working on fall and winter articles

A few times a year, I like to put out a call for seasonal article ideas. I have had more success with seasonal and holiday articles on HubPages than I have with just about anything else that I've done there. As such, I don't plan to stop writing them any time soon. Since I started writing on HubPages more than two years ago, I've never run out of ideas. However, I also want to know what people are interested in reading and what is trendy right now. I do my best to keep up with the latest crazes, but I'm not always on top of everything. I have gotten some really great suggestions from family and friends over the years that I never would have thought of myself and always want to keep that door open.

I haven't started any new seasonal series this fall, but I've continued a few existing series.

Fall Photo Ideas

Fall Autumn Photography Props and Photo Shoot Ideas

Fall Autumn Themes and Units for Preschool, Pre K, and Kindergarten: Lesson Plans, Activities, and Crafts

This has been one of my most successful new series the past 9 months or so, and I will be finishing it up in the next couple months with the winter installation.

I have series going for monthly food holidays (example), teaching ideas for random holidays (i.e. National Ice Cream Day) (example), and seasonal cake pops (example). I'd like to continue those series for fall and winter.

Also, I did a series earlier this year about simple slow ingredient recipes (example), which has been done pretty well. I'm looking for more slow cooker article ideas. I put together a slow cooker chicken article this fall and hope to write more in this vain.

Here are a few more examples of my existing fall and winter articles:

Halloween Math for Kids: Free Candy Corn Activities, Worksheets, and Printables

10 Pumpkin Recipes for Thanksgiving

Milwaukee, WI Events: Annual Events and Things to Do in November

Christmas Popcorn Recipes: Caramel and Flavored Popcorn, Gourmet Gift Tin Ideas, and More

What do you want to see for the remainder of the fall and the upcoming winter?

I am primarily interested in ideas relating to teaching/education, photography, crafts, freelance writing, food/cooking, holidays/other seasonal topics, and Milwaukee, but I'm always open to other suggestions. Sometimes I do really well with topics that are completely out of the norm for me, such as Frugal Storage Ideas for Small Homes: Creative, Unique Organization Methods (which I realize is not seasonal, but I don't have a seasonal example).

Organization Tips

One of the most frequent questions that I get is how I keep everything in my life organized. I have always considered myself to be an organized person, but I had to step up my game in a whole new way when I started freelancing a couple years ago. I love being my own boss and having a lot of projects going at once. However, it also takes a lot of discipline and daily effort to keep it all going. I don't have any magic answers, but there are a number of things that have worked really well for me that I'm going to discuss today.

Daily To Do Check List

I have a daily check list of work related things to do each day from reading blogs to working on at least one HubPages article. I have one list for weekdays and one (considerably shorter) list for weekends. Recently I've also designated a few tasks for specific days of the week (i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Friday). I don't have a specific order for completing them. It largely depends on my schedule for a given day. I also find that I do better if I mix up my routine frequently and don't stay too regimented.

Weekly Task List

Under my to do checklists for the week, I have space for keeping track of freelance writing work, Etsy treasuries, and additional reminders for myself (which can be everything from scheduling blog sponsor promos to picking up cat food at the vet). Lately I've also found it helpful to leave a blank page on the backside of each week list for further freelance organization. When I have a huge work list, particularly large quantities of short assignments (i.e. 40 product descriptions, each 250-300 words), a quarter of a page just doesn't cut it.

Blog Calendar

If you blog more than 2 or 3 times per week and don't already have a blog calendar, I highly recommend starting one. Free printable monthly calendars are readily available online. Typically I print out a new calendar a week or so before a new month starts and outline 80-90% of my content before the first day of the month. Of course none of this content is set in stone, and I do change a few things throughout the month. Having a rough outline in advance is still a huge help.

Lately I leave a blank page after my calendar page for keeping track of my color combination inspiration suggestions and general brainstorming for the next month. Paper is really cheap. There is no reason to cram all of those lists into the calendar margins.

Outlining

Sometimes I get large batches of freelance assignments on specific topics (i.e. 10 landing pages for a car dealership), and I find it helpful to create a handwritten outline that I can refer to throughout the assignment. Of course you can type your outline, but I don't like having one more tab to click over to when I already have three or four windows and documents open. I also like to outline the majority of my HubPages articles before I start the writing process.

Brainstorming

I stress the importance of brainstorming all the time. I keep lists of ideas for blog posts, HubPages articles, jewelry pieces, and photography shoots. It is important to keep in mind that you don't have to use all of your ideas. Believe me, I definitely don't. Writing down the possibilities as they come to you is a great way to keep the creative process flowing.

A few general tips

• Keep your lists organized. Some of you may remember that one of my 2012 goals was to organize my lists. I used to keep the vast majority of all of the above lists in a single notebook, and it got cluttered really quickly. I completely changed that in 2012 and have stuck with it. It's made a huge difference for finding what I need when I need it.
• Find a system that works for you. I love writing by hand and enjoy having these lists and notes in spiral notebooks. There are numerous options for list making and calendars both on and off the computer. There is no one system that works for everyone. Figure out what works for you so you can stick with it.
• Don't be afraid to make changes. Even the best system is not going to work forever. I have tweaked the format for my daily to do list and weekly task lists a number of times over the past two years. There are things that I used to keep detailed notes of offline, such as Etsy listing information, that I have since streamlined in some sort of digital form.
• Don't beat yourself up over things that don't happen. Do I accomplish every daily to do list every single day? Absolutely not. Does this mean that I've failed? No. Sometimes I get a huge batch of freelance work all at once and have to let other things slide like HubPages writing. Sometimes I'm really busy with non-work commitments and have to double up a couple days worth of work. As long as I'm getting through the majority of the tasks every week, I don't sweat it.

If you're looking for even more information on this topic, I wrote an article about time management on HubPages a while back.

Time Management Strategies, Techniques, and Tips: How to Find Time For Your Hobbies and Personal Goals

How do you stay organized? Share your input!

working on spring and summer articles

A few times a year, I like to put out a call for seasonal article ideas. Seasonal and holiday articles have been huge for me on HubPages, and I'm not planning to stop writing them any time soon. While I rarely have a shortage of ideas, I also like to want to know what people are interested in reading and if there are new trends that I should be covering. I have gotten some wonderful article suggestions from readers the past year such as Tailgating Party Ideas and Tips: Food, