The point is to take an idea that is very wide ranging and think of your own slant on it. There is no way that anybody could write a comprehensive lens or web page about the moon or time. Both subjects are too big.

When you are stuck for something to write about, make a list of subjects. This is a brainstorming exercise so don’t think hard about it and agonise about what you add to the list. Just put down anything that pops into your head. When you have ten or twenty topics, look at the first five items on your list and, one at a time, work through them thinking of all the angles you could write about on each subject.

Example: The Sky

1. Airplanes
2. Clouds
3. Storms
4. Hurricanes or tornadoes
5. Birds
6. Myths about the sun and/or moon
7. The night sky and prominent constellations
8. Why the sky appears blue
9. Parachuting
10. Earth’s atmosphere

Here are ten different ideas for lenses or web pages from the general topic of ‘The Sky’.

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.

It was good for me because it made me concentrate on writing quickly and not spending too long agonising about which subjects to choose. I have a terrible habit of starting a lens then deciding I don’t like what I’ve written and I’ve lost interest in the subject so I delete it.

A Favourite Climbing Plant

I’ve been pleased with the look of some of my recent lenses like My Favourite Climbing Plants, Best Desserts on Twitter and I Love Lilies. I’ve been lucky to find some really lovely pictures to illustrate them. Sometimes I spend more time looking for pictures than I do writing a lens.

The last one, I Love Lilies, was done in response to a Senior Squids weekly challenge. I wish I’d taken a more active part in Senior Squids earlier because I’m sure it would have helped me with making lenses for the Giant 100 Club but I was like the person pushing a bike who is late – I didn’t have time to get on it and pedal!

That’s the brilliant thing about Squidoo, there is such a great, supportive community willing to help. You never need to feel you are struggling on your own.