Well oh goody – I updated to WP 3.0 and it is fucked up.  I cannot upload a photo and put it in the post.  Awesome.  I love all these WP updates.

It’s been that kind of week.  Hubby has had surgery once a week for the last three weeks.  Despite it all – including missing most of a dialysis treatment Wednesday – he is hanging in there and keeping a good attitude.

I did a bit of writing for a Squidooer and made a bit of money.  The GA came in (sigh of relief).  SSI sent us an “informal” notification that he was refused SSI because “you did not apply”.  Gee, maybe because the person we spoke to said he could not apply. We got that right after we went to the office in Las Cruces and was told that someone would call to take an application.  So at least they will finally (maybe) ALLOW him to apply.

I’ve come to a point where I am just bitchy.  Can you tell?  LOL.

Hubby had the P.D. catheter put in last Thursday.  Hopefully, it will heal in nicely and he will begin P.D. at home in about two more weeks.  Life may return to something vaguely resembling – well a life other than Dr.s, hospitals, and clinics on a daily basis.

I think we will make it financially.  I hope.  It’s probably going to be very close.

Meanwhile, I’m affirming for wealth.  Kimberly posted some very interesting Squidoo statistics about lensmaster incomes last month.  Only three Squidooers made over $1000 in a month – but then again most of us have outside projects that also earn money and that are intimately tied into Squidoo.  I’ve decided, however, that I want to earn $100,000 a year.  Clearly it will not be with any combination of Internet incomes alone.

I personally believe that the Hunter series of books is going to be the key.  With appropriate publishing and marketing I believe they can bridge the gap between $1200 a year and $100,000 a year.

It seems clear to me that the Adsense form of moneymaking is done.  I think it is a combination of too many irrelevant ads – which is the fault of the ad purchasers who bid on all popular keywords and then link them all to Yahoo shops or something generic regardless of what the headline of the ad says.  And I believe Internet users no more look at Adsense ads anymore than they do at 468 x 60 banners.

I also happen to think blogs are just about dead.  For a combination of reasons including abuse by users who are not by any means writers sharing content, comment SPAM, advertising, and sheer overkill.  In fact, I intended to end this blog until I checked my stats and discovered that I do still have some actual readers.  Note there are no income producing ads on this blog other than links to my own work.  There are no articles not written by me, only my own art, only my own or my husbands photos taken right in our own backyard for the most part.  In other words – it’s a real Old School Blog.  And it isn’t all “I drew this – go buy it”.  You get birdwatching and foolish musings along with the “I drew this – go buy it”  LOL.  But by and large, few people still read blogs for news or information.  I hardly even check my favorites any more.  You still run into a lot of people who have no idea what a blog IS.

So what’s next?  Communities.  Just about everyone who is on the Internet at all knows what Facebook is, what Twitter is, what MySpace is – and they also probably have some communities they hang out in all the time such as (in my case) Gather, SandboxFarm, DeviantArt, FetLife.  I include Squidoo as well, because even though the lensmasters are involved in building lenses for commerce or charity, there is such a feeling of community there.

Argh.  I do not play well with other children.  Except online, for some reason, I’m much better at it.

Sure, I’m keeping this blog.  Especially if I can figure out how to post photos again.  :/ But be looking for me to spend more time at Squidoo, Facebook, Gather.com, Twitter, and perhaps a few more writers, artists, mystery/crime/thriller readers communities if I can find such a thing.

Meanwhile, hang in there.

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