Poetic Confessions #4: Best Left to Journals

At one point in my high school/early college writing, I decided that flowery language was out and simple words and phrases were in. Instead of writing a ghastly sonnet with every word to describe love without using the word love, I decided to just say what was on my mind. That's how "Ooh You" came along.

I am now very aware that simple language, unless the message is entirely new, does not always work well. That, and naming the poem after a song (sans the 'h' on Ooh) just makes the whole effort seem sloppy, now that I look back. But it is one of the unfortunate failures that will live on, since I sold full rights to Associated Content (now YCN). I hope they enjoy the $0.10 a year they make with advertising on it. I know I enjoy the $0.01 per year I make.

Mounting Online Frustrations

Friday I found out that Yahoo Contributor Network (YCN -- formerly Associated Content) risked my entire online security. All of this happened because they kept old Associated Content files that ended up getting hacked. First of all, if these files were old, maybe you should get rid of them? At first, everyone was told that most of the account information was for old accounts no longer active. Then, late Friday night I get the message that I was personally affected by this issue. Yeah, like I didn't already know. All Friday I had to deal with changing passwords on email and social media accounts not because I'm paranoid, but because I had a ton of failed login attempts and was required to change them. It was frustrating, but YCN isn't all to blame. I mean, if all of the login attempts FAILED, obviously the hackers did not have the right password. Why shouldn't I get a choice to change it instead of being forced to?

Well, that was my venting for the week. I used it all up on a Monday morning. Now I need to focus on more of the positive aspects of life... if there are any. I've been told they exist. 

Where did that attitude go?

It's a new week, and I have plenty of new articles to share. For those that want to get into the Christmas spirit early, check out my list of the Top 10 Classic Christmas Songs. Want to learn more about how Twitter has helped me promote my content at AC? Check out The Twitter Experience. Other recent articles can be found at the top of this blog.

And that bad attitude I had last week? I sent it packing. I would rather rewrite an article 5 times for $15 than not get paid at all. This attitude, however, will put me in the poor house, so I'm going to need to balance this one out. I'm starting off slow again for certain projects, but varying where I earn so that I won't get tired of working at just one place.

New stuff

first I took the National Poetry Month challenge at AC and produced Bunnies at Work, a poem about what I'm really doing this Easter.

And for those I know are waiting anxiously for a bird update, here it is: either I was super-tired last night, or the bird quit early. I woke up briefly at 4:30, but was back to sleep minutes later. Yay! Hopefully this is how it goes until the bird is done... well, with whatever he's doing.

it's Halloween Season

So, it's Halloween season, and every once in awhile the mood strikes me to write a poem--that, and when I went to Associated Content a few days ago I saw that I could claim a Halloween poem title. So I did. It's called The Long Dark Road and it's more of a fictional tragic Halloween story than anything else, but hey, it got me away from my other work for a few minutes!