I am a big fan of Squidoo as you’ll learn. That will never change. But there is a site that I still find fun - Hub Pages. The focus here is on great content that is visually appealing. This is not much different between that concept and that of Squidoo’s which is probably why I like it so much.

The idea is to sign up for an account at HubPages.com and write articles about things that interest you. I like to make mine at least 400 words because the longer hubs seem to get a higher ranking and better Adsense placement.

That’s another great thing about Hub Pages - you can make extra revenue through various ad and affiliate programs. The ones that are available now include:

• Adsense
• Kontera
• eBay
• Amazon

The only one I am really using at the moment is Adsense - however as my hubs get older (I just started them yesterday) I’ll add more- as long as the products I advertise are relevant to the topic.

I made a salad today and then became obsessed with acronyms. I constructed a salad where the ingredients spelled out my cat’s name, Panther. Then, I started to think about acronyms and what they could do for my writing creativity.

For example, you can choose an arbitrary word and construct a poem, like this:

Cat Poem

Curved in a ball around the pillow

Amazing flexibility, so still

Tail tucked underneath, twitching.

So, if you need an extra creativity boost - consider acronyms. You can use them to make salads, soups, pizza, poetry…

I’ve spent a lot of time and energy writing articles and other resources that are designed to help people learn how to be a freelance writer. This includes my squidoo lenses . You see, when I started getting serious about making money as a writer, there were a lot of people out there who have helped me out by the help they’ve given me and the articles they’ve written that I’ve found helpful. I vowed that I would help add to the pool of knowledg.

I believe that it’s important to pay it forward in this way. I remember how confused I felt in the beginning. I’ve made mistakes. In fact, I still make mistakes. But I’ve had plenty of successes, too. I enjoy sharing what I can with all of you so you can learn from my experience.

After all, learning from others is exactly how I got where I am today.

When I first started writing I spent a lot of time writing poems, short stories, and querying magazines and other publications that I found interesting. Somewhere along the way, my career got away from that. I discovered that writing for companies was a lot more lucrative so I completely stopped doing the other writing I enjoyed. This was a huge mistake.

I don’t see anything wrong with writing for businesses. What was wrong is that I did it at the expense of ignoring the kind of writing that I truly enjoy. I love food writing, writing poetry, and dreaming up ideas for movies and novels. Adding this to my daily writing schedule should not be hard.

And it isn’t. My life is currently being uprooted. So I figure - why not consider this a new beginning for my freelance writing career? I have the power to change the way things are going. I’ve already started making more time for the writing I enjoy. The goal is to keep it up.

When I first started as a freelance writer, I used the print edition of the Writer’s Market to help me find writing jobs. While I think it is still a great resource for writers, the internet has really made my life easier. I am more likely to find freelance writing markets and freelance writing jobs online.

For my business, I make my money doing a combination of things. The two most common are that I make money writing for clients and I also query print and online magazines. I am also always on the lookout for blogging jobs. Here are the sources I use most often:

• Freelance Writing Jobs - A combination of print markets and jobs for clients
• ProBlogger Job Board - Focuses on blogging jobs
• Rentacoder - I’ve had a lot of success on this bid site
• Writing for Dollars - Sign up for the ezine and get weekly markets and also search the database.

I know, there are a ton more. However, I’ve learned that if I try to check too many markets, I never actually get any work accomplished! These are the four I’ve had the most success with and they are all free to use.