As a last resort I posted a link on the Fresh Squids Forum and asked for help and got some good suggestions which I implemented. I’m delighted to report that the page was awarded a Purple Star yesterday.

Even though I don’t think this is one of my best lenses, I’m sure it wouldn’t have got a Purple Star without the help I received from my friends on Fresh Squids. The moral of the story is don’t be afraid of asking for help or a critique no matter how experienced you are.

Even the most experienced and brilliant writers and webmasters can have problems writing a new article for a web page. Sometimes, the subject doesn’t come together well for you or the writing doesn’t flow properly. When this happens, it often doesn’t read well either. Before you cut your losses and delete a lens, ask for help and you’ll find plenty of people on Squidoo or are willing to advise you on how to improve it.

I did it. I finished up with 108 lenses and I was notified on Thursday that I had made it into the Giant 100 Club.

I really didn’t expect to qualify. I wasn’t convinced that I’d really got 100 high quality lenses. I wanted to do at least another five or six to give myself a better chance. I always do my best when I write but we aren’t always the best judges of our own work.

What has helped me so much more than when I made Giant with 50 lenses is being part of the Wiwon Squidoo team. Each time I made a new lens I posted the URL in the forum and other members would give me opinions and suggestions about it. This sounds scary but it’s incredibly helpful. Sometimes you don’t realise the mistakes you’ve made or the way some things are badly phrased because you know what you meant when you wrote them.

Other people giving you suggestions and catching typos and poor phrasing has been a big help. In fact, I have joined another group as well, the Senior Squids, and find this is good too.

These smaller Squidoo groups are, I believe, a good way to proceed. The network is outstanding for the sense of community among lensmasters and the small groups take this another step further.

Before I close this post, I have a bit more bragging to do – my lens, I Had a Mini-Stroke and What Happened After, was awarded a purple star the day after I made the Giant 100 Club so last week was a really great week for me.