"Potential Giant Squid Challenge" Diary

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 43 people | Log in to rate

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Am I crazy? Well ... yeah .... BUT am I crazier than I was yesterday?

Ok, so my sudden acceleration up the crazy-scale is due largely to fact that while browsing the SquidU forums this morning, I came across the Potential Giant Squid thread. And Oh, did I get excited. Not something that happens to me too often. I've been in a social and intellectual coma for the past year or two and though, as I take up this challenge, I've only been a member of squidoo for four days, I'm sooper dooper excited about it and 150% up for the challenge.

So the first thing I did was come make this lens. One less off the list of 43 more that I've got to make ;). Oh, that sounds scary. Forty-three lenses in 41 days with holidays in between... not a problem if I'm happy to throw out half-baked, shoddy lenses but I'm a frantic perfectionist! I want to build lenses that I can be proud of and I really don't want this lens to end with "Shucks, I failed" in terms of quality and quantity so my sleeves are rolled up and I'm ready to give it my all. And while I have to believe that I have a chance of becoming a Giant Squid, if I don't make if I've lost nothing and gained a great start to my time here with 50 lenses I'm proud of!

So feel free to follow my journey on this lens and cheer me on when you can.

Let the challenge begin ... with a list. 

Here's a list of the first 10 lenses I hope to build.

I think by preparing my list of topics I can hit the ground running so while it's not set in stone, chances are it won't change too much. I hope to have strong first drafts of all of these lenses complete by November 28th.

1

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The Real Reason Why Children are Naughty - You'll be suprised.

I'll give you a clue - culture clash, resistence, more...5 points

2

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How to upload files using Filezilla - A Beginners Guide

I have some stuff prepared on this so I'll be chea more...4 points

3

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Blood Suckers, Sexy? You would think not?

The Sexist vampires in film and literature. {Yes, more...4 points

4

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Fairytales or Horror Stories - The Real Meaning of Children's Bedtime Stories

Did you know in the original Little Red Riding Hoo more...3 points

5

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How to Promote Your Band Online

This could be useful .. I guess.2 points

6

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Medical Devices to Assist Stroke Victims

Inspired by a cool article my husband showed me th more...2 points

7

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Sleeping with the Phantom Fiddler - my personal experience of living in a haunted house

It's true ....2 points

8

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Flirting with the Black Stuff - The Story of Guinness

Keeping it local with this one. Coming from Dublin more...1 point

9

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Josh Holloway Tribute

aka Sawyer from Lost. He's gorgeous. Enough said!1 point

10

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It's only an Idea ... but was Jesus half alien?

Some of my personal and very weird intepretations more...1 point

Diary Updates 

15th December

Yesterday I was super-woman. I managed to get my two numerology lenses (mentioned below)published. Not only that but my first steampunk lens on Steampunk Goggles went up. I also published Ear Pain and How to Treat it, though this one needs a lot more TLC. I managed to finally tweak a lens that has been a draft for way too long and published Choosing a Domain Name - The Important Stuff. And last but not least a small 'niche' shopping lens on the Patsy Cline CD Box-Set Collection.

14th December

Ok, it's been pretty tough the last few days but I think I'm back in the running. I've managed to get 2 lenses up on Numerology; Can Numerology Help Me Find Compatability and What is Numerology

I've got another couple of lenses expanding this theme on the way. And two lenses almost finished on 'Steampunk', a favourite topic of mine. Finally I've made some 'Clogs' lenses. Hoping to have them polished and up soon. My target? 40 lenses by Wednesday 17th which leaves only 10 to have done by the end of the month.

