There are a wide range of different topics that I write about on a regular basis. My favorite topic of all is probably creativity. In fact, I try to take a creative slant to almost any other topic that I write about (although I wouldn’t say that I always succeed). I believe that writing about creativity makes me more motivated to be creative in my own life. I hope that it encourages other people to be creative as well.

Several of my recent articles on HubPages were about being creative. These included:

• 10 Fun and Creative Projects to do with your Camera Phone. It was so fun to try to think up different projects that you could do with just the camera on your phone. I have to admit that I haven’t done all of these myself but now that I’ve thought of them there are certainly some in there that I plan to try. I think your camera phone is a great tool for little daily bits of creativity.
• 7 Fun, Free Tag Cloud Programs for Creating Word Art. Tag clouds can be so inspiring. I put this HubPages article together as I was trying to find a good tag cloud program for myself. (I like Wordle best, big surprise). This inspired another article on my own blog about using tag cloud programs to benefit writing.
• 15 Ideas for Using Your Writing to Make Christmas Presents. I believe that your writing can always be used as a gift. Here are some creative and fun ideas for how to turn your writing into affordable and appreciated presents for Christmas.
• 10 Terrific Niche Books for Curious Readers. Creative people are usually readers. These are a bunch of books that I’ve read that are on unusual topics that you don’t normally get the chance to read about. How fun!
• 10 Stunning Surrealist Artists. Finally I recently wrote an article highlighting the work of ten different surrealist artists who are not from the original era of surrealism but instead are putting out amazing works of art today. I’m so inspired by these people!

Tags: art, creativity, inspiration, smartchick, writing

I love to write top ten articles. Coming up with creative ideas for top ten articles guides my research and allows me to focus on interesting aspects of an industry. One industry that I particularly love doing top ten posts about is the cell phone industry. (In fact, you can see a list of my top ten articles in the top ten style for this topic right here.)

The most recent article that I did for this industry in that particular style was an article on 10 Great Jobs for Mobile Phone Lovers. This is a terrific example of a top ten article that’s fun to research. Off the top of my head, I was able to think of a few jobs that fit the bill (testing cell phones, designing handsets, etc.). However, I didn’t know of ten jobs so I got to spend some fun time researching the different positions that might come about that would be mostly cell-phone-focused. I learned about some interesting ones (like answering questions as an expert using text messaging – what a cool at-home job!)

I think that this is the best part of being a freelance writer / blogger if you take your research seriously. You get the opportunity to explore many different topics of interest. You get to research them completely and learn new things. It’s the perfect job for someone who really just wants to be a perpetual student!

Tags: cell phone jobs, cell phones, mobile phones, research, writing

Someone recently asked me why I don’t often cover the topic of writing on this blog. After all, as someone who writes for a living, this seems like a topic that would come up a lot, right? And it’s true; it does. In fact, it comes up so much that I have an entire blog where I write about writing.

That blog is called Real Words. I write there as often as possible (daily if I can or several times a week if I can’t). I try to share my thoughts on the writing process and the life of being a writer. Sometimes I share tips and resources about writing although it’s a personal blog (not a professional one per se) so it’s mostly just about how I see writing.

Do you also write about writing? If so, I’d love to check out your blog. Leave me the URL in the comments here.

Tags: kathryn vercillo, smartchick, writer's life, writers, writing

I have been reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and really loving it. It’s the story of a woman who took a year off from her life to travel and self-reflect. I suppose I like it a lot because of my own desire to take a year off like this (which I mentioned yesterday in my post about going on sabbatical). But I also like it because it’s a great travel story which shows how traveling can bring us closer to ourselves. And I like it because the language and description in the book really resonate with me.

