The Effort Involved in "Updating"

Yesterday, I finally got started on the process of looking at the articles that were transferred from Squidoo to my "new" account at HubPages.

I am still feeling a little bit "meh" about the fact that we are not able to combine the accounts, or at least do a one-time transfer of articles between accounts, for those of us who had existing HubPages accounts at the time Squidoo announced its demise. I would have liked to have been able to "organize" my content into somewhat meaningful categories.

I have been putting off dealing with the editing process because I know my articles are "long and involved" and it would take a lot of work.

I was not wrong about that: Editing my first article-- in Introduction to Stamp Collecting-- took me a good three hours of work, because of the time it took to "re-format" different segments and get rid of sections that "made sense" on Squidoo, but do not work with the HubPages interface. I well understand why I have been putting it off.

Fortunately, I only have a total of eight (now seven) articles I need "convert," so it's not a huge amount of work. Even so, it feels a little like I'm going to spend 20-25 hours doing something that will end up earning me $5.00 a month... that's pretty measly pay.

Overwhelmed, Again...

I am finding myself feeling overwhelmed, again.

I know some of it can be attributed simply to the fact that I am an HSP, and we are easily overstimulated. No new news there.

Understand that I don't have "Writer's Block." I'd call it "Writer's Congestion" or "Writer's Sewage Clogs."

Meh... it means that I have plenty of things to write about, and loads of ideas, and loads of outlines... but I feel like someone standing before a 5-acre parcel of land covered with scrub, with only a pair of hand clippers to clear everything.

Daunting.

Oh, and wait! "Clearing Brush" isn't actually my job. I have to do something else, full-time, and then find the energy to clear five acres of brush with hand shears,

My short little span of attention doesn't like the idea of starting in on something that will take several years to complete. I get "uncomfortable" and start squirming in my chair as soon as a project might take more than 30 minutes to complete.

Hence the thought of turning some five million words of scratch notes, outlines and partially written prose into organized and good quality content... as blog posts, articles, web content and even books... is stunningly overwhelming.

Situations like these tend to make me buzz around like a fly in a bottle, going in circles but not really "getting anywhere."

More on the Squidoo to HubPages Transition

I am feeling a bit stuck.

I keep going back to have a look at my "new" HubPages account, which holds my articles that formerly were over at soon-to-be-defunct Squidoo. I am watching them slowly starting to get more page views, and I am watching their "Hub Scores" slowly improve. A few days ago, I actually got my first Amazon sales since the switch, and that was kind of exciting.

I also know they are in very "rough format" at the moment, and I will have to go through all of them and substantially rewrite them all, in order for them to not only look good, but to comply with HubPages formatting policies. Because the Squidoo format really didn't translate all that well. But hey, I'm grateful... at least I still have some articles.

There is a LOT of "busy work" associated with writing online, and I find it frustrating. Part of that is my nature... I have never been all that much of a "go-getter." I want to do things, stick them out there, and then "be done" with it all. Period. I was never very good at (or comfortable with) the whole self-promotion thing.

This has led me to consider the whole issue that bugs me about this "industry," namely that SO much writing feels like not "writing" but thinly veiled "sales pitches." My insight being that it may be that the majority of people doing this "gig" are not really "writers," but "sales people" who happen to write a little.

It makes me ponder whether this is a shark tank I even want to swim in... but for now, I shall continue.

Is this REALLY possible?

I have been exploring the possibilities offered by a couple of revenue sharing sites, HubPages, and Squidoo.

As is the case with many new things I "have to learn," I am feeling a little overwhelmed by the seeming complexity of both sites' writing interfaces. Being a writer with ADD and a tendency towards perfectionism, it can be a real struggle for me to "get started" on anything until I have a full and complete understanding of "how it works."

Part of this stems from growing up in an environment where anything that even remotely resembled "crap" (a.k.a. "less than PERFECT") was deeply frowned upon.

It's problematic for me because I tend to have quick and fleeting ideas about what I want to write about... but it takes me hours to "polish" a thought enough to feel good about releasing it to the public. And by then the idea is half gone, anyway... a bit like the way we wake up with dreams, but have forgotten most of them by the time we get to our first cup of coffee.

Anyway, I have started on HubPages... put up a few initial articles I am not unhappy about.