NaPoWriMo highlights and a walk through the woods

I ended up only finishing my NaPoWriMo halfway. After the first two weeks, I accidentally stopped writing a poem everyday. I tried for a few days the last two weeks of this month but it just wasn’t happening. I’m not too bothered by it, though. Sixteen is better than zero! It was fun and a few good ones got through.

Day 4 (a haiku)

Scratched, blue fingernails
are chipped but she still sparkles -
leaving fairy dust.

Day 6′s poem turned out to be my favorite:

Day 6

‘We don’t come from molds’,
we cried.
Born to be slender, short or thick
allowed to exist as we are,
to eat carrots for dinner
and cake for dessert.

Yesterday wasn’t cold like it has been for the last week or so, so we went for a walk at Towners Woods. It’s like our version of the “hundred-acre woods”, only it’s better because it’s more than 100 acres and there are no heffelumps or woozles.

The monument on the Hopewell mound.

Around the web in 30 Days, 4.12

Black Cat Petunia and Dracula Orchid. Creepy flowers. ♥

I’ve been doing these for a year now! Here’s the one from last April. I didn’t do one for every month in the last twelve months (July, September, October, November and February were missed) but those were all months where insane things were going on and I didn’t have much time to do anything. I’ve been tightening down, though, and not letting anything stop me. >:)

Good stuff this last month…

How are you trying to impress? by Jayne’s Kitshcen – Are you dressing for you, or for everyone else?

I found another Angie’s blog, Lariats and Lavender and it’s equal parts cute and filled with greatness.

I’ve been following Witch on the Rocks for a few months now. She sells crystals and rocks to collectors and people who would want to use them for metaphysical purposes (crystal healing, meditation, etc.) and she posts some really great, informative videos on her youtube channel. She’s an honest seller, very smart and fierce. I like this vid from her in particular: The Importance of Loving Yourself.

Do You Let Potential Clients See Your Rate Card Before They Contact You? Good question — been wondering this myself. The whole article is basically this question, and the answers come from the savvy writers in the comments.

Ashley’s (formerly of IronGlass.org and the person who named AGB’s mascot) photography is morbid and wonderful.

3 Tips To Help Find Your Writing “Why” by Inky Bites – Something simple but very helpful.

Bob Ross Gifs. Because you need more happy trees in your life.

Water Sign Love is a fun blog for people who are the signs of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces but also about astrology in general. Christie (Girl on Canvas) contacted me and held a gun to my head and told me to contribute to the blog. Oh wait, no, she asked me nicely and I jumped at the opportunity. Sorry, I’m getting my memories mixed up. But anyway, So far we have a Cancer (moi) a Scorpio (Christie) and Kai-Michel (Capricorn) and Erin (Aquarius/Pisces cusper) on board as the regular writing staff, but you can contribute, too!

2 Awards, aka, Massive link love post.

Now I have 2 awards to do (procastinator!), but that’s just more love to spread. These are great if you want to find more great blogs to read, it’s like the yellow brick road of links!

Got this one from Anna! ♥ Now I link 5 of my favorite blogs you should check out.

♐ Lariats and Lavender – Another Angie’s blog. She’s fun and does a “Vampirism Monday” feature!
♐ Mermaid Eyes – Her posts are always delightful and interesting. She recently posted pictures she took while flying over Alaska and they’re lovely.
♐ Her Coffin – Jolene hasn’t posted in a while, but she left us with tons of great posts in her archives. Maybe I can bribe her into writing again because I miss her?
♐ Mikael Short – Besides being a sweetheart, she has a beautiful singing voice and writes poetry.
♐ The Freedom Experiment – She writes to motivate and make you think, and doesn’t sugar-coat!