I’m taking my time reading this book so that I can really savor it. I read quickly and could’ve finished it in a day or two but I’m drawing out my time with it because I like it that much. It’s the first book I’ve liked that much in a really really long time. Since I’m not done with it yet, I don’t really want to give a full review or solid opinion on it. But I do want to share one passage that I particularly loved. It’s not the most romantic or exciting passage in the book but it’s one that so totally sums up how I think the average American deals with the problem of depression that I wanted to write it down:

“I took on my depression like it was the fight of my life, which, of course, it was. I became a student of my own depressed experience, trying to unthread its causes. What was the root of all this despair? Was it psychological? (Mom and Dad’s fault?) Was it just temporal, a “bad time” in my life? (When the divorce ends, will the depression end with it?) Was it genetic? (Melancholy, called by many names, has run through my family for generations, along with its sad bride, Alcoholism.) Was it cultural? (Is this just the fallout of a postfeminist American career girl trying to find balance in an increasingly stressful and alienating urban world?) Was it astrological? (Am I so sad because I’m a thin-skinned Cancer whose major signs are all ruled by an unstable Gemini?) Was it artist? (Don’t creative people always suffer from depression because we’re so supersensitive and special?) Was it evolutionary? (Do I carry in me the residual panic that comes afre millenia of my species’ attempting to survive in a brutal world?) Was it karmic? (Are all these spasms of grief just the consequences of bad behavior in previous lifetimes, the last obstacles before liberation?) Was it hormonal? Dietary? Philosophical? Seasonal? Environmental? Was I tapping into a uiversal yearning for God? Did I have a chemical imbalance? Or did I just need to get laid?”

What a succinct summary of the struggle with depression that intelligent people go through today!

Tags: books, depression, eat pray love, elizabeth gilbert, kathryn vercillo, Quotation, quote, reading, review, writing

I love the work that I do as a writer and blogger for businesses. I think it allows me the chance to research many different interesting topics while working from the comfort of my own home. However, I also sometimes feel like I need a break.

You see, I don’t know if I want to be a full-time writer forever. Sometimes I think I do. Sometimes I think I’d like to write part-time and then do something else part-time (consulting, art, something else). On rare occasions, I think I’d like to do something else altogether.

The problem is that I can’t seem to figure out exactly what I want when I have to work all day every day. I feel like I need the space of not writing to just breathe into. In that space, I hope to hear myself echo back to me what it is that I specifically want to do with my writing.

So I’m planning for a sabbatical. I want to take a year off of writing professionally in order to just engage in some deep self-reflection. I won’t be doing this anytime soon. My goal is to write full-time for at least three more years. I’m working on some new writing goals to accomplish during that time. But then I want a full year sabbatical to just figure things out.

I think sabbaticals are important. They give you the chance to get to know yourself again. You can assess what you’re doing and how to do it better. Why don’t more people take them?

Tags: career, freelance writing, kathryn vercillo, sabbatical, writer, writing

I do a lot of writing about different issues in business. Some of these are things that I write about for clients who are interested in having research done that will assist them in their own businesses. But some of these articles are just things that I research and write about because I find them to be interesting. The majority of these articles are articles thatI post to HubPages.

Four business-related topics that I’ve covered on HubPages recently were:

• 10 Tips for Improving Marketable Job Skills. The job market is competitive right now. You really need to make yourself marketable if you’re going to get hired by anyone. I thought I’d learn some tips on how to do that. Most of it’s common sense but it’s good to freshen up on it.
• The Pros and Cons of Using an Online Backup System. I have been thinking seriously about using an online backup system to make sure that my work gets saved. I’ve been burned by lost writing one too many times. Right now I just back things up to another computer and store some things in Google Documents but I think I might look into using a formal system.
• Green Commutes. I don’t have to commute anywhere to work but if I did then I’d like to find a way to do it with public transportation or carpooling.
• 5 Great Female CEOs. I read a cool article in PINK magazine about fifteen leading women in business. Five of them were these interesting CEOs that I wanted to research further. I think they’re really inspiring as female leaders.

There are a lot of different aspects of business that you can research and write about. I like to try to cover a lot of them!

Tags: business, business articles, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, writing, writing about business

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time on Twitter lately. After a lengthy period of adjusting to using the site, I’ve finally come to really like Twitter. I feel like it’s giving me a great opportunity to share links and ideas with other people.

