The Lisa H. Warren Blog

Thanks for Visiting

This is a blog that I've set up to be associated with the writing that I do in my free time, and under this particular name. Because writing associated with, or linked to/from, this site is free-time writing I do a lot of things that aren't particularly recommended for Internet writers. For example, I couldn't really be bothered trying to think up a creative name for this blog. First, what a lot of people don't understand is that non-fiction writers aren't always very creative. . (By the way, I do write under a pen name, only because I started doing that years ago and breaking away from it has turned out to be a long and complicated process.)

This blog has a "sister site", and that's a writing site that I've set up under the same name under which I've done quite a bit of online writing.

That site is "Lisa H. Warren"

Until recently I've written only under that name, which is a pen-name I came up with when I first began writing on writing sites, and using a "real-sounding" pen-name was recommended.

Since I've recently begun to write under my own name (but since completely separating from the well-established pen-name is going to take some time), I have a site and a blog for each name. I know that nobody will be searching for either of my names, but I haven't created either the sites or the blogs under my name(s) because I think they'll get traffic. I've created each as both a "home-base" type of thing and a way to let any readers (who have found their way to any of my other writing) have some idea about who/what I am as a writer and a person. It's not that I think anyone even cares about who/what I am. It's just that I think that, as a writer, I owe readers some "reading" on the person behind whatever it is they may have read.

I'm not interested in "building a brand" or "online reputation". Maybe I should be, but I'm just not. All I care about is a) writing, b) aiming to offer something credible and/or entertaining, and c) letting readers know where some material comes from.

Feb 24, 2016

Got Rid Of Links To My Writing On This Page

Among my other little moves toward progress, I finally noticed (and now have gotten rid of) the list of links that I had on this page and that once served a purpose. I know I could just delete things like this blog and the HubPages account associated with pen-name, but I haven't spend a decade or so writing (even the stuff I've done on a "free-time basis" or casual basis (but that eventually turned less casual) ,only to risk coming across as fly-by-night or sleazy). Basically, I pretty much want to delete most of the stuff I have online somewhere and either start new or don't start at all; but as with most moving on, one tends to know when it's the right time and when it isn't.

Progress With My Pen-Name HubPages Account

By the time I signed up with HubPages (over eight years ago now), I'd already had a well established pen-name that I was using on revenue-sharing sites ("writing sites"/"writing platforms"). That served my purposes (of not really wanting my real name on those sites because I was looking for more work/projects and would have been embarrassed by (and worried about) a potential employer/client finding my real name on some of those sites. By "those sites" I mean the sites that invited "anyone" to write "what you know" or "what you're passionate about", and if it's useful or helpful to someone it may earn some passive income for you. Some sites had some limited standards, and those standards were gradually tightened up as the years went on. Over the years I wrote a few hundred Hubs under the pen-name. Sometimes, and for one reason or another, I'd delete a few (or many) and write new ones. Without a whole, detailed, picture of the whole "writing-site" thing, I'll just say that after all those years I'd accumulated way too much stuff that was a big embarrassment.

It wasn't that the information/insight in some of that stuff wasn't OK. It was just that I'd find things to write about by looking for ideas for writing, look for things I thought I knew something about, and write replies in a very casual style (as if talking to a friend). As "casual" essentially would become synonymous with "low quality", it also became less desirable on those sites.

There were times when "Word" was that nothing should ever, EVER, be written in a way that made it clear one was not writing as an expert and was, instead, writing "as if talking to a friend". "Word" was that one should write in "an authoritative voice". (In other words, try to come across as if you're expert rather than as a "friend" who thinks that, maybe, there's something to be gained from "friendly discussion" among friends.

In any case, so much of my old stuff is a big embarrassment for me because a) it was written "friendly style" (rather than phony "authority style"), but then b) because I found that by staying away from the more casual approach (even if still trying to make it clear who/what I was) of EVER using first person, stuff I wrote like that was often in good enough grammar and based on legitimate enough past research/study and/or experience) that it just came too close to looking like something written professionally - but without adding the stuff that made it good and clear to any readers that I wasn't an authority and didn't want my stuff mistaken for what it wasn't.