Here’s one from Karin! Thanks, hon! Here’s how this one works:

- Thank the award giver and link back to them in your post.
- Share 7 things about yourself.
- Pass this award along to 15 other bloggers.
- Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

& the 7 facts:

• 1. Nobody could teach me how to swim. I taught myself in my best friend’s pool when I was 12.
• 2. I was a Christian up until I turned 18, when I realized there was something that suited me much better. I’m glad I was able to make my own decision about this without any flack from my parents.
• 3. I’m terrified of heights. I was too chicken to climb the indoor rock climbing wall at Fun ‘n’ Stuff, but I LOVE roller coasters. I feel safe in them. Another heights contradiction: I want to go skydiving but I’m too afraid to bungee jump!
• 4. Summer night air is the best smell in the world.
• 5. Speaking of smells. I’ve worn the same perfume for 7 years now — Beyond Paradise by Estée Lauder. I did try others, but I don’t love them as much.
• 6. I reluctantly get up early, but I get most of my energy in the late evening. It’s when I have the motivation to clean and do anything creative.
• 7. My favorite color is rainbow. In other words, I don’t have a favorite color, so when it comes to decorating or designing my blog, it’s either all or nothing.

& the links, like always, in no particular order (P.S. I know some of you have been tagged more than once, so I hope you don’t feel obligated to do it again! I can’t help that you’re awesome.):

♐ Shimmer Like Gold – Interior designer girl with lots of eye candy on her blog.
♐ Rawrings – Smart and honest Alissa, I love her dry-humored writing style.
♐ Tyler Knott – His poems. guh.
♐ Nerdosaurus – Shannon talks candidly about life and will cut you if you dis Detroit (maybe not so much that last part).
♐ Everblossom – A writer I look up to, she also sells makes and sells natural body products.
♐ Girl on Canvas – Graphic designer girl and she offers free resources on her site.
♐ Whirlwind – Angelica invites us into her cute apartment.
♐ Shanomaly – I like reading Shannon’s opinions on real life issues.
♐ The Underdeveloped Story – Another sleeping beauty, with lots of good stuff in the archives.
♐ Letters of Note – Scandalous letters written by famous historic people.
♐ Super Duper Fantastic – Suki is one of the most adventurous eaters!
♐ This Enchanted Pixie – I’ve already gotten plenty of affordable home decor DIY ideas from Polly.
♐ Kristie Says – I’m not a good suzy homemaker, that’s where Kristie comes in.
♐ Miss Vanity – I love Kitty’s strange drawings and fashion sense.
♐ Lyss – Alyssa weighs in on movies, books and other entertainments and has great taste.

The Freelance Writer/Blogger and the Oddball Niche, starring me.

Niches are a big deal for freelance writers and bloggers. Establishing your online presence in a solid niche is one of the best things you can do for your writing career. For some people, it’s easy and for others it’s a game of trying this, trying that and never finding anything that really calls to you. The best description of this that I’ve found is from problogger. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the exact quote, but to paraphrase:

If you can’t go on and on for hours on a certain subject, then it will be hard for you to come up with blog posts until the cows come home.

That’s mostly talking about blogging, because you need ongoing content for a blog and if you want to be successful in your niche. Having more than one area of expertise is great too (let me direct you to this website for more on that) but as a writer, potential clients want to see that you nailed it down for yourself, that you are dedicated to your topic and you know your shit. Agree or disagree with it, that’s how many people look at it.

I struggled with the niche thing for quite a long time. I have many interests, ones that I can write a little on here and there, but none that I would write a whole blog about. There was also the issue of “I’m definitely not interested in the niches that are the most popular, which sucks because I’ll never be as successful as I want to be!”

This notion was total poison. I would never blog about something just because it’s popular, but that thought alone was enough to almost make me give up.

There were many helpful articles about how to become successful in your niche, but very few that helped you pin-point a niche if you simply love the idea of blogging and writing for people. But the thing is, other people can’t tell you what your deepest desires and interests are. My deepest desires and interests seemed too amorphous and non-lucrative, and that’s when I decided to stop listening to other people (looking in other places for the answers).

That one subject I could talk about forever and write about endlessly? Astrology. A lot of other metaphysical stuff too, but mostly astrology. It’s one of those oddball subjects that many people don’t take seriously, one of those things that you wouldn’t think would make much money. Keyword there being “think“.

But maybe there is something to this for me. We’ll see…

Don’t follow me looking for the answers, because I don’t have them. I can only offer crazy ideas.

(^^^ Putting that in my about page!)

Yay for (sort of) figuring things out and getting closer. ♐