One of the really fun things that I’ve gotten into doing on the site is participating in a daily poem project that @dragonblogger does. Almost every morning, he puts out a request for people to send in random words. These random words are then worked into a poem for the day which is posted on the Wanderer Thoughts blog.

These poems are always really interesting. Sometimes the words that are submitted are really challenging. For example, check out Unstoppable Disease which included a lot of medical words in it. (My word for that day was simpler: productivity).

This is just a fun little project to participate in when I think about it as I’m on Twitter. I think it’s inspiring to do little daily projects and this is an example of a good one.

Tags: fun, kathryn vercillo, poetry, projects, twitter, writing

I really love guest posting on other blogs. It provides a great opportunity for writing about new topics and networking with others who write about the same things that capture my interest. I’ve been really lucky to do a lot of guest posting recently on the topic of frugal living which is a topic that I really enjoy writing about.

Some of my most recent guest posts on this topic were:

• Tips for Talking about Money with Your Spouse. A lot of people have a tough time discussing money and it can really lead to problems in a marriage if you aren’t careful!
• 5 Reasons Not to Save Stuff for Later. I fully believe that you should get rid of everything that you’re not using to declutter your home and your mind!
• Earn Money by Hosting Travelers this Summer. This is something I’m thinking seriously about doing myself!
• Low Cost Summer Activities Can Be Yours! I love the fact that there are so many different ways to keep entertained this summer without spending a lot of money.
• Positive Things Caused by the Bad Economy. I think it’s really important to stay upbeat despite problems with the recession.

If these articles interest you, you might also want to check out the list of frugal living guest posts that I did last month!

Tags: blog posts, Frugal Living, guest post, kathryn vercillo, save money, writing

As you know if you have been following this blog, I’ve been on vacation and haven’t had a chance to post regularly. However, I’m still doing some work here and there while I’m away.

If you’re interested in what I’ve been researching and writing about, check out some of the following links:

ON INTERIOR DESIGN:

• Making Books a Part of your Home’s Design
• How to Add a Jacuzzi to your Home
• Pool Furniture

ON BUSINESS, MARKETING and PRODUCTIVITY:

• MySpace for Marketing
• Innerpreneurs are Changing Business
• Go Offline to Get Online Links
• Why Employers Should Block some File Downloads
• How to Streamline Social Networking
• Use Time Tracking to Create a Productivity Plan
• Monitoring Company Printers
• When 9-5 Isn’t Working for Your Business
• Professional Employee Surveys

ON SAVING MONEY:

• Getting Food Fresh from the Farm
• Cheap Summer Activities for Kids
• Organize your Online Coupons
• And lots more!

Tags: articles, blog links, kathryn vercillo, links, writing

Earlier today I wrote about the HubPages articles of mine that haven’t been getting much attention in the past 30 days. That’s not to say that people aren’t seeing what I write there, though. Several of my hubs did really well in terms of traffic.

Here’s a look at my top ten most popular HubPages articles for April:

1. How to Delete a Browser Cookie.
2. How to Build a Treehouse.
3. Calorie Burners – Swimming vs. Running.
4. Indoor Activities that Bring Couples Closer Together.
5. Tips for Getting Rid of a Caffeine Headache.
6. How to Tell When Mushrooms Go Bad.
7. Olive Oil vs. Canola Oil – Fat Profiles.
8. Where to Buy Alli Online at the Lowest Cost.
9. How to Open a RAR File.
10. Top 10 American Fashion Designers.

There are a few reasons why these hubs might have been popular. First of all, they’re on popular topics – technology, health, weight loss, relationships … Secondly, they mostly provide concise and clear tips for getting things done. And finally, these are articles I’ve worked hard to promote around the web in the past and I think that’s continuing to benefit them now.

Are there any other HubPages writers out there? Which articles did best for you in April? Do you know why?

Tags: articles, hubpages, hubs, kathryn vercillo, popular blogs, web traffic, writing