So, these days "too casual" looks like "low quality", and any number of other things written in half-decent grammar either are, seem, or appear not to just be casual/low quality but typical Internet sleaze.

With a number of what Hubs I have left on my pen-name account there, it's pretty much a matter of so many of them just being a big embarrassment. Knowing what to delete when, or else having some complications related to having a bunch of writing with "roots" associated with one site and/or a pen-name, isn't as simple as it might seem to someone who either never got involved with "writing sites", or even to someone who hasn't watched the evolution of the whole "online-writing scene" long enough.

In any case, over the last couple of days I've made major progress in getting that HubPages account more cleaned up (more cleaning to do), while also (maybe) trying to think up what to do about any Hubs that I may want to leave (may not - I don't know yet) on that particular account. (Phasing away from a pen-name isn't all that simple sometimes either, but I'm not going to get into that.)

Finally Did Some Major Clean-Up Of My HubPages "Lisa HW" Account

I spent a good part of yesterday getting rid of a bunch of stuff that's no longer suitable for HubPages. Along with that, I've also done quite a bit to trim down, consolidate (etc.) some of the out-of-control blog stuff. At this point (1:28 a.m.) I'm too tired to write anything other than this post. It doesn't help that I'm operating on a small laptop that's plopped atop my desktop (because I STILL haven't gotten around to/been in the mood to do something about the dust in the fan. It also doesn't help that because I've got the laptop on top of the PC I've hooked up a keyboard where I can reach it, and because that keyboard is my "real" one, but I've discovered that I can work better with one that was given to me as a joke one Christmas; I've got the "joke" keyboard on top of the "real" one, and it keeps slipping out of place.

The reason it was given to me "as a joke" is because it has big, giant, yellow, keys and looks "industrial strength". How tough I am on the characters on keys is kind of a joke among people who know me, so the heavy-duty-looking one went with that joke. Now the characters are wearing off too. Because I like turning the lights down when I write late at night that means not being able to see doesn't help. That's also why the yellow keys seemed like a good idea when I plopped that particular keyboard on top of the other one. There are many things about the set-up that make operating more of a challenge than it would otherwise be (but I'm too tired to do much about some of those little challenges too). It's fine. I live with them. I'm not complaining - just too tired tonight to write about anything other than the fact that doing tedious projects (like dealing with the HubPages stuff) wouldn't be as slow if I'd, once-and-for-all, address some those little aggravations/challenges.

It's a REAL hoot to try to do more than just type posts on things like blogs. I only care so much about most of this stuff I write as "free-time" stuff. I say that, and yet knowing I want to get a better grip onit wears away at me anyway.

In any case, as I see that the percentage of posts about reorganizing the big mess that is whatever writing I've "on a casual basis" becoming less, as I see an increase (even if only a small one) in activities/posts not involving "The Reorganization/Clean-Up Project", I'm feeling better about it all. As I look at a zillion windows (and whatever else) that I've got going on here right now, I know that when I close them all down for the night (and do some unplanned defragmenting and a few others things), it will all feel less like "still a mess". What else doesn't help is that for as long as I'm been "addressing the matter" of needing to organize or clean out all this stuff I've been "incubating" a number of kind of overwhelming projects that are actually writing. I've got some "disk clean-up" to do with all that stuff that's been incubating as well.

OK, that should do it for my obligatory recent post for this blog.

Feb 21, 2016

Progress As I've Continued To Phase Away From The Pen Name

As you can see if you kind of scan the posts and notes on this blog, it's something that I started way back when I first started writing online and using a pen name was recommended. I won't get into that whole history again. (It's here if anyone were at all interested.)

