The Dark is Rising Sequence

I now have a total of 92 lens on Squidoo and I need well over 100 to give myself a chance of making the Giant 100 Club because the definition is 100 outstanding lenses and not all of mine might qualify as outstanding.

I’m going to do the best I can in the time I have left – just 30 days as the final date is June 30th. If I don’t have the required number of the right standard by then, I will have to wait till the end of September to apply again. I have decided that I won’t beat myself up if I don’t do it this time, though. That way I won’t be so prone to the ‘headless chicken’ syndrome – going crazy doing nothing because I have so much to do that I can’t make up my mind what to concentrate on!

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I’ve already written several Squidoo lens (pages) about books and authors. The last one was about The Dark is Rising Sequence, a five volume fantasy series for children by Susan Cooper. I didn’t read it till I was 35 and it’s one of my favourites now. I’m considering doing more lenses about books but can’t decide which ones to do at the moment.

I’d also like to do some ‘How to’ articles, again I’m undecided about the subject.

When I received commissions to write articles for magazines, it was easy. The editor would ask for 2000 words on a particular subject and give me a deadline plus information if he or she wanted a particular angle. I’d research it using the internet and old-fashioned things like books. While I was doing the research, I’d find that the way I’d tackle it would form in my mind so I could sit down and pretty much write it straightaway when I had enough information. I’d leave it for a day, read it again, go through and take out repeated words and phrases, unnecessary adjectives and adverbs, and reword anything that was clumsy. If I had time, I’d leave it another day, read it again and do any polishing that was needed.

I found that my articles were used without any or much sub-editing because I took so much trouble to refine them myself.

The difficulty I have writing online is that I can choose any subject I like. It’s so hard to decide sometimes. I like it when a topic pops into my mind and I desperately want to write about it. My big problem, particularly on Squidoo, is that I’m spoilt for choice.