Showing posts with label writing online. Show all posts

Thursday, February 20, 2014

It's Time For Me To Give PWG The Attention It Deserves

I have to admit I had a rather slow start here on PWG. Although the news that a new and fresh writing site is ready to take off the world by storm was truly exciting, I didn’t start my new adventure at full speed. I preferred to wait for a while and see the site grow, but I promised myself that I would write my first original PWG post by the end of this week, and here it is. I can finally say that from now on the Preferred Writers Group is officially part of my writing life.
I can’t deny the fact that I am in a position where I find it hard to make up my mind on where to post a new article, and from now PWG is going to make my choice even harder. It will enter a tough competition with several other sites, and especially with FullofKnowledge and Bubblews. Therefore, whenever a new idea crosses my mind and I start to develop it, I also have the difficult task of choosing where to publish the final product. It will always be hard to decide which site should have priority, but I’m glad there are several options to choose from.

I can see that PWG is growing really fast. It will soon have more than 100 members and the blog’s earnings are also going up fast. Therefore I am eager to be an active contributor to the site’s welfare by writing, meeting new people and interacting with them. It is basically the beginning of a new and exciting journey into the wonderful realms of knowledge and communication, and why not, it may become my preferred writing and earning site as well.

At the end of my first original PWG post I want to say hello to all the members of this new and very promising site. I hope we’ll get to know each other better and share our thoughts and impressions as often as possible. Long live PWG!

Post ID Tag : 30177

Monday, February 17, 2014

Show Them What You've Got!

Your writing is an extension of you as a person. What you present to the world is what they will remember about you. I realize this is a subject that is not approached on many other sites, but I feel the need to make this a high priority here.

You see, I am also an editor on Fullofknowledge.com. Our standards there are very high. I do not want to be an editor here, I want you all to speak your mind, in your own voice, but do not hate me if I leave a comment on your article asking you to proofread it carefully.

I do this, not for my benefit, but for yours, and for every writer on this site! We are a team, and teams help each other out. Even though I do not have time to work with each of you one on one here, I still want to see you be the best writers you can possibly be. It is what I love so about editing.

You see, at Fullofknowledge, we don't just publish or decline. Our editorial team works with writers, so that they know where they need to improve, and can learn and grow from the experience. So, if you see me leave a comment about something in your article, please know that I do so with the utmost respect, and with the intention of helping...never hurting.

How you present yourself is important. The words you put forth speak for YOU! Make them the most well chosen words you can find, and you will see your readership grow. Make your subject matter interesting, and they will always come back to see more. Make your articles more readable, and you will have far more readers, and get far more views. Believe me, it is well worth the extra effort!

I have finally decided on the perfect subject matter for my writing here on PWG. I think many of my articles will include helpful tips for my friends in writing! So, stay tuned, if you want to be a better writer, and most important of all...always enjoy what you write, and others will as well!

Creative Commons -- Gateway to Black Hat Copyright Infringement

Will We Be Protected at Preferred Writers Group?

I am reprinting an older article from Bukisa for the Preferred Writers Group in hopes it opens some dialog on whether or not our articles will be copyright protected here. It would be nice to have a notice somewhere on the PWG that all articles are copyrighted by the writers, all right reserved.

Bukisa had so many issues with keyword stuffing, too many links and copyright infringement, they were shunned by Google search and reputable websites considered them spam links. My fears for Bukisa noted below were well-grounded; about a year or less after I wrote this article, the site had stopped payouts. I still can't log in to remove my old content.

Image from Wikimedia Commons/J.J.

Bukisa's Creative Commons -- Gateway to Black Hat Copyright Infringement

Why Bukisa's Creative Commons settings have become an open invitation for black hatters to steal your work

In the past two weeks, Google Alerts has been sending me a constant stream of my titles and quotes from my Bukisa articles appearing on other websites. Bukisa encourages use of the Syndication feature or the Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported so we can "Gain more exposure and more readers, build backlinks to your articles and thus increase your search engine positions = more traffic = more views = more money for you." The Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works seems to offer more protection while still getting backlinks, so many Bukisa writers have opted for that setting.

Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported

If you click the "What is this?" link next to the Creative Commons retting, you learn that Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported means people may copy the article - as long as they link back to the original content on Bukisa. Supposedly those who want to use your work will read the terms which state that anyone is free to copy, distribute and transmit the work and to make commercial use of the work under the following conditions:

Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported Terms of Use

Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

What does "Attribute this work" mean?
The page you came from contained embedded licensing metadata, including how the creator wishes to be attributed for re-use. You can use the HTML here to cite the work. Doing so will also include metadata on your page so that others can find the original work as well.
No Derivative Works — You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

With the understanding that:

Waiver — Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
Public Domain — Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
Other Rights — In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license:
Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other applicable copyright exceptions and limitations;
The author's moral rights;
Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights.
Notice — For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page.