My main reason for choosing today to write this post is that I've made substantial progress with the transition (and with a whole lot of organizing (etc.), but as part of the most recent progress I've made I've also put my Google+ profile settings mostly on "Private" (at least for now). That means that any0one who, for whatever reason, may be at all interested in finding something I've written, or else in finding out more about the person who wrote something under this name, will pretty much reach a dead-end (at least for the most immediate future).

Elsewhere on this page there's a link/reference to "Lisa H. Warren". That goes to a page that's not as "dead-end-y" as my Google profile is at the moment. AND, although it's TRULY a "transition blog" and therefore extremely casual and "anything-goes", my "WordCrafter09" blog (to which there's a link posted in the sidebar on this page) is still up, still pretty "transition-y", and still a kind of peculiar assortment of posts.

Other than that (and, again, only because I've got so many things set on "private"),, my ultimate aim is that one blog will replace any blogs/pages that aren't "theme-focused" with one "author-focused" blog, which is "ME Whelan Online Writing And Notes"

Sep 9, 2015

Continuing To Move Farther and Farther Away From The Pen Name

While I continue to move farther away from pages associated with the pen name, my HubPages account associated with it remains up and running. I have my reasons for not closing that account. The main ones are 1) that HubPages remains the only site for writing anywhere near the type of writing that I want to do on someone else's site; and 2) I'm approaching eight years of using that site, and I think - if all goes well for them - the site remains a good one for writers. In the case of the pen-name account, while I have plans to "phase away" from it for the most part there's still some thinking about what I want to do with what's left on there before I figure out what to fix up, what to remove, etc.

There's also some waiting to see if the site takes a clearer direction than appears as of this writing.

In any case, between still having that account up and running and having some other pen-name associated stuff out there here-or-there, my plan is to leave up this blog (again, at least for the time-being) - not because I plan to do more with it than I already have (to the contrary), but because it makes sense to have a place for posting the occasional thing about some pen-name-related matter.

There will probably come a time when I have no reason to want to post any pen-name-stuff-related thoughts. This just is not that time yet. I've got the "WordCrafter09" blog that's been acting as "the intersection" of the pen-name stuff and real-name stuff. With my five-year-old "WordCrafter09" account on HubPages (associated with my real name), I figure I'll do the same thing with that blog as I'm doing with this one - wait and see what happens on/with HubPages before deciding any next steps. (The difference between the two different accounts/names, however, is that the "WordCrafter09" is associated with my real name. So, once (in the midst of making some major changes with different blogs in different stages of development) I decide what, if anything, I'm doing with future material on that account on HubPages; I'll "phase out" the "WordCrafter" blog and use one that's in my own name.

My "project" these days is to figure out how to leave any number of blogs/sites/accounts in some version of "reasonable state", which ones to close, which ones to keep in/return to being "searchable", and build one "monster" of a blog on which I can post whatever I feel like writing without regard for whether there appears to be any "system", rhyme or reason, or specific purpose to it.

What I do with with whatever I have already put together that does have some rhyme/reason will be a case-by-case-basis thing.

For now, this is my update to this particular blog.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Not long ago I was reading advice about naming blogs. The individual, who clearly knows what he's doing when it comes to blogs, mentioned that people shouldn't give their blogs an "ego title" (which includes the person's name, rather than a less personal, more-to-point-about-the-theme, title). Of course, this advice was directed at anyone who hopes to earn money with his blog.

I cringed a little, though, because some of my blogs have "ego" titles. The thing is, though, it was not my ego at the root of my choice for some of the "Lisa" blogs I have.

When I started putting together blogs as way of finding a home for a lot of the writing I'd already done (with the plans of further developing them later), I wasn't particularly thinking of earning money from them. I was thinking of finding some way to organize my writing in what I hoped was an attractive "environment" that gave me the freedom to later add whatever I wanted to add.

