Remembering 9/11 and the Losses Since

Earlier today I read a blog about remembering 9/11 and it inspired me to write about it as well. I was a senior in high school when the attack happened. I remember sitting in my government class when the teacher got a phone call, and then she let the class know what the call was about. After she told us that a plane hit one of the towers there were some chuckles through out the class, as many people thought it was a joke. A TV was brought into the classroom as the second plane collied with the tower. Seeing this caused the class to collectively hold their breath. After class was over, the rest of the school day was surreal. I don’t remember if teachers even taught.

After school I went home and my family and I were glued to the TV watching the news and looking for updates. This day had to be the quietest ever in my mothers home. Normally their was children laughing and playing, but her daycare was silent on this heart breaking day.

My heart and prayers go out to everyone who lost a loved one in the vicious 9/11 attacks.

We also should take this day to remember that the losses caused by 9/11 did not stop there, and still have not stopped. As long as we have soldiers in Afghanistan we are still facing the losses of 9/11. Lets also take this day to remember those would made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that we never have a travesty such as 9/11 happen to our great nation again. Lets also take a moment to think of the families that lost a loved one, and families that have a soldier deployed fighting for freedom.

I personally know how it feels to fight for the freedom of this great country, and knowing that Americans support the fight and what we are doing is a great source of pride for me personally and for many soldiers.

Let’s make sure when never do forgot this horrific day, and please feel free to share your story.

Quick Update

As I mentioned in my pervious post I finally broke my writing slump and thought I would share the link to the article. Feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading.

Article Slump Broken

So today I finally managed to break out of my article slump I have been in. I decided to write about something I know and that is the daily life of a soldier. I know the content isn’t all that interesting and I’m perfectly okay with that, at least I finally produced something.

I have also finally set myself a goal. I want to reach the level of staff writer with Factoidz by the end of the month. It may be a tall order for me to fill though. They require 20 articles before you can be considered for staff writer and currently I only stand at 8, with todays article pending. I still think this is doable though.

I have also decided that I am just going to recycle the articles I write for Factoidz onto Helium. The reason I am choosing to do this is because Helium requires you to write to a title that is already created on their site, so I don’t get to name my own article. They do have an option to suggest a title, but half of the time I have done that they tell me the title is to vague and would be hard for writers to understand. Here is an example title I suggested 3 Common Mental Health Issues. Now to me as a writer I can completely understand what the title is asking for, but who knows. This is actually a title to an article I wrote , you can check it out here it you want.

I also signed up for Associated Content but after reading I don’t know how much I will enjoy writing there. For at least the first 3 articles they have to review them, and that process could take up to 2 weeks. To me as a writer I find that to be a little long for a 500 word article to get reviewed. I have submitted an article to them so I’ll see how long it takes to get it reviewed and approved,

I think I may have gotten the hang of using keywords a little better too. My most recent article came out with a 6.7% keyword density, and a secondary keyword was at 3.7%. The best part is that I was just writing not even thinking about SEO and keywords.

I think this weekend after I finish my college work I may try to work on some creative writing. It has been forever since I have even thought about creative writing, but I want to get back on the horse. One day I would like to produce a publishable novel.

Well I can’t think of anything else I would like to share, so thanks for reading and have a great day.

Article Writing Frustration

I am finding myself getting very irritated with my article performance on Factoidz. I’m not sure what I am doing wrong, I feel that the content I am writing is pretty good, but I just can’t seem to generate page views. The best performer I have only has 554 views after being published for three weeks. This has been rather disappointing for me. I enjoy writing informative articles and having my articles not reach that many viewers is a big let down.

The worst part is, I have searched up and down looking for tips and tricks to help me, and even after implementing them, the results have been sparse. I use social networking, try to create strong titles, and also make a feeble attempt at using search engine optimization. But so far it has been to no avail.

I could really use some input if anyone has the time. Here is a link to the most recent article I have published with Factoidz.

5 Tips for Saving or Making Money.

I realize this particular article is pretty recycled material, and I don’t expect it to get that many views. This is a similar style that I use for all my articles though, so any feedback on the structure and the way I use words would be great.

I am also pretty new to the art of crafting articles and pretty much any online content so this could also be a reason for a distress. But thanks in advance for taking your time to look and leave feedback if you have the chance.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Stuck for an idea

Right now I am finding myself wanting to try my hand at writing a novel. I have started a couple times before but ran out of steam. Now I am stuck wanting to write something, but having no idea where to start. I might have to try an idea I read in someone else’s blog and start people watching. The problem with that is I will actually need to commute somewhere to do it since I live on a military post and people tend to stay to themselves, but I do have two malls and plenty of coffee shops to choose from so hopefully I will have an idea soon. Once I do I will post it to see what people think.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Writer Resources Part 1

As writer’s we are always trying to improve ourselves, and build valuable connections to help us develop as writers. By connections I mean people who can lend a critical eye to our work, help push us in the right direction, and give a motivational boost when needed. Being a writer can make these hard to come, especially if you are asking family or friends to read your work. From my experience family and friends tend to tell you about the all good stuff and conveniently forgot all the errors they saw. In most cases they try to have your best interests in mind and are trying not to hurt your feelings.

In my pursuit to become a better writer I have stumbled across a couple websites that I personally find valuable. I don’t know how popular these sites are so everyone may have heard of them or uses them already, but if I can help at least one person with this post I will be satisfied.

The first site I would like to introduce you to is writers cafe. Writers cafe is a community of writers sharing their work with one another. This site allows people to submit poems, stories, books, chapters, screenplays, and stage plays. This site also has a point system to see how active members are. Points are awarded for different actions on the site such as reviewing someone’s work or sharing your own work. If you decide to give writers cafe a try, don’t expect to submit your work and have the reviews start flooding in. The site is a community and you will need to provide some reviews to fellow writers as well. If you do that then you will start to see reviews of your work.

The next site I find useful in my creative writing pursuit is writers-network. This site is similar to writers cafe, with a few major differences. The first difference I would like to point out is that writers-network has a live chat option. I find this to be very helpful because as soon as your post a piece of work you can join the chat and ask anyone online to review your work. Writers network also has a pay area. When you become a member this way you will not have to review others work to earn points. If you do not want to pay, then you will have to review other peoples work to earn points. They do this so people are active in the community and everyone is getting reviews. Writers network also allows you to post a wide variety of works. With them you can submit poems, short stories, columns, articles, bulletins, book reviews, chapters, critique, documentary, draft, and pretty much any other type of written work you can think of.

Both of these sites offer a writer a great opportunity to help improve themselves along with other writers. As long as you become an active member of the communities you should find yourself receiving quality reviews and possibly making new friends in the process. Also keep in mind that both sites have a point system so there is sure to be reviews that really say nothing and it is just people looking for points. I hope you find value from one or both of these sites, and thanks for reading.

What Writing Means to me

Writing is an art just like painting, dancing, or singing, and everyone has there own reasons for doing it. A lot of people I know dread writing, or at least when it comes to writing for school or business. In my opinion it takes a special person to truly enjoy the art of writing and embrace it in all its forms. This is not just limited to writing either, in my opinion if you truly love to write then you also love to read and learn.

So for me there are limitless reasons that I write. The biggest reason I write is to express myself in ways that I can not vocalize. For me words flow so much better in my mind and onto the paper. Writing is a release for me and I always feel better once I complete a project. I also love writing because I enjoy sharing information. Knowing that someone can learn or at least enjoy what I have written is a thrill to me.

There are many other reasons  I write that I can’t put into words right now but I will know them when I am writing something new.

Thanks for reading.