Getting Published: A Stairway to Heaven

I considered writing an article today on getting published. I opened up Google to start researching, and then I came across this wonderful article by Willie Meikle. I thought that I would just post a link here for you all to check it out. Perhaps I felt drawn to this particular piece as I often describe life as a ladder, or perhaps it's because Led Zeppelin was my favorite band growing up; I'm not sure.

Willie describes the path to published as a "Stairway to Heaven" in this inspiring article; which I believe is the perfect analogy. Check it out here!

—M

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/c/cl/clcochrane/710331_stairway_to_heaven.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/c/cl/clcochrane/710331_stairway_to_heaven.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div id="lw context ads">I considered writing an article today on getting published. I opened up Google to start researching, and then I came across this wonderful article by Willie Meikle. I thought that I would just post a link here for you all to check it out. Perhaps I felt drawn to this particular piece as I often describe life as a ladder, or perhaps it's because Led Zeppelin was my favorite band growing up; I'm not sure.<br /><br />Willie describes the path to published as a "Stairway to Heaven" in this inspiring article; which I believe is the perfect analogy. Check it out <a href="http://www.librosinternational.com/kb/index.php?View=entry&CategoryID=3&EntryID=10" target="_blank">here</a>!<br /><br />—M<br /></div>

A Good Blogging Day and I Love Blogger...

Today is a good blogging day. I was very upset with my drop in page rank on Poetic Expression; which was due to url changes. Recently when I added the Poetic Expression blog, Google deemed it as a spam blog and gave me a PR of 0 right away. I was also unable to add it on Technorati for this reason.

Upon checking my blogs this morning though, Poetic Expression has not only regained its Page Rank 2, but has moved up to a Page Rank 3. Yay! Of course Technorati still won't let me claim it, but it's a step in the right direction.

Although it lacks a few of the really nice features of Word Press, the Blogger blogging platform by Google is so wonderful. I recently moved this page from another host on the Word Press platform, which now puts ALL of my blogs on Blogger.

I love the dashboard. Having everything in the same place makes it so much easier to stay organized and on top of comments and more. The only things that I don't like about it is that there are no cats and the comments moderation section doesn't specify which post the comments are from or allow replies, like Word Press. There are also a few hacks like read more and top tabs that are built into Word Press that would be really nice to have in Blogger, but I can code these in myself.

I'm excited and happy about the way things are moving now and have lots planned for my network of blogs. I hope you'll continue to join me.

—M

Copyright ©2009 Michele Cameron Drew. All Rights Reserved.

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1154675"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 250px;" src="http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/w/wo/woodsy/1154675_hearts_entwined.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div id="lw_context_ads">Today is a good blogging day. I was very upset with my drop in page rank on Poetic Expression; which was due to url changes. Recently when I added the Poetic Expression blog, Google deemed it as a spam blog and gave me a PR of 0 right away. I was also unable to add it on Technorati for this reason.<br /><br />Upon checking my blogs this morning though, Poetic Expression has not only regained its Page Rank 2, but has moved up to a Page Rank 3. Yay! Of course Technorati still won't let me claim it, but it's a step in the right direction.<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />Although it lacks a few of the really nice features of Word Press, the Blogger blogging platform by Google is so wonderful. I recently moved this page from another host on the Word Press platform, which now puts ALL of my blogs on Blogger.<br /><br />I love the dashboard. Having everything in the same place makes it so much easier to stay organized and on top of comments and more. The only things that I don't like about it is that there are no cats and the comments moderation section doesn't specify which post the comments are from or allow replies, like Word Press. There are also a few hacks like read more and top tabs that are built into Word Press that would be really nice to have in Blogger, but I can code these in myself.<br /><br />I'm excited and happy about the way things are moving now and have lots planned for my network of blogs. I hope you'll continue to join me.<br /><br />—M<br /><br /><center>Copyright ©2009 Michele Cameron Drew. All Rights Reserved.</center><br /></span></div>

Riding the Bus - (something different)

The other day
Riding the bus
Strange woman
Evil looking
Talking
Through widened eyes
Every breath struggled
Suffocating
Snorting—
Cussing
Threatening
Louder
Louder(Stop!)—

Because a child is crying
(-Other people's children-)
She talks of beating
Innocent
Helpless
Children

This broken sinused
slight of a woman—
I could snap her like a twig

But must forgive
As He would

Thank Heavens
Mine
Is the next stop


—Michele Cameron Drew

<div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_6y8jsH-If20/ShpLuQUuA-I/AAAAAAAAAVc/efnsXYP1eb8/s1600-h/evileyepost.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 217px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_6y8jsH-If20/ShpLuQUuA-I/AAAAAAAAAVc/efnsXYP1eb8/s320/evileyepost.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339663566229079010" border="0" /></a><br /></div><p style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The other day<br />Riding the bus<br />Strange woman<br />Evil looking<br />Talking<br />Through widened eyes<br />Every breath struggled<br />Suffocating<br />Snorting—<br />Cussing<br />Threatening<br />Louder<br />Louder(Stop!)—<span class="fullpost"><br /><br />Because a child is crying<br />(-Other people's children-)<br />She talks of beating<br />Innocent<br />Helpless<br />Children<br /><br />This broken sinused<br />slight of a woman—<br />I could snap her like a twig<br /><br />But must forgive<br />As He would<br /><br />Thank Heavens<br />Mine<br />Is the next stop<br /><br /><br />—Michele Cameron Drew</span></p><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /></p><br /></blockquote></div>

Welcome - Sonnet XX

I thought that I should write another post,
To tell you all just how I feel today.
Although I haven't been the greatest host,
Sometimes we know it has to be that way.

This really was a backward way for change,
To rear its ugly head, or so I thought;
Another thing for me to rearrange,
But look at what forth this small change has brought.

A sweet and beautiful new place, have I,
To write the tri'ls and triumphs of my days;
New freedom to create what I aspire,
Without the doldrums of their silly ways.

And so my friends, again I stake my claim,
With this new start— By Any Other Name.

—Michele Cameron Drew

<div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/h/ho/hortongrou/520926_racing_the_sea_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/h/ho/hortongrou/520926_racing_the_sea_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I thought that I should write another post,<br />To tell you all just how I feel today.<br />Although I haven't been the greatest host,<br />Sometimes we know it has to be that way.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br />This really was a backward way for change,<br />To rear its ugly head, or so I thought;<br />Another thing for me to rearrange,<br />But look at what forth this small change has brought.<br /><br />A sweet and beautiful new place, have I,<br />To write the tri'ls and triumphs of my days;<br />New freedom to create what I aspire, <br />Without the doldrums of their silly ways.<br /><br />And so my friends, again I stake my claim,<br />With this new start— By Any Other Name.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">—Michele Cameron Drew <br /></div></div></div></blockquote></div></span>

Just Another Today.com Exile

Let me start out by making it clear that when I started out on today.com I signed an agreement that stated that I would retain my copyright. I worked my tail off trying to write, build and promote that blog along with my others while writing for three other sites.

I went through many many different themes and variations of the universal theme that I created myself. I was told to take things off of my blog(EC, Adgitize and a few other choice goodies) and promote their products. The dollar amounts in my account never matched the traffic that I received and I never reached payout. I am currently about $5 short of payout.
When today.com let me know that they were going to take away my ppp, I had already decided to take my blog in another direction. I had owned the poeticexpression.net domain for months but had never got around to finishing the template for my blog.

My idea was to take my today.com blog and turn it into a creative writing resource for writers and to showcase my poetry and prose on my own blog. On my own blog I could promote it the way that I wanted to and post it in the order that I chose.

The day that I wrote the post "Just What is Going on Here", I had every intention of continuing my blog, although I had my doubts about where things were going with the today.com site. Then the axe fell on the very same day. If I hadn't noticed that I could put EC back on that blog, I'd have left then and there.

I continued to write a few posts about the changes in poetry.com and poets.com and also a few things on creative writing that were still in draft. Because I had EC back, it was worth continuing to write there for my followers.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that I had nearly 2000 hits for the month, but less than 1.00 for the month. I was not happy. Then a couple of days ago I added a blogupp widget to my blog and was promptly emailed to remove any affiliate links or traffic exchange widgets from my blog and given a list of banned widgets(blogupp is NOT on this list).

I decided that enough is enough and went to the site, removed everything but my blogroll and links to everything outside of the today.com network. I deleted all of my graphics that were uploaded, defaulted the color scheme and removed all work past the 4/17 date when they stopped closing posts for ppp. I also changed my blog name to "I'm Done Here" and my tag line to "My Readers Know Where to Find Me". The only thing I was unable to take were my closed posts. A great number of those posts were not ppp anyway because they were previously published works. I feel that they have absolutely not right to keep my work on their domain.

I emailed today.com and let them know that I am very unhappy and that it's a waste of my time to write for their site when I can make more having my own blog and use my work the way that I choose. I also let them know that I believe that what they are doing is destroying their network.

I asked for immediate removal of my work, considering that they have never paid me a dime and that the agreement that I agreed to stated that I would retain my copyright. They changed my blog name to "Poetic Expression" and the tagline to "A Poetry Blog".

I am angry about the whole ordeal and will probably never see a dime for all of my hard work, but I figure that they will get theirs in the end. The network is crumbling around them. Are they so oblivious that they can't see it?

—M

I just went from three blogs with a PR2 and one with PR0, to one blog with a PR2 and three with PR0. Ack! T.T

<div id="lw_context_ads"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1158073"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/a/at/atsoram/1158073_paper_emotions_-_hate.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Let me start out by making it clear that when I started out on today.com I signed an agreement that stated that I would retain my copyright. I worked my tail off trying to write, build and promote that blog along with my others while writing for three other sites.<br /><br />I went through many many different themes and variations of the universal theme that I created myself. I was told to take things off of my blog(EC, Adgitize and a few other choice goodies) and promote their products. The dollar amounts in my account never matched the traffic that I received and I never reached payout. I am currently about $5 short of payout. <span class="fullpost"><br />When today.com let me know that they were going to take away my ppp, I had already decided to take my blog in another direction. I had owned the poeticexpression.net domain for months but had never got around to finishing the template for my blog.<br /><br />My idea was to take my today.com blog and turn it into a creative writing resource for writers and to showcase my poetry and prose on my own blog. On my own blog I could promote it the way that I wanted to and post it in the order that I chose.<br /><br />The day that I wrote the post "Just What is Going on Here", I had every intention of continuing my blog, although I had my doubts about where things were going with the today.com site. Then the axe fell on the very same day. If I hadn't noticed that I could put EC back on that blog, I'd have left then and there.<br /><br />I continued to write a few posts about the changes in poetry.com and poets.com and also a few things on creative writing that were still in draft. Because I had EC back, it was worth continuing to write there for my followers.<br /><br />A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that I had nearly 2000 hits for the month, but less than 1.00 for the month. I was not happy. Then a couple of days ago I added a blogupp widget to my blog and was promptly emailed to remove any affiliate links or traffic exchange widgets from my blog and given a list of banned widgets(blogupp is NOT on this list).<br /><br />I decided that enough is enough and went to the site, removed everything but my blogroll and links to everything outside of the today.com network. I deleted all of my graphics that were uploaded, defaulted the color scheme and removed all work past the 4/17 date when they stopped closing posts for ppp. I also changed my blog name to "I'm Done Here" and my tag line to "My Readers Know Where to Find Me". The only thing I was unable to take were my closed posts. A great number of those posts were not ppp anyway because they were previously published works. I feel that they have absolutely not right to keep my work on their domain.<br /><br />I emailed today.com and let them know that I am very unhappy and that it's a waste of my time to write for their site when I can make more having my own blog and use my work the way that I choose. I also let them know that I believe that what they are doing is destroying their network.<br /><br />I asked for immediate removal of my work, considering that they have never paid me a dime and that the agreement that I agreed to stated that I would retain my copyright. They changed my blog name to "Poetic Expression" and the tagline to "A Poetry Blog".<br /><br />I am angry about the whole ordeal and will probably never see a dime for all of my hard work, but I figure that they will get theirs in the end. The network is crumbling around them. Are they so oblivious that they can't see it?<br /><br />—M<br /><br />I just went from three blogs with a PR2 and one with PR0, to one blog with a PR2 and three with PR0. Ack! T.T </span><br /><br /></div>

Spectrum and Poetic Expression Today Have Moved!

Spectrum has moved on to bigger and better places... on it's own domain! You can now find us here at our new home. Please update your links to http://www.spectrumwriters.com.

The new page at this address will be my new official author site and will be replacing Poetic Expression Today. I'm sorry for the abrupt change, but I am done at today.com. Post to follow soon.


Thanks...
-Michele Cameron Drew

<div id="lw_context_ads">Spectrum has moved on to bigger and better places... on it's own domain! You can now find us <a href="http://www.spectrumwriters.com">here</a> at our new home. Please update your links to http://www.spectrumwriters.com.<br /><br />The new page at this address will be my new official author site and will be replacing Poetic Expression Today. I'm sorry for the abrupt change, but I am done at today.com. Post to follow soon.<br /><br /><br />Thanks...<br />-Michele Cameron Drew<br /></div>