Names like, "No Senior Coffee" and "Storm Clouds and Wind Chimes" just kind of came naturally. Then, though, I had some writing that only loosely fit into "categories", and I realized I had to come up with some cohesive name for each of those "categories". I was thinking almost in terms of names for file folders when I created the names, although, because blogs have a public nature, I thought I'd try to add something "catchy" to titles that were essentially "file folder titles".

So, along with the titles mentioned above, and along with "Dabblings in Verse", I have a whole lot of "Lisa" titles - "Lisa's Collection", "Lisa Light", "Lisa's Christmas Card", and on and on and on. I knew when I created the titles they wouldn't particularly be searched for by the public. My aim, though, wasn't really to have people search for them (in view of the fact that I wasn't try to make money with them). The plan was to direct readers to the blogs from other writing sites where my name is associated with my writing. In other words, all I wanted to do was categorize and make available my writing. I wasn't looking to become a famous Internet "presence" with it.

When I saw someone refer to personal-name titles as "ego titles" I did cringe because it occurred to me that anyone who sees some of my blogs may assume it was ego at the root of some of the titles. It wasn't, and I don't want anyone thinking it was. The "Lisa line" of titles is only a matter of "file-folder" thinking, as well as my disregard for whether or not anyone finds the sites without being directed to them by me.

I know that addressing this can come across as "defensive" of me, and that nobody really cares how or why I came up with any particular title. It isn't intended to. It's just that I'm "so-at-the- opposite-end-of-egotistical" it does kind of bother me to think that anyone - even a stranger - would believe it was ego at the root of some of the titles.

There's More to Organizing Than Just Organizing

When I first started writing on "what-you-want-to-write" sites it was a matter of "anything goes" as far as most writing sites were concerned. At the time, I hadn't been able to find full-time work because of the economy, where I live (which is "The Sticks"), family responsibilities, and my not having had a full-time job for quite awhile. I had no choice but take whatever projects anyone (who knew someone who knew someone else) would give me. I wasn't just working hard, but working hard to find yet more work. I was sick-to-death of writing stuff about things in which I had zero interest (and pretending to be interested). (Shh. Don't tell any of those people for whom I've done work that I really haven't had genuine interest in the stuff I've written for them.)

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy writing, and I even enjoy writing for other people. It's just that, as most writers will tell you, after awhile it isn't enough. So, it was a few years ago now that I began writing on writing sites. I enjoy writing on a few sites, and what I post on any of them depends on the kind of site it is.

The trouble is (without going into any specific details), ever since I've been enjoying writing online in my spare time (and picking up a fairly decent extra income at the same time), I've always kind of felt a little "off key" because, as much as I enjoy writing on writing sites; I haven't been writing the kind of material that's really what I want to write. People who spend much time on writing sites usually know that there's often debate (arguments) between those who write for money and those who write for love, or for art. My feeling off key has nothing to do with that particular (and ever famous) debate, because in a lot of ways I fit in with both sides of that particular writing coin. It more has to do with my own setting limitations on the kind of material I'll write on any site.

For example, I won't post anything I really care about on the Internet because I know too well how often some kinds of articles are stolen. I'm used to it. I do what I can about it. Still, I'm not about to post some pieces of writing in what amounts to an "up-for-grabs" venue. Then, too, there are things I'm just not going to write about. For the most part, I don't want write about objects. My wish to keep some personal business private means I'm not going to put on the Internet some things that I'd really like to write. The list of what I don't want to write goes on and on. So does the list of what I won't put on the Internet. As a result, I've found some kind of safe, middle-ground, of writing; and then I've adjusted whatever falls under the category to be as close to acceptable as it has to be on any given writing site. That's fine. I enjoy writing online, and I'll probably continue to use online writing as one of my spare-time endeavors. Still, the fact is, for several years now I've been trying to figure out what it is that has made me always feel kind of off-key when it comes to a lot of my online writing.

