Where Have You Been?

My throngs of followers and readers might be wondering that very question. Okay, fine. The two of you might have vaguely wondered why I haven't been posting. I'll tell you! I've been doing that squirrel on crack thing.

I'm not sure how it started. A video, an article, a podcast? Something I saw or read made me think that creating affiliate websites would be a cool next step in the online writing journey. I have three sites now. I'd like to tell you a bit about them, but first, here's the thought process behind them. 

For almost three years, I've been writing for other people. All my hard work has funded their websites, blogs and marketing efforts. That's about 3,000 articles. They ranged from 50-75 word product descriptions to 1,500 word articles about hardwood flooring. I once did a 6k word article on power tools. My point is... all that work was to the benefit of someone else's dream. Sure, I got paid. Don't get me wrong, but I wasn't building anything of my very own. 

I've known this for years. This didn't just hit me one day out of the blue, but I wasn't sure what to do about it until that recent article. I thought, "Why not? Why am I still writing for other people? That was never the plan."

For a month or so, I brainstormed, read tons of blogs and sites about affiliate marketing, and researched keywords. I worried about coming across as one of those spammer types, but really, Google doesn't allow spammer types anymore. They want people to create content-rich sites that provide value to the reader. 

I can do that! 

I started two sites. One was about hypnotism and the other was about fashion/sewing. I made sure to pick keywords that I'm interested in, that I could write a lot of content on, and that I could maybe make some money with in the future. 

The hypnotism one is in progress. I was going to link it here, but I might wait until it's finished. The fashion one couldn't be moved for 60 days. It's close to time for that one. 

I recently started a third one. This is the one I want to share with you. It's for creative writing prompts. I think of it as a companion site for this blog. Eventually, I'll be writing a book of creative writing prompts and wanted a site that could funnel people to the book. The Creative Writing Prompts for Writers site was born. Sounds grander than it is. I'm proud of the site, but there's still more to be done. It needs more categorization and other tweaks. 

Oh, and I've also been writing for a few online sites like Hubpages, Writedge, and Squidoo. Trying to build my personal, online writing portfolio. It's great to be able to write on tons of topics without having to stay within a genre like I do here. I love writing about writing and creative inspiration, but sometimes, I want to write about treasures, summer fun, or hidden doorways.

So, that's what I've been doing with myself the past few weeks. Once, the sites are up and running, I'll be blogging here more. I haven't disappeared!