10th December

Oh my God, I cannot believe it has been so long since I posted. A mix of kids birthdays (3 within 2 weeks!), Santa shopping and day to day tasks have soaked up all my time. I have so many half baked lenses just waiting for some attention so I still feel on target for 50 by the end of the month. Fingers crossed! And thanks everybody who has supported me and belives in me :)

25rd November

Today I did a couple of 'commercial' kinda thrasy lenses to try out an SEO tip I came across. I'm not going to include these in the 50 quality lenses I want to put together. They can count as the excess over the 50 that I think it might be good to have. If the tip works, I'll make a lens on it :) But I did also put
out Photoshop Facelift - How To Get Celebrity Skin in Photoshop the Quick & Easy Way, which I'm happy enough with. Also did a Cliff Richard Lyrics lens just for the sheer fun of it! Cliff is nice and he deserves a lens :)

25rd November

Today was tough and I wondered what kind of a crazy idiot I am to take this on. I had lots of kid taxi-ing to do as well as repainting the hall so my lenses suffered. I didn't get any time to work on any of the lenses from my list but I did put out this Werthers Originals - The Candy That Says 'You're Special'. My son, Emmet, happened to be eating some beside me just as I was about to give up and say, "There'll be no lens today!" So thanks to Emmet I did get my lens done and it's looking like I'm still on target with my challenge :)

24rd November

Yay! I'm still on track. I've got my lens for today done. Check it out Help, My Computer Keeps Crashing. What do I do?. And I'm almost finished working on Fairytales or Horror Stories - The Real Meaning of Children's Bedtime Stories, from my list above. Today was a good day :)

23rd November

Yesterday was tough! I hardly had a moment to work on my lens for the day. It was my daughter's birthday party so things were crazy and because I don't want to let a day go by without doing some kind of lens, I had to reach deep into my old skills bag and dig out something I haven't used in a while. The result is Lens Candy - Free Squidoo Graphics for the Style Conscious Lens Master. Made kinda quickly, I hope to add lots of graphics to this as time goes on.

22nd November

Got my lens for yesterday finished late last night. It's kinda boring but hopefully useful to some people.
How to Manage Files Using Filezilla - A Beginner's Guide
Had to do a lot of housework this morning so I'm coming to Squidoo late today and I haven't even started to think about my lens or which one I'm gonna do. Guess it's going to be another late night :(

21st November

Thanks everybody who offered words of support. Yay, one lens down and 42 to go. Actually, I lie ... 2 lenses down and 41 to go. I got a sneaky one in yesterday. I needed a 'fun break' while I was working on this lens
Flirting with the Black Stuff - The Story of Guinness Draught
so and made this lens
50 Things You Never Knew About Poo - And Probably Never Wanted To

On target so far! I'm proud of me :D

Lenses That Just Kinda Happened ... but aren't on the list 

Though I'm working through my list above, I've noticed that I'm sneaking in some little lenses I hadn't planned on. These tend to come about as 'relief lenses' from some of the more heady ones I'm working on that require a little more effort and attention. But, hey they all add up towards the 50+ required by December 31st.

1

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50 Things You Never Knew About Poo - And Probably Never Wanted To

http://www.squidoo.com/50thingsaboutpoo1 point

2

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Help, My Computer Keeps Crashing. What do I do?

http://www.squidoo.com/dumprepdotexe0 points

3

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Lens Candy - Free Squidoo Graphics for the Style Conscious Lens Master

http://www.squidoo.com/lenscandy0 points

Can I do it ... 43 quality lenses in 41 days? 

Will I succeed?

Loading Fetching blurbs now... please stand by

Are you crazy, there's no way you'll create 43 great lenses in 41 days.

Margo_Arrowsmith says:

Yes you can, but can you have a life and do it, is the question. Good luck!

Posted November 26, 2008

Yes, I believe in you. Ignore the doubting Thomas's in the other column

access2 says:

All Rudy Giuliani ever says is "a noun a verb and
9/11." So do some Seth Godin lenses -- An Amazon Spotlight, An Amazon "Plexo," and a Guestbook. You could do 41 of those in a day and a half!

Posted March 09, 2009

gcarone says:

Nothing is impossible if You want! Good luck, Giacomo

Posted December 16, 2008

ElizabethJeanAllen says:

You can do it. Who needs to sleep and there's bound to be someone around to fix dinner.
Good Luck!

Posted December 04, 2008

Treasures-By-Brenda says:

Well, Tracy if you believe in yourself then I believe you can do it!

Brenda

Posted December 04, 2008

mistyblue75605 says:

You are doing well so far!!

Posted November 30, 2008

 
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by Tracey_M

I'm a mother of four, kinda reclusive, slightly off the wall with a frustratingly short attention span ... which isn't such a bad thing now that I've... (more)

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