So often, when people are talking about how writers want readers for their work. I've always wondered if there's something wrong with me, because I plain, old, don't care if my work is ever read. Oddly, however, when I write I do write with the reader in mind; and all through the writing process, I'm imagining how a reader may react to the words I so carefully try to make click into place.

Also, there have been times when writing discussions have been about how writers want to keep getting feedback on their work, often in order to continue to edit and improve it. My thing has always been that I see each piece of writing almost as a kind of child of mine: I do my best to get it to maturity; and I send it out into the world, where it will inevitably sink or swim. Thinking of this brings to my mind the last scene in the animated version of E.B. White's Charlotte's Web, in which all Charlotte's spider eggs have turned into baby spiders that scurry away from the web she wove. (I know that making reference to "sink or swim" and spider eggs is mixing metaphors. Sorry. Sometimes I break some rules.)

In any case, over several years I've sent a very large number of "spider babies" out into the world; but as the real-life mother of grown sons and a daughter, I've learned that we remain parents no matter how old our babies are, whether or not they remain in the nest, or how far they roam from it. I don't know... As I've been trying to figure out what it is, exactly, that has been making me feel quite so off-key, it has occurred to me that no matter who, or what, we see as our "children", no mother just tosses them out into the world when they still need her and says, "Sink or swim, babies!" So why is it I've been so cavalier about tossing my own creations out into the Internet world and pretty much not been interested in ever seeing them again? I guess it's because, while they're mine, a whole lot of them are certainly not "Me" (at least not in terms of "Me, as a professional writer").

On the one hand, my spare-time "creations" are, most definitely, very much "Me, the person". The trouble is that "Me, the writer" judges my own (often more casual) writing through the eyes of someone who tends to think that only the most "professionally written" pieces of writing have a right to exist. The trouble is also, however, that "Me, the person" has a lot of things to say (for one reason or another. Not only that, but "Me, the person" just plain enjoys writing what "she" feels like writing. Sometimes the old "being of two minds" is easier than other times. Well, maybe it isn't so much "being of two minds" that's a challenge. Maybe the problem is more related to having one activity (writing) in which both of those minds are involved.

Sometimes, when I meet one of my better pieces of writing "on the street" I think, "Hey. This isn't so bad. Maybe I should like it more than I do." Sometimes, too, when I go out looking for any pieces of writing that I've never really liked, I'll realize that it never stood a chance because I didn't give it the time or chance that I gave some of its siblings. And so, I suppose, one reason I've for so long felt off-key is that I know I've sent so many of my creations out into the world without caring what happened to them. Oh, I have my writing and my projects that I very much care about. It's just that the stuff I put online is not that. The funny thing is, though, that we can think we don't care about our creations much until one day, we look out into "the streets" and realize that we are looking at something that is far more a part of us than we'd realized. I suppose, too, one problem has been that while I'll never really feel very much a part of the Internet "streets", I've been aiming to make my creations street-savvy because I've known I have no intention of becoming a part of their world.

I have my plans for how I'll approach any spare-time writing I do from here on out. In the meantime, though, I've decided to build a home for all my wayward creations, call them home, and do for them what I should have done in the first place.

Those of us who have been on writing sites recently know that these days duplicate content is being frowned on more and more. By setting up a home for my wayward creations I'll be turning them into duplicate content (if they haven't already been). I can't worry about who, out there in "Internet-Land" likes it, though; because my creations have, for too long, been fending for themselves. They need to come home now. They need me to start caring about them.

For now, their home will be on the blog, "Life On Key". I'm going to move them later.

When you start posting animated cats on the blog that's supposed to be for organizing your spare-time writing, it's kind of obvious you've been putting in a little too much work into what was supposed to be a spare-time thing.

Note: Hmm. I don't know what happened to the animated, white, cat that I had on here. I'll look into it some time, I suppose - but not right now..... For now I'll just tell you: It was a white, pretty, cartoon-cat with a snooty voice and a mildly sarcastic remark. Oh well.... Sorry it isn't there. I'm sure this whole incident has absolutely ruined your day.. In any case, I have no idea who that woman with two-toned, blue, hair is. She's clearly a lot less cute, funny or generally witty than the cat.

