Birthday Poem

The years pass
one after another, like minutes
evolving into hours.

You grow this way—
fingers unfist
legs become
lean and muscled.

I am abandoned by minutes.
Wax drips its slow journey
to sweetness. You mouth the flame,

used breath, escaping your lips,
lingers upon a wish.
It awes and extinguishes

Another year:
its way scent filling our kitchen.

Why I left Hubpages

Fixing a Blog

Choosing the direction you want your blog to go in can require a lot of thinking and planning. My first blog was through the Orble network. After I submitted the standard three posts I was offered my own name.  Family Canteen

I have owned this blog for almost two years, but hadn’t really put a lot of effort into it. The money it earned could have bought me a couple of chocolate bars. There were a few reasons I didn’t work on this blog. First of all it was a food blog. It seemed like an interesting opportunity at the beginning, but I lost interest quickly. Writing about food just seemed too narrow, and the pay rate was not good.

It wasn’t until I learned a little more about SEO that I was struck by the opportunity. On a whim I checked the backlinks coming into this page. 187. With no link building work on my part, I had gathered almost 200 backlinks. This was because of the way the Orble network is set up. Each blog in the network links to the others. I also noted that because of this built in link network, I had a PageRank of 2. Nothing spectacular, but like I said I had put in no effort.

So with all this in mind, I gave my blog a second thought. I was a lot farther ahead in this blogging business than many other beginners I know. And if I could get this far doing almost nothing, how far could I go with all this new SEO knowledge under my belt.

And that brings me to today. I’m in the midst of revamping the entire blog. I’m going back and optimizing post by post, have decided to change it from a food blog to a family lifestyle blog, and have begun writing again. This afternoon I completed the first article I have written for it in quite a while.

Clean House in 15 Minutes a Day: The Experiment

The direction you want to take your blog in has to feel natural to you. If you don’t enjoy what you are doing you will dread doing it. And dread leads to procrastination and eventually to giving up. As soon as I changed the direction of my blog I immediately felt motivated to do something with it.

If you have a blog you have given up on take a second look at it. Can you revamp some of your old posts to make them interesting for yourself and any future readers? If you like your blog, but don’t have much traffic, can you back through some of your old posts and optimize for search engines? Sometimes all it takes are a few simple steps to get your blog and your motivation back in the action.

Review Writing at Hubpages

Review writing has become a favourite writing outlet of mine. I began my review writing career at Viewpoints, but quickly discovered that Canadians do not get paid there. Next was epinions. Epinions pays their reviewers through a profit sharing system that they will not disclose, even their Canadian reviewers. Having earned $5.36 from one review I wrote in 20 minutes, I don’t hold their secret pay formula against them.

Lately I have begun writing reviews at Hubpages, and this is turning out to be one of my most profitable endeavours. At Hubpages, I not only write my reviews, but I can also sell the product I am reviewing by adding Amazon and Ebay capsules with the products I am reviewing available for purchase by my readers. This gives me a few ways to earn some extra money through my review writing. Google ads and Amazon or Ebay sales. Hubpages rank highly in search so my reviews are usually within the first two pages on a google search as do many of the articles I write there.

 If you would like to write for Hubpages, you can Join Here. 


**Note** Due to recent developments of noticing very mismatched and inappropriate ads in several of my hubs and those of others, I will no longer be submitting to Hubpages. It seems to be a really good site for many, just not for my writing.

Adult ADD ADHD Symptoms, Signs and Treatment

Adult ADD and ADHD symptoms and signs can be hard to pinpoint. Too often adult ADHD is left undiagnosed, leaving the adult with the disorder feeling overwhelmed, depressed and embarrassed. While many symptoms of adult ADD/ADHD are common to many of its sufferers the disorder does not affect every adult in the same way. This article offers a detailed list of adult ADD and ADHD symptoms and the signs often seen in adults that would lead to a diagnosis.

Adult ADD ADHD Symptoms and Signs

Treatment of adult ADD/ADHD can come in many forms. Not every treatment will work for every adult and you must closely with your doctor or other health professionals to find the right course or combination of treatments that will work for you. In this article I have tried to list as many possible treatment types for adult ADD/ADHD as I could discover. 

Adult ADD and ADHD Treatments

Adult ADD and ADHD are treatable with cognitive behaviorial therapy. If the side effects of ADD/ADHD medications are more than you can bear, cognitive behavioral therapy might be something to consider with your health care provider. Performed by a psychologist cognitinve behaviorl therapy teaches the adult with ADHD/ADD how improve your thoughts to change your behavior. Great for dealing with procrastination and those feelings of overwhelm and low self esteem that plague so many with ADHD.

Adult ADD ADHD Treatment Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Adult ADD/ADHD is a disorder that attracts myths. While the adults who have been diagnosed with the disorder are very aware that their symptoms are real, many who have never had to cope with symptoms of adult ADHD and its effects do not believe it is even a real disorder. This ezine article helps dispel the top 10 myths about adult ADD/ADHD.


Adult ADHD Top 10 Myths