e-How

I don't care what anyone else says about e-How, I have to say that even though I've written almost nothing in the last two months, my checks have been consistent. In the last week, I started slowly writing again, and my numbers have already taken a sudden jump.
I've always believed that if you write consistently, and write articles with substance, people would keep finding them. I've written for only five months, and can already boast that over 21,000 people have read my articles. That's not too shabby! Just think about what could happen if I REALLY poured my heart into it!

I've Been Out of Commission

I've been out of commission for awhile. My youngest brother Aaron died suddenly of a heart attack. I was able to fly to California for his funeral, and we are planning a memorial in New York on August 9. I am still not okay, but have finally started writing again. For a bit, I wondered if I would ever write again, and a fellow writer urged me to pick my pen back up in a hurry, and share my pain that way, lest it consume me.
I'm not sure how relevant my articles will be for awhile, but I will continue to write!
My brother Aaron is pictured at the left with his wife, Silja. They were as happy as they look, and I'm not sure how she will survive, either. Life won't ever be the same, that's for sure, and things don't seem as wonderful as they did a month ago...the rose colored glasses are definitely gone.

I'm Back!

After having the flu, bronchitis, and two ear infections, I am back, and not much worse for the wear.
I didn't do ANYTHING on e-How in May, and my income there remained steady. Not enough to pay the mortgage, but it was still money coming in when I wasn't doing anything, and there's something to be said for that.
I have not yet found the answer for instant riches in regards to writing on the Internet, but still feel that if you make a dedicated effort to all the forums you are involved in; writing on your blog, writing for e-How, the Examiner, etc, they all can add together to make a fair income that can gradually build. I have finally started receiving some income from some of the affiliate programs I joined. $10 here and $10 there doesn't seem much by itself, but when you add those $10 bills together, they spend pretty nicely.

eHow auto response reply

eHow finally sent me a reply to my complaint. Again, it was another auto response, and they said that if I could always try editing my articles and resubmitting to see if they would delete them again. Yay!! No sarcasm there!
I've been sick for a little over a week, and am still impressed at what eHow did without me doing ANYTHING to it. I didn't check mail, answer mail, or add any new articles, and still made progress.

e-How

e-How yanked seven of my articles today, and gave very obscure reasons. I actually anticipated it, because a friend called me yesterday, and said that she had some of her articles pulled. I have more articles than she does, and so expected more to be pulled, and it happened today. e-how wrote and said they were pulling 5, but 7 had disappeared.
I don't mind being edited, it was the manner that is offensive. I've written for the Leader-Herald, our local newspaper, and you expect the editor to ummmm...edit. e-How didn't edit, they sliced and diced. They sent a notice to everyone that said they were sorting through articles and removing plagiarized material, cloned material, articles that promoted click fraud, and spam.
Again, I don't have any problem with any of those, and knew to a certainty that none of my articles fit into any of those categories, but they also included a vague possibility of removing other articles that didn't fit what they wanted for other reasons, which is where all the bloodshed occurred.
I wrote my letter of complaint that will most certainly be ignored, or answered again by the auto bot that spits out those automatic replies to remind me that I'm so insignificant to e-How that I don't rate a real response from a real person. I like what I said, though, and it was cathartic to write it.
I compared their behavior to that of a bad boss, teacher or parent, who punished without letting the child know what his or her infraction was. It would be like handing my children a written list of all of the house rules, and then explaining to them that they were being punished, and that THEY needed to read over the list of rules and figure out for themselves how they had violated the rules. If it is so simple and easy to understand for the e-How writers who are gathering to complain loudly, or quit e-How altogether, how come the powers that be seem so oblivious to the obvious?!

Boldness

I went to Legislative Day in Albany, NY today, and it was an incredible experience. I got updated on what was going on in the Legislature, met several senators and a few assemblymen. One of the speakers had us keep repeating that we needed to have boldness, and he was referring to having the courage to approach our representatives about how we feel about key issues that are coming up for a vote.
How does this impact my writing to make money on the Internet?? Quite a lot, actually. I decided to practice boldness on that speaker, and among the large crowd of people milling around, I was actually able to approach the speaker where he stood in the hallway, and using BOLDNESS, I approached him, and in less than 30 seconds, explained who I was, what I was doing, and got PERMISSION to scan information he had handed out, write an article on it, and post it on the Internet, linking to his site!
What that means to me is several articles, and maybe a separate blog about politics, which is right up my alley, and I was using HIS idea, in more ways than one!
The lesson I walk away with today is that there is an opportunity everywhere for an article, or articles, and if you practice boldness, you might get a more positive response than you imagined! The worst that could have happened is that he might have said no, and I wouldn't be any farther behind than I started!

About Associated Content

I've already made $2.75 on Associated Content. Now, I know that you're probably snickering just a little bit to hear that, but keep in mind that it was weeks before I made my first six cents on eHow, and the Examiner is a bit quicker, but I've been on Associated Content less than a week, and only have two articles there, so this IS cause for celebration! I'll keep you posted!