A Note About The Link Below

As part of my transition away from using my long-time pen-name while also connecting some of my older writing with writing I'm now doing under my own name; I'm including this link to my "WordCrafter09" blog. Eventually, I'll get a better handle of what to delete or not delete. For now, I'm using WordCrafter09 as a way to kind of connect both "identities" (although I'm the "same identity" on my Google profile). It's just that I don't have, or plan to have/keep some links public on that.

In any case, here's the link (for what it is/isn't worth):

http://wordcrafter09.blogspot.com/

About "The Lisa H. Warren Blog"

"The Lisa H. Warren Blog" is a spare-time endeavor that's aimed at organizing my other spare-time endeavors. (I like to think people will understand that the unimaginative name for this blog is just that - a matter of my not having any imagination; but also, my not really seeing much need to worry about a good blog title for this particular site. Formerly "Lisa's Collection" (almost equally unimaginative), "The Lisa H. Warren Blog" is now under complete overhaul (as well it should be) and may be slated for demolition if I don't come up with more purpose for it.

I do quite a bit of online writing, and after building up a collection of material for quite awhile, I realized it was time to organize it a little better than I’d being doing.

So, I decided to start "The Lisa H. Warren Blog". Because I write on a variety of subjects, however, I realized that my writing really wouldn’t be sufficiently organized through the use of one blog. For that reason, I decided to make this site a “Hub” site, from which material on individual subjects can be found at the links provided. This site is my “miscellaneous department”, because most efforts to organize a wide variety of things require a “miscellaneous department” for whatever it is one is attempting to organize.

My original plan for this site was to let it be a foundation for later, more blog-like, activity; and in the meantime, post writing and whatever I thought might add a little something. When it comes to spare time, however, one can’t always count on having enough of it.

As a result, in spite of how long this blog has been in existence, it still remains fairly embryonic. It is, as they say, what it is.

(With the exception of "Life on Key", blog links may be temporarily disabled.)

NOTE

Since I'm presently in the process of cleaning out, updating, and generally polishing blogs and sites associated with my name; I've unpublished either entire blogs/sites shown here or else returned most posts to a draft/unpublished form. In other words, any links shown are very likely to be temporarily dead, if there even IS such a thing as "temporarily dead". (Yes, there is such a thing as "temporarily dead".) Basically, I'm doing a major clean-up after several years of both my accumulating writing and changes across the Internet. As with most major clean-up projects, one must temporarily live with a bigger mess than one starts with, at least until it's time to begin putting the things that aren't discarded back into a place that makes sense for them. I'm gradually returning things, re-naming things, etc. etc.

Lisa H Warren (Site)

Lisa H. Warren is the site I've created for the purpose of tying together a lot of online writing endeavors, as well as better defining myself within the context of my more casual, online writing, which is separate from my professional writing efforts. Basically, it's is not a "professional writing site - at all". It's a "me-and-my-spare-time-writing" site. The casual writing has kind of taken on a life of its own, so I figured it needs its own home.

For the most part, the material on the site is stuff that would never go on my resume or professional-writing site. Yet, it's because of the experience/background I've had, separate from what would go on my resume, that makes me feel that I have things to say about those subjects that are related to that experience/history. In fact, if I didn't have those things to say (as a result of experience/history), I wouldn't feel the need to do a lot of my personal writing in the first place.

"Life on Key"

Life On Key is a collection of writing that I've done online, and in my spare time (which is, of course, different from any writing I do offline and/or on someone else's time).

After years of having hundreds of pieces of writing building up, and after seeing a number of them showing up online in any number of places (and often posted by someone other than I, with or without permission and/or or payment), I decided to regain some limited control over my own work by putting any writing (that doesn't involve exclusive rights or exclusive use) all in one place.

