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How To Write Books For Children

Recently I was at the local library with my children and my eldest daughter could not find enough books on the shelves that suited her tastes. It is a small library and even though I thought there was a good selection of books for her age bracket (she is 7 1/2 and an excellent reader), she had already read all the "girly" books that were there and would not consider bringing home a book that was not about princesses, unicorns or anything else in that style (luckily the librarian found a book with pink pages that my daughter had missed).

I can't afford buying a lot of books: I usually buy books for my kids at Christmas, along with one other gift, but other than that, all the books we read come from the library which is near free. Another problem for me is that my daughter is a fast reader: after less than an hour from being home from the library, she said she had finished her first book so I asked her what the story was about to see if she had really read it, and she had! (Do they teach speed reading in primary schools nowadays?)

I then thought that it might be a good idea for me to try and write stories for children; after all, if my kids are not satisfied with the choice that's available in the library (or go through books like bullets), why not make up stories that are specially designed to suit their tastes in books? I started searching online for free courses or advice on writing for children and even though I am still not sure whether I am going to take the plunge or not, it could be one of my resolutions for 2010. If you have ever thought of writing for children, here are some of the resources I have found online:

http://www.write4kids.com/
http://www.howtodothings.com/careers/a2910-how-to-write-childrens-books.html
http://www.howtobooks.co.uk/leisure/writing/how-to-childrens-book.asp

Writing for children may not be for everyone but this seems like the right choice for me right now and I have an excellent critic right here at home with me (there could be two by the time I get to finish anything resembling a story, as it looks like my youngest daughter will soon be able to read on her own too). I'm not sure I can make it, but I'll never know if I don't try, right?

Booted Out of Squidoo But Still on Associated Content.

During the summer I received an email from Squidoo asking me to review my lenses that were apparently too spammy for their standards.

I had a lot of other things going on in my life at that time and just ignored the request so now my lenses have been deleted. I know some of them were set up merely to promote some Clickbank products so I accepted being "fired" without too much damage to my ego. If my lenses have been deleted I guess an awful lot of lensmasters have been given the boot too because my lenses were far from being the most spammy but if Squidoo's owners want to improve their standards, that's up to them. I can set up another account with them but I don't think I will.

One thing I used to find difficult with Squidoo is that if you really want to make money with lenses, you have to build a lot of them: at least 100. Making 100 lenses might not be so hard over a period of time, but when you think that they all need to be updated regularly, 100 is an awful lot, especially if you want to have a life!

I'm finished with Squidoo but I am going to try and write more articles on Associated Content. Not only writing articles are less time-consuming than building Squidoo lenses but the fact that once they have been published you don't need to go back every 5 minutes to update them is a big plus for me; I like to finish something and then being able to forget about it, especially since I am still earning money every month for articles I've written 2 years ago.

Sure I can't promote affiliate links on Associated Content but to tell you the truth I didn't earn as much as I would have liked on Squidoo promoting affiliate links, be it through Squidoo's own affiliate programs or my own links, so I'm thinking of maybe setting up a blog where I could write some reviews and promote some affiliate products (probably not Clickbank either, something more real that the average person would find useful). I'm not going to do this straight away, as I find that I really don't have time for anything more right now, but maybe next year, when both my children have the same school hours (these school pick-ups are really killing me, there is something not quite right about the Irish school system!).

So here's just to let you know what I'm up to. If you're interested in reading my last articles you can read 5 Top Website Resources for Easy to Make and Cheap Halloween Decorations, which came in very handy for my children this week (the house is now full of ghost and pumpkin garlands as well as bats made out of empty toilet rolls), or, if you'd rather cast a money spell (yes there is one about winning the lotto, but remember if it's too good to be true...) read 5 Free Spells Websites for a Spooky Halloween and if you like them, please share them online!

Free TV on the Internet

Oops, didn't realize it was so long since I last posted here. Since I last wrote a blog post I moved house and learned DIY - well I bought myself a cheap drill and phone my ex whenever I need curtain poles or shelves installed; I haven't actually used the drill myself, why should I when someone is willing to do the work for free?

Anyway, enough talk of how to abuse your ex, let's talk about free TV: when I went to see my sister last summer she gave me her Dexter boxset and converted me: so after watching Dexter series 1, I was craving for more, especially since I had read that the series 4 was going to be aired on TV soon. I rented the Dexter series 2 in my local Xtravision but the shop assistant told me that the series 3 had not been released yet (at least not in the region 2, which my DVD player and I live in), so I decided to look around on the World Wide Web and found several websites where I could watch TV for free.

Here's what I found so far: depending on where you live, you can watch shows that have been broadcast on your local TV stations; these are the safest to view, in case you're worried about nasty viruses or the law: in Ireland for example, you can catch up on your favourite soaps and shows on the RTE player or the TV3 catch up website. A useful website for the Irish language lovers (or simply students who have no choice but to learn Irish) is the TG4 website, where most programmes are in Gaeilge. If you live in the UK you should definitely hook up with the 4oD website (from Channel 4): they have a much more exciting selection of series but are unfortunately not accessible from Ireland.