Black Hatters Don't Follow the Rules

However, apparently the black hatters are not reading the terms, and many articles of mine on Bukisa, which were set with Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works, have been showing up on multiple websites with no back links and no attribution. Not only that, but the black hatters are back linking aggressively (some might say "spammishly") to MY articles on their sites, so those plagiarized articles rank HIGHER on their sites than the ones I originally wrote for Bukisa. What this means to me is NO INCOME. If people are reading my articles on other sites, I am not being paid for my work.

Interestingly enough, I never found one Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works article that was linking back to a Bukisa article - they were all simply plagiarized. The Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works setting seems to be an open invitation to copy. Apparently black hatters think by allowing some copying via the Attribution-No Derivative Works license, there won't be any ramifications for not providing correct attribution for intellectual property or backlinks to original articles.

Resetting the Creative Commons License

The first thing I did was check my settings and to my dismay, I found some articles had somehow slipped into Syndication mode. This must be a Bukisa glitch because I only set a handful of specific articles to Syndication. The rest were set for No Copying or the Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works. I immediately began to reset all my articles to No Syndication - No Syndication Allowed - No Copying/Altering, but I hit another snag. In my first couple of years on Bukisa, minimum article length was 250 words. Now it is 350 words, so to change the settings on my older, shorter articles, I must ADD ANOTHER 100 WORDS!

The Problem with Rewrites

This presents a couple of problems. One is I already wrote the article, and it is a pain to have to go back and add another 100 words just so I can reset the licensing terms. The second is -- you better believe I am going to get Google to remove the copyright infringing articles, and I hate to alter my original article when I am in the process of sending the links to Google to prove the articles were copied. I contacted Bukisa and explained the problem and received -- ABSOLUTELY NO HELP.

What Can You Do?

Read Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement: Thou Shalt Not Steal for a layman's look at plagiarism and copyright infringement.
Don't use the Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works or the Syndication license if you don't want your articles showing up on other websites and NOT linking back to you. The black hatters are ignoring the part about links, and you are not only losing your work, but you are not getting any backlinks. And Bukisa sure isn't going to go after these black hatters for violating the terms of the Creative Commons - Attribution-No Derivative Works license!
Set Google Alerts for your articles & poems
Visit Plagiarismtoday.com. They have Stock Letters you can send websites that steal your articles as well as contacts and other resources to help fight plagiarism and copyright infringement.
Use the Google AdSense DMCA complaint form when appropriate.
Add your own warning. Now I close all my articles with this:

Thank you for reading and sharing the link to this article. This article is NOT available for translating and/or copying to websites, blogs, Facebook, discussion boards or elsewhere. If you want to share this info, please share the link.

Also see: Earning Money Writing for Examiner.com

Much of this article was previously published on Bukisa with my byline on Jul 9th, 2011.

KD214

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Collective Creative Consciousness, Anyone?

What does three hours of "trying" to sleep equal?

I'll tell you exactly what it equals :

2 hours of "tossing, and turning , and pondering"
1 song lyric
2 vocal melodies
1 Instrumental reworking
and at least...
4 articles
(5 counting this one)!

The level of creative juices flowing is off the scale. I blame PWG! What have you people done to me? It has to be a by product of the "Collective Creative Consciousness" of this site! My brain already rarely shuts up, but this is ridiculous! Can one die from having too many thoughts running through their head continuously, and almost simultaneously?

Unfortunately, how much of all this will make it to fruition, and how much will wind up in the "article notes" file on my desktop ( with the hundred or so already there) remains to be seen! Since I still can sleep, at least some of it will. Anyone else having this, um...problem?
More to come...

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Earning Money Writing for Examiner.com

US Gov. image in public domain

Although I write for 10 or so different websites, the one where I earn the most money is Examiner.com. so I thought the other members of the Preferred Writer Group would want to know about it.

Back when print was king, I earned $400 - $450 per article writing for magazines, but those days appear to be over. Now I write for less than a penny per page view, but the place that penny goes the furthest for me is Examiner.

Not only does Examiner pay a higher percentage of a penny than the other sites I write for, but it attracts many viewers so I don't have to do all the work of promoting my articles.

Examiner's minimum word count requirement is only 150 words per article, so it isn't difficult to come up with ideas and articles. If you know a little basic SEO and have some social networking skills, it helps pull in readers, page views and earnings more quickly.

Earn an Easy $25

Right now Examiner is also offering a "signing bonus" of $25 if new writers contribute two articles of 150 words or more for their first two months. This helps cover the first two normally low-paying months while a writer starts to build a library of articles and begins to get the word out.

If you type my name (Kathryn Darden) or my user ID (375341) in the application, as the person who referred you, I earn whatever bonus they are doing at the time -- usually $25.