What I do or don't do with any of these pieces of writing remains to be seen.

The Kind of Stuff I Write on HubPages

Someone on HubPages asked what people wrote on the site. She mentioned that she'd always thought it was for fun writing, but she'd seen some things that looked like "research papers" from college. I figured I'd reply to the question. Here, at the bottom of Lisa's Collection, seems like a good place to post those thoughts:

HubPages is what I do instead of, say, watching television or doing crossword puzzles (which I don't do but which are a good example). I use the site in a way, too, that might compared with, say, the way someone else uses cigarette breaks during their work day. When I'm looking for fun I don't look for it on the Internet at all. My biggest "fun only" Internet activity is coming to the forums and looking for a kind of quick, interesting, discussion (but also having in mind that I may run into one that inspires a subject for a Hub). So for me, what I do on here is something that kind of closes a gap between "real" work (other writing/projects offline) and "personal" - family, socializing, fun (as if I have all that much fun, anyway :rolleyes:). Anyway, it closes that gap. Why I like closing that gap and finding ways to use my skimmed time to write Hubs is 1) I supplement my income with what I earn, and 2) I want to turn skimmed time into something enjoyable and productive because I like to use whatever time I have wisely (AND need to take breaks from less enjoyable stuff if I'm not going to feel like I'm completely "all work/all the time").

So, I'm not there for "just fun". I generally don't do poetry Hubs. I have two poems on there, and one was just something that struck me a couple of days ago. I don't write Hubs that take a whole lot of research because 1) I'm not going to put anything online that I care about as far as being stolen goes, and 2) I don't have that kind of uninterrupted time/energy or sustained mood-to-write.

I write about the kind of stuff I might discuss with a friend over coffee (provided I were trying to offer, and had, something "worthwhile" to add the conversation). Since not all friends share the same interests, I tend to (in offline conversation and in Hub-writing) aim for subjects that tend to be more universal among human beings, parents, writers, etc. That may be "big life issues" or something as "minor" as my personal experience with a set of workout DVD's or a cell phone. That means a lot of my Hubs are evergreen, so that helps the lower performers earn. (They add up in volume and time, regardless of what else I do with them.) Some earn better than others, but they all add up.

I approach my Hubs as if they're only a small part of my "overall writing picture" (elsewhere online or off), so I take them seriously, even if they're a more relaxed type of writing that I could do if someone were paying me to write them in the first place. I always think how, even if they're more relaxed and more personal-style than "day job" writing, they have to be something that still reflects me, the writer (and even "me, the person"). My recent aims have been to "package" a lot of my better online writing in a way that, maybe, I could tie it in with my "more serious" efforts.

I don't want my Hub-writing to be another version of a "day job" because, besides wanting to make good use of my skimmed time, there are things I think I have to share (after 30 years of adult life, a couple of career changes, three kids, personal interests, etc. etc.). One reason I signed up with HubPages in the first place was to have a place where I could share that stuff that I don't get to share in any "day-job" work. I hate to say "share what I think I've learned" because - really - I only have a limited number of areas in which I know enough to write from assimilated knowledge. But, I do hate to see lost decades worth of life experience and hard-earned assimilated knowledge. I hate to see all those "hard knocks" wasted just because I don't get what I've picked up in writing. I figure that maybe someone else can benefit (if only one person somewhere). Also, there's that part of me (as there is with a lot of writers) that sees things going on in the world because it seems as if too few people really understand how things can go on, so there's that part of me that thinks, maybe, if I get some ideas out there, that's better than keeping them to myself.

My aim has always been to write a big mix of "whatever strikes me" at the time. My thinking is that, as a writer, if anyone were to go to one of my profiles and look through my stuff; there'd be "something for everyone" (although not really anyone under 35, for the most part - but we all have our target audience). So that's it. Tomorrow, if the urge to write "some big research thing" hits me, I'd most likely do that. Two days ago, it was a little poem that struck me. I just never know. :lol: