Article Slump Broken

So today I finally managed to break out of my article slump I have been in. I decided to write about something I know and that is the daily life of a soldier. I know the content isn't all that interesting and I'm perfectly okay with that, at least I finally produced something.
I have also finally set myself a goal. I want to reach the level of staff writer with Factoidz by the end of the month. It may be a tall order for me to fill though. They require 20 articles before you can be considered for staff writer and currently I only stand at 8, with todays article pending. I still think this is doable though.
I have also decided that I am just going to recycle the articles I write for Factoidz onto Helium. The reason I am choosing to do this is because Helium requires you to write to a title that is already created on their site, so I don't get to name my own article. They do have an option to suggest a title, but half of the time I have done that they tell me the title is to vague and would be hard for writers to understand. Here is an example title I suggested 3 Common Mental Health Issues. Now to me as a writer I can completely understand what the title is asking for, but who knows. This is actually a title to an article I wrote , you can check it out here it you want.
I also signed up for Associated Content but after reading I don't know how much I will enjoy writing there. For at least the first 3 articles they have to review them, and that process could take up to 2 weeks. To me as a writer I find that to be a little long for a 500 word article to get reviewed. I have submitted an article to them so I'll see how long it takes to get it reviewed and approved,
I think I may have gotten the hang of using keywords a little better too. My most recent article came out with a 6.7% keyword density, and a secondary keyword was at 3.7%. The best part is that I was just writing not even thinking about SEO and keywords.
I think this weekend after I finish my college work I may try to work on some creative writing. It has been forever since I have even thought about creative writing, but I want to get back on the horse. One day I would like to produce a publishable novel.

Well I can't think of anything else I would like to share, so thanks for reading and have a great day..

The Writers block Won't Go.

Today I have started to write 3 different articles, and then just decided to call it quits. For the life of me I can not seem to find something to motivate me. I am still trying to find something popular and that I find interesting to write about. Sometimes I think I would have better luck just closing my eyes and pointing to a word on my monitor. This may seem silly, but I think I might give it a try anyway.  The way I see it, it removes all the guess work from trying to decide on a topic to write about.

I think another part of my problem is internal pressure again. Lately I have been really pressuring myself to write articles, and guess what? I have produced 0 since I started with the pressure. I wish I could find a creative wave like one of my friends has with her art work. Besides her having a creative wave she is making signs for causes. With this, the signs she makes, she donates the money to a charity. Check her blog out and look at her art. http://jenlchristy.wordpress.com/

Sorry got a little off topic there, but anyway back to trying to find article ideas.

Thanks for reading.

Do I have Any readers Yet?

I know I have only been blogging for a couple days now, and am all over the map with what I post. I am just curious if I actually have anyone who reads what I write. If I do actually have readers thanks for reading and please feel free to leave a comment or two. Let me know what I'm doing good, bad, or otherwise. And for anyone who uses stumble-upon and ends up on my blog sorry if you didn't want to find it.

Article Writing Frustration

I am becoming frustrated with trying to write articles for Factoidz. Its not the site itself, but I seem to have problems generating page views. I have been all over the web looking for tips and tricks to help with more traffic and so far everything I have read, I have already done. Basically what I have read is write good content and use social networking sites. I have done these and still I only get a few page views. So far my best article has 554 views, and since it is considered low SEO ranking by Factoidz I am not really making much from it.

Besides that I seem to have run into a rut on finding topics to write about. I guess topics isn't as much of an issue, as finding popular topics that aren't already swamped with information, because no one wants to read the same recycled crap.

So I guess I will just have to keep hammering google looking for ideas, and work on my content quality along with targeting keywords and using SEO. Here is the most recent article I published, if anyone ahs comments please let me know. Thanks, and thanks for reading.

Article Writing

Recently I have found myself enjoying the art of writing articles. In the space of about 3 weeks I have managed to write over 20 articles and feel good about what I have accomplished. The one thing I am not enjoying though is the fact that my articles aren't reaching to many viewers. I don't know if this is because of the websites I write for or if I am just that bad with titles and SEO.  I write for Factoidz and Helium and honestly don't know how popular they are. If anyone has insight or could offer me advice on other sites to checkout that would be great.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and have a great day.

Creative Writing Sites

As writer's we are always trying to improve ourselves, and build valuable connections to help us develop as writers. By connections I mean people who can lend a critical eye to our work, help push us in the right direction, and give a motivational boost when needed. Being a writer can make these hard to come, especially if you are asking family or friends to read your work. From my experience family and friends tend to tell you about the all good stuff and conveniently forgot all the errors they saw. In most cases they try to have your best interests in mind and are trying not to hurt your feelings.
In my pursuit to become a better writer I have stumbled across a couple websites that I personally find valuable. I don't know how popular these sites are so everyone may have heard of them or uses them already, but if I can help at least one person with this post I will be satisfied.

The first site I would like to introduce you to is writers cafe. Writers cafe is a community of writers sharing their work with one another. This site allows people to submit poems, stories, books, chapters, screenplays, and stage plays. This site also has a point system to see how active members are. Points are awarded for different actions on the site such as reviewing someone's work or sharing your own work. If you decide to give writers cafe a try, don't expect to submit your work and have the reviews start flooding in. The site is a community and you will need to provide some reviews to fellow writers as well. If you do that then you will start to see reviews of your work.

The next site I find useful in my creative writing pursuit is writers-network. This site is similar to writers cafe, with a few major differences. The first difference I would like to point out is that writers-network has a live chat option. I find this to be very helpful because as soon as your post a piece of work you can join the chat and ask anyone online to review your work. Writers network also has a pay area. When you become a member this way you will not have to review others work to earn points. If you do not want to pay, then you will have to review other peoples work to earn points. They do this so people are active in the community and everyone is getting reviews. Writers network also allows you to post a wide variety of works. With them you can submit poems, short stories, columns, articles, bulletins, book reviews, chapters, critique, documentary, draft, and pretty much any other type of written work you can think of.

Both of these sites offer a writer a great opportunity to help improve themselves along with other writers. As long as you become an active member of the communities you should find yourself receiving quality reviews and possibly making new friends in the process. Also keep in mind that both sites have a point system so there is sure to be reviews that really say nothing and it is just people looking for points. I hope you find value from one or both of these sites, and thanks for reading.

What Writing Means To Me

Writing is an art just like painting, dancing, or singing, and everyone has there own reasons for doing it. A lot of people I know dread writing, or at least when it comes to writing for school or business. In my opinion it takes a special person to truly enjoy the art of writing and embrace it in all its forms. This is not just limited to writing either, in my opinion if you truly love to write then you also love to read and learn.

So for me there are limitless reasons that I write. The biggest reason I write is to express myself in ways that I can not vocalize. For me words flow so much better in my mind and onto the paper. Writing is a release for me and I always feel better once I complete a project. I also love writing because I enjoy sharing information. Knowing that someone can learn or at least enjoy what I have written is a thrill to me.

There are many other reasons  I write that I can't put into words right now but I will know them when I am writing something new. Thanks for reading.

Family Fishing

The past couple days we have been taking advantage of the nice weather and hitting the local fishing ponds here on Fort Carson. The first day we went out, we got to the pond around 6:30 PM. First I helped Bobbi get her pole baited because she refuses to touch worms, and then I got my pole ready to go. She was fishing with a worm and bobber and I was using power bait trying to get some trout. After about 15 minutes of fishing I had my first fish and this continued for the rest of the evening. Well after about an hour with no bites Bobbi decided she wanted to try for some trout. Well after I set her pole up for trout she tossed it in right next to mine. As I kept getting fish, she was still not getting any bites. By the end of the night I had caught 7 fish and she had got none. So anyway she told me how much I sucked and that we are coming back tomorrow.

While we were fishing Brenden and Ryan were playing behind us and off to the side of us. There is a large slab of concrete they love to sit on and also get to close to the water on. So there entertainment was running around ripping up sunflowers and sprinkling the water with them. When they weren't destroying the flowers they found rocks to toss in the water. Anyway they enjoyed themselves as we did fishing.

This afternoon rolls around and Bobbi deems it is once again time to go fishing. This time we got to the pond around 1PM. Today we both decided to try for trout from the start. So once again I landed my first fish pretty quickly and Bobbi was having no luck. After 45 minutes the wind was really blowing and we decided to head to different pond to use up our worms. We knew we would get bites there on worms.

After the 10 minute drive to the next pond we got our poles set up again, and almost immediately Bobbi started getting nibbles. I decided to try power bait at this pond as well with no luck. After a bunch of fishing stealing Bobbi's worm she pulled in a nice bass. After no hits on power bait I switched to using worms. I was fishing with a sinker on the bottom. Anyway I let my pole sit for awhile and when I decided to check my bait I had the smallest sunfish I had ever seen. It was so small I couldn't even feel it hit my pole.

While we were fishing we had a friendly Golden Retriever named Abby come over and visit us. Her owners were fishing nearby. She enjoyed playing with the boys and Bobbi really liked her. Well as it getting close to time to head home I decided to cast my pole out one more time, and Abby was nearby. When she saw my bobber fly into the water she v-lined for it. At first I wasn't sure what was going on because she had just jumped in the water, then Bobbi pointed out she was after my bobber. So I had to reel my line in as fast as I could to make sure the dog didn't get it. That was the first time I ever had to race a dog in that fashion and I hope its the last.

Here are a couple pictures from today's fishing trip.

Ryan with a pretend fishing pole

The boys on the slab they love

Sorry didn't think to take any pictures of the fish and the boys are much cuter anyway.

Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Meet the Family

So I had a couple posts about fishing trips my family has been on, and in a blonde moment I deleted them. So since I only referred to people as my wife or my boys I figured I would introduce the family properly so people can put a face to the name in later posts.

First let me start by introducing myself. I am Kevin Wood and I am a 26 year old husband, father, soldier, and aspiring author.

this is my ugly mug

Next let me introduce my beautiful and wonderful wife Bobbi Jo. She is an amazing woman, who is a homemaker and makes sure our home always runs smoothly.

Bobbi Jo

Next we have out two wonderful sons, Brenden and Ryan. Brenden is 6 years old, going to first grade and is autistic. Ryan is 4 and is in Pre-K. They are amazing sons and do funny stuff all the time so I'm sure they will be in my posts a lot.

Ryan on the left Brenden on the Right

This is my family and we look forward to to sharing our stories with you.

To Much Pressure

Pressure is a funny thing when you feel it and can come from many sources. At of the pressure can depend on your job, if your going to school or college, and if you still live with parents. The worst type of pressure in my opinion though is pressure you put on yourself. The reason I am bringing this up is because lately I feel that I have been putting undue pressure on myself.

Let me give you a little back story to help you understand why. I am in the military and my rank is currently an E-4. Well back in April of 2009 I was promoted through an automatic program the Army has. Soon after I was promoted the promotion was revoked and I went back to an E-4. But some how fixing my pay fell through the cracks. So from april of 2009 to June of 2010 I was receiving an E-5 pay check. Anyway the Army started to take the money back from each of my paychecks. They are only taking a few hundrad bucks a month from my paycheck, but with 2 children and a wife this amount of money really does hurt. 

So here is where the self pressure comes in. I have been putting pressure on myself trying to figure out ways to generate more income. I am writing for a couple websites, and now trying my hand at blogging. So I have been putting a ton of pressure on myself to try to generate income. The problem I have found with writing is that most pay is based on page views. So now I am finding myself trying to learn all about self marketing and the oh so wonderful world of SEO. But what the hey I'm going to keep trying and try to just have fun doing it, any money I make will just be an added bonus. 

And on the plus side I have decided I'm just going to Keep this blog as a personal blog and write whatever the hell I want.

Boring day

So today has been a rather boring day so far. Hurting for money is never any fun and trying to generate cash can be an issue to. But I have knocked out homework and played on a WoW trial account for awhile. I really miss my real account but the wifey doesn't like it when I play so what can I do lol.

Besides the above I am trying to decide which site I want to write for more. I am writing for Factoidz and Helium but want to concentrate on just one. There are pros and cons for both but in the end I think I will go with Helium.  The main reason for this is because I submitted an article to Factoidz yesterday afternoon and it is still pending approval. Every other time I have submitted to them my articles were approved rather quickly. Another reason I think I will pick helium is because they give a new title bonus so if I suggest a title or write to a title with less than 5 articles in it I get a bonus at the end of the month.