If you have not tried Examiner, you should check it out. It is not "get rich quick," but for any writer who can steadily generate articles of 150 words or more each month, it is a good way to earn several hundred dollars a month once you have a library of content up. That is definitely money I can put to good use!

Examiner is currently in the US and Canada. I am not sure what other countries it might be in now or expanding into.

What I Examine:

Also see: How to Earn Money Writing for Examiner.com

Thank you for reading and sharing the link to this article. This article is NOT available for copying to websites, blogs, Facebook, discussion boards or elsewhere. If you want to share this info, please share the link.

Post ID KD214

Solivagus on Bubblews : 2/15/14

My Bubblews Posts for the Day

by solivagus

i'm giving you wood

1. The Start of Day 26 | Nightmares

Concerning the horrible dream I had prior to waking last night, and an open letter to the ex-boyfriends who were in it. BOTH of them, for some reason.

2. Where's Solivagus? REN FEST!

Concerning how excited I was to get up and out of bed and go to Ren Fest, which as You can see from future postings... didn't go as planned.

3. Review of PicLab App from iTunes Store

Not much to this one, it's a review for a fun app. If you have trouble finding things to use as images for your posts, and you don't want to use something from my blog, this is a good app.

4. Sweeten Healthy Eating with Honey and Cinnamon

Self explanatory but goes into examples of why you should and how I use them.

5. Why do you scare yourself at night?

You ever wonder? Well wonder no more, this comprehensive answer will encourage you to put the monster thoughts away.

6. Update on the RenFest Thing.

When buyer's remorse settles in, what do you do to cope?

7. Straight People are a Disgrace to Marriage

I started watching Bridezillas, and that was my first mistake...

8. I Listen to the Music of the Spheres

This phrase represents the 'inaudible music which is celestial in origin'. If that's not confusing enough.

9. I'm on YouTube Now!

And the best part is, I'm clothed. At least that's what Spartanmom says LOL

10. A silly song review about Gwen Guthrie

She sang this amazing song about being a straight up hooker and I applaud her for that. And I hope one day I can be that proud of being a hooker.

I hope you enjoy my articles, but more importantly, I hope you fricken read them and like them and comment on them, duh.

Solivagus,

Drew

Glad It's Over

Thank God it's all gone and over. The worst winter storm we've had here in years in Eastern N.C. is finally over. Cabin fever is starting to set in with many treading out despite the warnings to stay inside. This latest winter storm brought in about 8-10 inches of snow in my area. For some strange reason, I thought returning home to North Carolina from New York was a good way to escape this kind of weather. Boy, was I mistaken.

The weather this year has been so unpredictable. We've always been taught to dress in layers to offset this kind of weather but even that is not working for me. I'm just hoping the Ground hog was wrong and we're not going to see 6 more weeks of this. I know it's winter but this I was not expecting and I don't think anyone else around here was either.

It seems as if we're locked into some kind of a pattern with the snow, rain and sleet. For the last month or so, we've had some type of storm-related weather bi-weekly. Also it seems the storm(s) have chosen a particular day to make an appearance as well. With Tuesday being the chosen day to appear, school has been closed for most of the week.

All I can say is if this is any indication of how the summer will be, we're in for a hell of a summer.

Photo credit: New Bern Sun Journal, New Bern NC

Living Life or a Life Worth Living

Have you ever questioned yourself about the quality of your life? Often times, we never think about such things until confronted with a different perspective such as that of an elderly person who lives alone. If I was asked that question, I would have to say that right now, I am living a life. When you think about it, it doesn't sound rewarding.

How would you like to create a life worth living? Would you even know where to begin? Most of us are too busy with "stuff" that we have to do that creating any kind of rewarding atmosphere has never entered our mind. Tapping into that sixth sense of yearning, creativity and thinking outside of the box attitude is quite scary for some of us.

We like living in the comfort zone regardless of the pain, setbacks and hardships it may cause. To do anything else requires change and we make excuses as to why that is a "bad thing". So we continue to live life without any recognition of how mundane our life is. We teach this to our children and to their children until a pattern develops. Who will break the cycle?

Are you content with leaving behind a legacy of living life? Or would you like your book to read "she made life worth living"?

credit: The image above was created by me.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Hello Everyone

I'm basically just starting in this site and had just been writing online for three months only.

Writing had been a passion of mine since I was a child. Unfortunately my passion was only confined in my daily journals and once in a while on school papers. I had been a school journalism adviser for 9 years and those were wonderful years of teaching, honing and training young journalists to compete in the national level. I miss those days a lot.

I am not following any structure in writing. I write as to how I feel and not what others want me to. I am not claiming to be a professional writer, as I am way far behind of being as such. I am only a writer in my own accord.

Writing and cake making had been my therapy since I was diagnosed with pituitary tumour last 2011. But I had only found out a new avenue in writing online just recently and to be honest, I'm loving it. I get to be paid doing what I love doing... writing.