There are a lot of Free TV websites but I must say that I find most have crappy content and I would stay away from others that require you to install a toolbar or download software. For Free Internet TV that won't install spyware or adware on your computer, I recommend the following:
- http://www.freeetv.com;
- http://www.tvchannelsfree.com;
- http://www.worldtvpc.com/;

My personal favourite, despite the fact that there are pop up ads that may discourage you from viewing anything on offer, is Project Free TV: it has everything under the sun from Little House on the Prairie to Weeds and, yes, this is where I have been catching up with my favourite anti-hero Dexter. I am not sure of the legality of the website so I wouldn't advise anyone to download any episodes (it says you can download full HD episodes with Vuze) but I am pretty content with my now bloodshot eyes (some of the episodes are a bit out of sync, funny to hear Rita talk with Dexter's voice and vice-versa sometimes and the episodes are watchable but still not the best if you're a bit fussy about the video quality).

If you don't know what I've been talking about, don't worry: it took me a while to differentiate between Internet TV, catch up TV, streaming, downloading, etc... Here's an interesting article for all Internet TV newbies: read The Definitive Guide to watching Internet TV on PC.

PS 1: Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any crap that might get on your computer if you ever decide to download anything through any of the above links; I am also not responsible for any trouble you may incur with the law. If you're unsure whether any website you visit is legal and don't want to run any risks, just don't go there!

PS 2: To the idiot who put a CPA ad which require visitors to complete a survey in order to access the site (which I haven't listed here by the way): I got the hell out of your site and am not coming back; this kind of thing annoys the crap out me and I guess I'm not the only one who won't be staying on your website (really, how stupid can a webmaster get?).

Update: Project Free TV has unfortunately just disappeared but I have just found the next best thing with Free Online Episodes; not so many oldies there like She-ra, Inspector Gadget or Mac Gyver (sigh!) but still lots of excellent shows (Dexter of course, Damages, Nurse Jackie...) so I think I'll hurry and catch with what I've been missing before this one disappears as well.

I'm Taking Time Off

I know my blogging has been pretty slack for the last few months, but it's about to get a lot slacker, at least for the next month or two.

During the week, I have been offered social housing and it looks like I will be moving in about 4 weeks (Whoo Hoo!). I know this is not a reason for slowing down in itself but considering the fact that I am going on a two-week holiday (which has been planned since January), I think I'll be spending the 2 remaining weeks packing, cleaning up, buying furniture for the new house (I was renting a furnished house) and negotiating my leaving notice with my landlord (it's normally 56 days and I don't feel like paying rent on 2 places at the same time).

Be confident that I will also be practising my negotiating skills with electrics and furniture stores, as buying a number of items from one store should entitle me to a big discount!

The good news is that I'm finally getting a permanent place to live (or at least long-term) and that I will be once again (I already bought a car this year) putting my money back in the economy: I'd better start writing a list because the amount of stuff I have to buy is scary!

In case I'm not back by then, Happy Easter to everyone and keep me a chocolate egg!

Do You Know Who Your Facebook Friends Are?

I have just read an article on Yahoo News about an English prison officer being arrested for having criminals as some of his Facebook friends.

Of course the fact that he had these people as friends on his Facebook profile was not the only reason while the guard was arrested; the article mentions he had a photograph of him and a convicted fraudster on his Facebook profile (if you don't want to get caught, don't show off with your criminal friends!) as well as the fact that he had been supplying mobile phones and other banned items to inmates of the prison where he worked.

I went on a mad rampage a few months ago, adding lots of "friends" which I didn't know as I was hoping to get people to access my blog and posted items such as Squidoo lenses and Associated Content articles through my Facebook profile. I may have been naive but I never thought I might be unknowingly adding people who may be bad news.

I am not a prison guard or any other kind or Government employee but for my own sake I'd still rather not have any connections with criminals. I think I have a bit of decluttering to do on my own Facebook account: I am planning to reorganize my friends into categories (never thought I might even talk like this about my friends, I'm scaring myself!); of course I'll keep the people I know outside the Internet (I have a cousin who is a policeman, I'd better warn him in case he would have any dodgy friends), I also want to keep all my fellow bloggers, Squidooers, Associated Content producers, etc...

There is a saying that says "Keep your friends close and your ennemies closer" but I'd rather keep any ennemies as far away from me as I bloody can!

PS. You can still add me as a friend if you like, just add a quick note saying how you found me.

Lazy Advertising

Last week I received my car insurance newsletter in the post, and in the enveloppe was a sticker designed to display their insurance claims phone number on the inside of the car and their logo on the outside.

While the displaying of the sticker is optional, the incentive to stick it on the car's windows is pretty good, as the insurance company has "sticker spotters" on the roads all over the country who will enter the registration numbers of the cars they see "wearing" their stickers into a monthly draw in which 5 people will win €200. At the end of the year there is another draw in which the big prize is a brand new VW Golf.

I guess that getting their customers to display a logo on their cars must be cheaper than TV advertising or paying for ad spaces on the back of buses: €31,000 (the total value of all the prizes to be won, including the car) plus the cost of printing the stickers as well as relying on word of mouth (which is a big thing in Ireland, since everyone seems to be related, or at least know someone I know) is not that big a budget for a national insurance company.

Another scheme the same insurance company has is "recommend a friend", where people who recommend that company to a friend can get a €50 discount on their next renewal date (which also makes people want to stick with the company to avail of their discount). So I've calculated that for a policy worth €400 (which is what they have quoted me for my next renewal date, as I was trying to get last year's insurance on the cheap), I'd have to get 8 people to take up a car insurance with them in order to get it for free.

I am a bit surprised to see no group on Facebook called "help X get free car insurance" yet but who knows, I might try and set up my own one of these days!