family computing column for Newsday. That book helped alert me to upcoming observances, holidays, and special occasions celebrated around the world. This lens is a jumpstart for lensmasters, with a month-by-month intro to special events happening that month. I hope it'll become a helpful tool for you this year.

"Squidoo's like a gigantic storage house for amazing ideas. It's not competitive. Not snooty. But it IS challenging and offers a wide-open venue for creating customized lenses." - Seedplanter

Grab the RSS Feed for your Aggregator 

Don't miss Seedplanter's new lenses. Subscribe to her RSS feed

Seedplanter's Five Ten Lenses Today:

Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

Leave a Footprint... 

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your feedback!

Lensmaster

dannystaple wrote...

Thank you for this lens - I really cannot sleep until I get a lens idea down. Squidoo is one of my motivations for owning an EEE PC - means I can quickly structure a lens concept in a text editor where ever I am. Sometimes an idea will grab me and just not let go.

ReplyPosted March 16, 2009

Lensmaster

Ener-G wrote...

Gorgeous lens! Great ideas. Visually and verbally, you kept my interest!

ReplyPosted February 25, 2009

Lensmaster

kellywissink wrote...

5 Stars!

Welcome to the Squidoo 50 Club!

ReplyPosted February 13, 2009

Lensmaster

CDT wrote...

LOL - I love the poll option a great idea "tiptoes into my dreams" - yep, that's what happens to me :D

ReplyPosted February 12, 2009

Lensmaster

DebMartin wrote...

Wow!

ReplyPosted February 09, 2009

 
Next Page
1 of 7 pages

Boomerang! 

A Quick List of Modules to Revisit

Have you ever reached the bottom of a lens and wanted to revisit a module that sounded interesting? I have, and it's the same way I read a new magazine--browse first, dive into articles later.

I've created a list of every module in this lens, to make it easier for you to loop back if you need to. Just click 'n go.

by seedplanter


Contact me
Wife. Mom. Grandmother. Writer. Photographer. Product reviewer. Jewelry designer. Zazzler. Giant Squid. Blogger. Human Bean of the creative...

(more)

Related Topics

seedplanter Recommends...

Favorited By

Create a Lens!