I've published a new Hub on Roman time reckoning - The Roman Month: Hours, Days, Nundinae, Kalends, Nones and Ides I'm thinking of making it part of a series on Roman everyday life, religion, festivals etc.
I'm sure that kind of thing will be useful to people researching for school projects and the like as well as those who just have an interest or are reading or writing historical fiction. The site seems to have gone into hibernation mode for the Sunday so I shall see how the hub seems to fare in the week.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Friday, September 19, 2014
Bubblews: A New Ongoing Project
The development of the Greek Myth website The Garden of the Hesperides remains a work in progress, in conjunction with accompanying ebooks.
Meanwhile, I've also joined a new quick and easy content site Bubblews. This is a site which encourages numerous small posts on a range of topics including diary-like observations on one's day, recipes, news items and statements on the meaning of life. The revenue model seems simple and satisfying - a cent for every view, a cent for every like, and a cent for every time someone comments on your post. You are eligible for a payout as soon as you reach the $50 mark.
Naturally, it's an internal sort of world of people liking and following each other. It seems a not unpleasant and easy way to make a few dollars here and there and I've found its no pressure, informal setting makes it easy to experiment with writing on a wider range of subjects. I'll report back after I've used the site for a while and have more of an overview.
Meanwhile, Hubpages continues to generate a small but steady income. I've had quite a surge in hits this September, which I'm guessing is due to students going back to school and college all over the world and needing to brush up on their mythology. I'm finding still that some Hubs are getting many more hits than others equally good, which are getting virtually ignored. Perhaps when I've mastered the Dark Arts of keyword research and other arcana I shall be better able to predict which topics will glean more attention from the world...
Meanwhile, I've also joined a new quick and easy content site Bubblews. This is a site which encourages numerous small posts on a range of topics including diary-like observations on one's day, recipes, news items and statements on the meaning of life. The revenue model seems simple and satisfying - a cent for every view, a cent for every like, and a cent for every time someone comments on your post. You are eligible for a payout as soon as you reach the $50 mark.
Naturally, it's an internal sort of world of people liking and following each other. It seems a not unpleasant and easy way to make a few dollars here and there and I've found its no pressure, informal setting makes it easy to experiment with writing on a wider range of subjects. I'll report back after I've used the site for a while and have more of an overview.
Meanwhile, Hubpages continues to generate a small but steady income. I've had quite a surge in hits this September, which I'm guessing is due to students going back to school and college all over the world and needing to brush up on their mythology. I'm finding still that some Hubs are getting many more hits than others equally good, which are getting virtually ignored. Perhaps when I've mastered the Dark Arts of keyword research and other arcana I shall be better able to predict which topics will glean more attention from the world...
Sunday, July 13, 2014
New Greek Mythology Site - The Garden of the Hesperides
I've been away for a while - in the meantime, I've continued writing for Hubpages which generates a small but steady revenue per month. I've also returned to a plan I've nurtured for some time of building up a multi-page website on Greek mythology. It is still at the early stages of development but you can see its beginnings here.
I'm enjoying doing more in-depth research into the subject, developing an interest in the shadowy Minoan-Mycenean history lurking behind the myth and of course it's always good to delve in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
In the longer term, I'm aiming to write some accompanying ebooks to be sold on the site, so I'll update when I'm further forward on that.
It's a nice feeling of independance to be focused on creating ones own content at will in contrast to the restrictions of writing for bigger sites, though they have their own obvious advantages.
The Gardens of Lucullus, a site I set up some time ago has not been altogether forgotten. Once the Greek mythology project is well established, it will possibly also be transferred to Weebly and developed as a horticultural sister-site with the Hesperides.
I'm finding Weebly quite easy and enjoyable to work with so far, though it's early days. It's easy to design a multipage, monetised site with them but we shall see in the fullness of time what fruits the Garden bears.
I'm enjoying doing more in-depth research into the subject, developing an interest in the shadowy Minoan-Mycenean history lurking behind the myth and of course it's always good to delve in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
In the longer term, I'm aiming to write some accompanying ebooks to be sold on the site, so I'll update when I'm further forward on that.
It's a nice feeling of independance to be focused on creating ones own content at will in contrast to the restrictions of writing for bigger sites, though they have their own obvious advantages.
The Gardens of Lucullus, a site I set up some time ago has not been altogether forgotten. Once the Greek mythology project is well established, it will possibly also be transferred to Weebly and developed as a horticultural sister-site with the Hesperides.
I'm finding Weebly quite easy and enjoyable to work with so far, though it's early days. It's easy to design a multipage, monetised site with them but we shall see in the fullness of time what fruits the Garden bears.
Friday, January 20, 2012
New Article on Athene and Pay-Per-Click Sites
I've put up a new article on the Goddess Athene on Hubpages. Hubpages actually seems to be doing fairly well at the moment, with pageviews looking healthy and the Hubpages Earning Program delivering small but visible results rather quickly (speaking only of my own recent revisiting of the site).
Suite 101 seems to be looking a mite happier over the past couple of days or so, but it is too early to tell if this prefigures a significant reversal of its current languishment.
On the fora of such sites, one is frequently advised that the key to these pay-per-click gigs is persistence, that eventually you will find your niche or somehow get lucky. No doubt there is an element of truth in that and the saying of it always makes me feel that I should pull my socks up and try harder. On the other hand, if someone were to say to you 'come into work every day and one day, maybe, you'll get paid,' that would seem an unreasonable proposition.
Actually, thinking about it, that is how rather a lot of the more interesting creative occupations work these days; you are expected to have put in a substantial amount of volunteering before they will consider you for a paid post. People must be bribed or cajoled to do routine and unpleasant work, but if the job inspires passion like writing, people will queue to do it for free.
Suite 101 seems to be looking a mite happier over the past couple of days or so, but it is too early to tell if this prefigures a significant reversal of its current languishment.
On the fora of such sites, one is frequently advised that the key to these pay-per-click gigs is persistence, that eventually you will find your niche or somehow get lucky. No doubt there is an element of truth in that and the saying of it always makes me feel that I should pull my socks up and try harder. On the other hand, if someone were to say to you 'come into work every day and one day, maybe, you'll get paid,' that would seem an unreasonable proposition.
Actually, thinking about it, that is how rather a lot of the more interesting creative occupations work these days; you are expected to have put in a substantial amount of volunteering before they will consider you for a paid post. People must be bribed or cajoled to do routine and unpleasant work, but if the job inspires passion like writing, people will queue to do it for free.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Hello Again
Goodness, I've been quiet on here for a while, haven't I? Sorry about that.
Protracted Death of the Online Content Sites
Meanwhile, it seems as though the world of online content writing has gone belly-up. Six months ago or so, there was paid work to be had from Ehow, Brighthub and WikioExperts, that short-lived and mysterious site which offered small sums for random articles. All these sites seem to have undergone varying degrees of radical transformation boiling down to the fact that they no longer pay for articles or, if they do, not for articles from me.
The revenue sites haven't died, as such, but Suite 101, for example, is not a happy bunny.
Return to Blogging
The answer, in as far as there is one, seems to be a return to blogging. Hi :) Giving content sites rights over your work and a large percentage of any income you make from it seems somewhat pointless when you begin to suspect you have as much chance of attracting as many views as they do to your own little blog - not because you attract so many as that they... also blogging offers the pleasures of experiment and doing things the way you want rather than conforming to a set formula, and that suits me very well.
News from the Gardens of Lucullus
Meanwhile, my little classics site, The Gardens of Lucullus has lately acquired a growing online library of links to Latin texts and accompanying English translations, with an emphasis on sourcing fresh contemporary translations rather than the stilted and censored old stuff that is such an excellent advertisement for reading in the original. Have a look, here (if you're interested in Latin Literature, that is).
Right, that's about all I have to say for myself here for now. I'll try not to leave it so long, next time.
Protracted Death of the Online Content Sites
Meanwhile, it seems as though the world of online content writing has gone belly-up. Six months ago or so, there was paid work to be had from Ehow, Brighthub and WikioExperts, that short-lived and mysterious site which offered small sums for random articles. All these sites seem to have undergone varying degrees of radical transformation boiling down to the fact that they no longer pay for articles or, if they do, not for articles from me.
The revenue sites haven't died, as such, but Suite 101, for example, is not a happy bunny.
Return to Blogging
The answer, in as far as there is one, seems to be a return to blogging. Hi :) Giving content sites rights over your work and a large percentage of any income you make from it seems somewhat pointless when you begin to suspect you have as much chance of attracting as many views as they do to your own little blog - not because you attract so many as that they... also blogging offers the pleasures of experiment and doing things the way you want rather than conforming to a set formula, and that suits me very well.
News from the Gardens of Lucullus
Meanwhile, my little classics site, The Gardens of Lucullus has lately acquired a growing online library of links to Latin texts and accompanying English translations, with an emphasis on sourcing fresh contemporary translations rather than the stilted and censored old stuff that is such an excellent advertisement for reading in the original. Have a look, here (if you're interested in Latin Literature, that is).
Right, that's about all I have to say for myself here for now. I'll try not to leave it so long, next time.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
New Classics Blog
I've started a new blog which will be exclusively devoted to my writings, reviews and discoveries of Greco-Roman antiquity The Gardens of Lucullus. At the moment, it mostly just has links to my existing articles but I will be building up posts of work that will be posted there. At the moment, writing sites are so volatile that I am starting to feel one might as well stand alone with one's own blog and then at least reap the full share of such meagre rewards as may be gleaned rather than post to sites, get few views and get only a small percentage of the scrapings from that. I shall carry on posting externally as well though, as it is wise to cast one's net far.
I will be continuing to post here every so often and will also provide a link here, at least initially when I post something on the other blog. If you have found my classics related posts here interesting, it is worth checking out this new blog.
I will be continuing to post here every so often and will also provide a link here, at least initially when I post something on the other blog. If you have found my classics related posts here interesting, it is worth checking out this new blog.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Pyramus and Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe is my latest offering on Hubpages. This tragic love story intrigues me. Found in Book 4 of Ovid's Metamorphoses, it does not actually appear to be a myth as such but rather a popular tale emanating from the Near East ( it is set in Babylon). It doesn't deal with gods or heroes but with the love of an ordinary boy and girl who live next door to each other, in a terraced street. This essentially familiar urban setting reminds us that the kind of crowded civic life we associate with modernity was already ancient by Ovid's time.
Very much part of the same sentimental tradition as Romeo and Juliet, or the Greek Romance novels, popular in the Roman Empire, it invites the reader or listener to sympathetically weigh the powerful emotions of lovelorn adolescents against the rights of parents (especially fathers) to make decisions about their children's marriages.
How did the mostly patriarchal Romans feel about these stories privileging sentiment over prudence? How did they feel about their sons and daughters immersing themselves in such tales? It is tempting to wonder whether they ever played a role in softening the attitude of a stern parent or strengthening the resolve of a stubborn teenager. Of course, there is no word of blame in Ovid, for the parents of Pyramus and Thisbe. The couple are perhaps only tragic because the gods cursed them with a love that was not fated to be fulfilled in marriage; the Metamorphoses is littered with many other such unlucky loves.
In writing news, Suite 101 seems to be picking up a little after months in the post-Panda doldrums. For some I believe the improvements have been dramatic; so far for me they have been modest but notable. I feel motivated to started getting more articles in and have one in the pipeline on ancient pantomime, which I hope to have out in the next few days.
Ehow, I'm finding less lucrative at the moment, with a preponderance of titles demanding very specific and technical knowledge to write successfully, however I check back hopefully now and then.
Very much part of the same sentimental tradition as Romeo and Juliet, or the Greek Romance novels, popular in the Roman Empire, it invites the reader or listener to sympathetically weigh the powerful emotions of lovelorn adolescents against the rights of parents (especially fathers) to make decisions about their children's marriages.
How did the mostly patriarchal Romans feel about these stories privileging sentiment over prudence? How did they feel about their sons and daughters immersing themselves in such tales? It is tempting to wonder whether they ever played a role in softening the attitude of a stern parent or strengthening the resolve of a stubborn teenager. Of course, there is no word of blame in Ovid, for the parents of Pyramus and Thisbe. The couple are perhaps only tragic because the gods cursed them with a love that was not fated to be fulfilled in marriage; the Metamorphoses is littered with many other such unlucky loves.
In writing news, Suite 101 seems to be picking up a little after months in the post-Panda doldrums. For some I believe the improvements have been dramatic; so far for me they have been modest but notable. I feel motivated to started getting more articles in and have one in the pipeline on ancient pantomime, which I hope to have out in the next few days.
Ehow, I'm finding less lucrative at the moment, with a preponderance of titles demanding very specific and technical knowledge to write successfully, however I check back hopefully now and then.
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