Thinking about my mother

"...life is inherently messy, complicated, cross-wired, an endless negotiation between interior and exterior, between the environment in which a human or an animal lives and its physiological and neurological state."

My mother wrote this in one of her notebooks. She kept a record of phrases and quotes to use later when she was writing.

Born in 1917, my mother passed away in 2004 at the age of 87. For many years, she journalled every day, and wrote articles. She also completed a romance novel (never published). A few of her articles were published in local newspapers.

I am in the process of organizing and transcribing her writings into my computer. Fortunately, she printed out things she wrote on her computers, since I don't know where the disks are or if I could download the material from them. I would like to assemble her writings into an autobiography some day.

I think my mother would have loved the advent of blogs and being able to publish online. She frequently encouraged me to write, she would be glad to know I am finally following her suggestion.

Online opportunities have also allowed me to publish some of my mother's material. Shreveport, Louisiana in the 1920s and 1930s gives a vivid view of where she grew up. Reflections: Luck speaks eloquently about how we can make our own luck.

I think my favorite is Memories in a Drawer (originally entitled "Emptying the Dresser Drawers") in which she paints a picture of my father's life by examining what he had in his bureau. (Note: the "youngest daughter" is me)

I feel like my mother is talking to me as I transcribe her words, especially when I am typing from her hand-written notebooks. Although I feel sad when I remember how much I miss her, it's a joy to hear her voice and share her thoughts with others.

Writing motivation

"What motivates people to write?" my daughter Heather asked me. "Why write about something other people have already written about?"

I thought about it for a moment. I talked about how writers use their own voice to express themselves. When you write, you choose what to put in and what to leave out, you organize it in a way you think makes sense. Writers infuse pieces with their own bias.

When I said those things, she looked at me and said "It's like a piano! There are 88 keys but there are infinite variations." Not only the combination of which keys to play, but rests, tempo, tone and more. When playing a piece that has been played before, each musician adds their own style to it, and each new performance will sound different.

I think it is a wonderful analogy. Putting things into your own voice - writing your own composition - helps give meaning to what you create.

Writing on Examiner

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've been writing online for The Examiner. The Examiner has editions in over 100 cities. Each writer focusses on a particular subject.

I am the Boston Knitting Examiner. I write about knitting in general, and about knitting in New England (as far as I know there are currently no other Examiners in New England).

The Examiner suggests that writers post 3 to 4 articles a week. Articles can be of any length, articles are often relatively concise.

The articles I have been writing are a little more formal than blog posts, but not much more difficult. Three to four articles a week may sound intimidating, but I have found it easier than I expected. Between reviews of stores, websites and books, New England knitting events, techniques, patterns, charity projects and more, there is plenty to write about. As needed, The Examiner gives support and help to writers.

Examiners get paid based on page views and a few other parameters. They pay about 1 cent per page view. This may not sound like much, but it can add up - especially when you do some promoting. In contrast, other writing websites give upfront payments, but only pay a penny for every seven to ten views.

The articles written for The Examiner get published as soon as you post them. They don't have to be approved before they're published, and they are not rated. There are people working for The Examiner who oversee your work, but - so far - I've been given free rein to post what I want to.

Writing Online

So, it's time to catch up!

I'm going to write up my experiences with writing, and other ways to earn money online, in several posts. I never thought of myself as a writer, but I'm often told that I have good ideas. My mother always encouraged me to write about some of my experiences, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

This post will be a general one about writing online. In subsequent posts I'll give more detail about each site.

There are a number of sites online where people can write articles and earn money. For Helium and Associated Content, the minimum number of words is 400. That's not very long - about 4 or 5 paragraphs. On Examiner there is no set minimum, but 300 to 400 words is recommended.

Writing for the internet is different from other kinds of writing. I have learned that the majority of internet readers will not read very long or complicated articles. The general guidelines suggest writing at about an 8th grade level. These guidelines are for general internet writing, there are sites geared to professional fields for which other styles would be appropriate.

How do you make money? There are two ways to earn with internet articles. You can get upfront payments, and/or income based on the number of page views your articles receive.

How much money can you make? It obviously depends on how much you write, and how much you promote. I've been writing for about five months, starting in March of this year. I've written about 165 articles, and in total, I've earned about $300, and I haven't done much promoting. For the sites where you earn based on page views, your articles continue to earn so as you add more articles there is a cumulative effect. There are people who are earning much more than I have been.

What can you write about? Between the different sites, I can write about practically anything. The upfront payment from Associate Content is more for areas where there are not a lot of articles. Helium will let you write about anything - again there are some restrictions and rules regarding what you get paid. I am the Knitting Examiner for Boston, so the articles I write there all have some connection to knitting, and at least some of them are about happenings in the Boston area.

When you go to the links for my writer pages, you can continue on and explore the sites. That's the best way to see what people are writing about.

More questions? I'd love to hear them. Send me a comment, and I'll give you an answer!