I actually am some what upset right now too. I have DirecTV and can't find a damn football game on. I know they have the football package but for someone not wanting to spend that money there should at least be a game on!! Oh well just another little inconvenience life throws my way.

Thanks for reading.

Stock Market Experts

With something about the stock market all around you, weather it is the evening news or the annoying ticker on a website you visit it gets people wondering about the market. All the so called experts spitting what they think is best just amps up the interest. So whats the deal with the stock market and should experts buy and sell recommendations be followed.


First let me say that I am by no means an expert or am I going to make any recommendations I just want to give people something to think about when it comes time to invest.

So the experts say to buy this and sell that company, but what makes them reach this conclusion? Well from observation I have seen many experts recommend buying a stock because the stock price is on the rise and the future looks promising, and on the other hand I have seen the same ones recommend selling a stock because the price is dropping and you want to cut your losses before they are to large.

This all seems like sound advice taken at face value, but there are things to consider. The first thing to consider or remember is that when a stock price is going up there is a driving factor behind it, and that factor is like a wildfire that keeps growing. So basically people keep buying that stock, driving the price higher. So buying with the price going up is like jumping on a bandwagon. All of this may not seem like much of an issue, but most of the experts have a vested interest in the stock they are promoting. So once they feel the stock price has reached its ceiling they are going to sell, and depending on when you bought the stock you may be left high and dry. The reason you will be left out is because when an expert sells shares of a stock, people that follow that experts advice will also sell. This leads to a large sell off driving the stock price down, and if you get that news late, then you will probably be out some money.


Now if a stock price is dropping there is probably some sort of negative buzz circling it. Depending on the severity of the issue the company is facing experts might proclaim gloom and doom leading to an even larger sell off for that company. So here is the problem with following this logic; if an expert is screaming sell they more than likely are acting on fresh news released, and with fresh news a story is never fully developed. So the gloom predicted for a company could turn out to be just a hiccup.

So in conclusion following the experts advice can be like the blind leading the blind when the stock market is involved. Instead of listening to them with blind faith do your own research and reach your own conclusions, and remember none of the people running there mouths on the TV can even come close to a real expert like Warren Buffets return record.

College football or the Pros?

So personally I enjoy watching college football far more than professional. Pro football is okay to watch as well but I would much rather spend my Friday night and Saturday afternoon watching football. So why college football? Well there a few reasons, the first is the fact that college football players are not paid so they are trying harder. Watching a college game you can tell a player is putting everything on the line to make a play happen.

The next thing is the rules. I love the fact that in college ball you only have to have one foot in bounds when a player makes an amazing catch on the sidelines or in the back on the end-zone. Overtime is also a much better system in college football. If the teams are evenly enough matched to reach overtime, then they should have an equal chance to score.

I don't care who you are when watching football we all love explosive plays and lets face it watching college football you see a lot more plays of this flavor.

There is also the fact that college football has over 100 different teams to cheer for.

So lets just face it college is better than the NFL we have more teams, better rules, and no over paid players crying about not getting enough money.

Over Paid Athletes

Thank you Mr Floyd Mayweather you have given us another reason to be pissed about over paid athletes. When I was a kid I liked up to athletes, they were my hero's. But now we have people like yourself and Terrell Owens. You two aren't the only ones, just the first two I think of when it comes to profession athletes. For you Mr. Mayweather I believe your fight should be canceled and that you receive a monstrous fine along with a suspension of some sort. What you did was so unprofessional and disrespectful to your opponent you should just quit boxing and drop off the face of the earth, your name will never recover.

For all the professional Athletes that cry about not earning enough money, look around you, most people won't make the type of money you make in a season in their life. You started playing the game for the love of it. Why does that have to change once the pro level is reached?

I have to admit that not all professional athletes whine and cry, in fact most don't, but the one's that do make it that much harder for me to support the good ones. So all the athletes that don't whine keep it up and lets hope the ones that whine pull their head's out of there asses so my view of athletes can go back to the hero's they once were.