I know, I know, it's been ages since the last post and I've been terrible at keeping track of time. There's just so many things that I WANT DONE, and time is the one thing that we cannot keep, stop or extend, so I had to prioritize.
But I am failing in some parts of the execution of that decision. It's really difficult to just delete what we've created (especially those that have also gathered some momentum and following). I am particularly attached to this blog as it was my very first attempt at online writing, so there's sentimental issues involved (naks!).
In this busy new year, Plan B has been cooked up to execute the decision to consolidate and focus. As it involves investments in time and money, it's been relegated to the back burner again.
Now, I should not promise when it's gonna happen but it must happen or we'll be constantly spread thinly without much success.
Therefore, my friends just hang on and bear with me for a little while longer. For the meantime, more blogging is happening in these sites:
By the way, you might have noticed the change in template of this blog. It's part of the baby steps towards consolidation and focus of our blogging efforts.
About three months ago, I joined HubPages and had a great start with a nomination for the weekly HubNugget, a recognition given to new members for excellence in writing. Indeed, I was proclaimed a HubNugget that week with much help (=votes) from you my readers and friends. However, this initial push was not enough to churn out more hubs (=articles). As we're relatively new to blogging and internet marketing, there were just so many things to explore and learn that writing was placed in the back burner and my study of the finer details of blogging and marketing was prioritized instead. As a result, I only posted four articles up to now or about one article per three weeks (see Papa Sez's hubs). These are as follows (click on the photo to read article):
Mama Sez has a better track record in HubPages. She joined a couple of weeks after me and wrote 18 hubs in two months or more than two posts per week. Pretty good isn't it? Her range of topics is also wider than mine, having published hubs on parenting, weight loss, holiday tips, gift ideas, relationship tips, recipes, and even one on a celebrity. Here they are and you can judge for yourself (click on the photo to read hub):
Mama Sez is also enjoying the HubPages community and participates in many fora and activities. She's accumulating many followers and I wouldn't be surprised if she'll be one of the mainstays in HubPages. Besides being an outlet for her creative energy and talent, she's also earning on the side. So if you are interested in writing and making money online, check out HubPages and feel the warmth of the community.
This period of the year has always been associated with so much activity ever since I can remember. The young would be busy with school events associated with Christmas or New Year mainly parties, gift exchanges, decorations, programs and of course there’s the anticipation of presents, lots of foods and a two-week break from school. When one gets out of school and gets a job, similar activities are still participated in usually in an office environment, except the two-week break that is only enjoyed by those working for schools or businesses catering to students. Because of the newly found freedom to buy through one’s hard-earned money, shopping becomes a welcome pursuit during the holidays.
When one gets to be a parent of a toddler, it takes on a whole new level as the child can now get to participate in decorating and in other family activities. Anticipating gifts takes on a new dimension for the family as the concept of the ultimate gift-giver, Santa Claus, is introduced. The paradigm for shopping also shifts as one becomes truly more of a giver and expects less for him/her self.
Some of you might be wondering where I’ve been the past couple of weeks. Because my last two posts were related to HubPages, some might assume that I got carried away with the title “HubNugget” that I acquired after my first hub (or article) made it to the top five among newbies, and I either went crazy writing tons of articles for that site or I merely froze, got blocked and did no writing at all.
We’ll the euphoria may have lasted that long but unfortunately it did not translate into a writing frenzy, or a writer’s block either. On top of the above usual holiday planning and activities, the computer and the laptop were working overtime. Again not so much on actual writing but on communicating, laying out plans, getting into the online shopping craze, and learning new stuff about internet marketing.
Communicating and Planning
These got to do with my role as representative of my family (we call it a “branch”) to a team in-charge of preparations related to our late mother’s big clan’s annual activity. Two branches were designated as sponsors and we had to coordinate with eight other branches in behalf of almost 200 clan members. It’s no mean feat as we are trying to introduce new activities to our annual reunion held every first day of the new year, which actually coincides with my late maternal grandma’s birthday.
As the clan gets bigger, it became so difficult to know one another even though majority of members live within the city and surrounding areas. We only see most of our relatives once a year during this event. Previous reunions have focused on the usual food, games and lining up to receive a small bill from our uncles. This coming reunion, we plan to organize around the theme of getting to know each other. Thus, a lot of pre-event activities are required not only for the sponsors, but for the rest of the clan members as well. I promise to elaborate on this in a different blog.
Getting into Online Shopping Craze
The mention of online shopping craze above might have given you the impression that we extended our holiday spending beyond the usual mall and bazaar shopping. On the contrary, we tried our luck writing short articles intended to make shopping online convenient for shoppers around the globe. My wife wrote the following articles at Hubpages to provide Christmas gift ideas for kids:
We worried a bit as the peak shopping happens the day after Thanksgiving in the United States and we only learned about this moneymaking writing a few days after. Well our efforts had not been in vain, it actually already paid off. Just a few minutes ago, my wife made her first sale and according to a report, she sold six items referred through her article and one of them got shipped already! Hopefully it’s only the beginning.
Learning Internet Marketing
Finally, learning about internet marketing took a lot of my time as well. There’s so much to know and to do to make money through writing online. As we have already taken our first steps to this internet adventure through this blog, Parenting Journey and WannaBeHappyNow.com over the past weeks, we now endeavor to make more from our efforts.
We launched a new website also focusing on happiness named HAPPY QUOTES, HAPPY IMAGES with quite a different format and approach. I hope you’ll visit it and enjoy its features. Quite limited now but it would definitely get better with age. So please check it out.
So that hopefully explains the lull in activities in FATHERHOOD ADVENTURES. Now the challenge for me is how to maintain a balance among these various interests and at the same time fulfill my obligations as husband and father.
UPDATE: My own wish list aka gift ideas is already publishedhere.
It was a tight competition to the top spot, and at the final whistle around nine votes separated Thanksgiving Every Day from the top hub. The article placed third only garnered 11 % and even less for the next two to round up the five new HubNuggets. So you may say that it was a one-on-one contest (40 vs 33%) and we did give 'em a scare! You may see the results here.
I’d like to acknowledge the support of Mama Sez, friends and readers of Fatherhood Adventures. As I am new to HubPages, in fact that was my very first article, I am guessing that a significant proportion of the votes I garnered were from non-members- meaning you, my friends, and your referrals.
As I cannot show you yet the congratulatory email I mentioned in my previous blog, let me just repost this HubNugget “trophy” from a previous hub of one member of the HubNugget Team. Here it is:
For all it’s worth, at least to me and my writing adventure, I want to express my deepest gratitude for the all-out support. I know I can count on you. Cheers!
It sounds like chicken McNugget…but this is actually serious stuff…well, if you wanna be recognized for your writing efforts, that is. Your own Papa Sez’s first piece in HubPages with the title ‘Thanksgiving Every Day’ was selected as one of ten best articles (hubs) for the week and voting runs until Wednesday, December 2.
Here’s how it works. From among an estimated 2500-2800 new hubs of new writer-members of HubPages (i.e. up to 60 days from joining) submitted during a week, a team of senior writers (HubNugget Team) selects the ten best in terms of quality, etc. These writer-nominees are then designated as HubNugget Wannabes from among which the top five vote-getters will be declared HubNuggets.
So you ask, what’s thebig deal? Are you gonna win $2000 or so? Well, not quite…or not really. Maybe a trophy? Nope. Ah a certificate of recognition? Hmmm a recognition of sorts, a congratulatory email from the HubNugget Team that will also be published in the official newsletter sent to all 60,000 or so members of HubPages. This would then help introduce the HubNuggets to the community (and the rest of the internet) and boost not only their readership but their confidence as well.
So now, I am going to ask you to click on this link or the vote button below to see the list of nominated hubs (articles) and choose from among them. I am sure you’ll find my entry as good as, if not better than, the others (wink wink).
Voting runs only until Wednesday, December 2. So read now…you’ll surely find gems from among the said hubs.
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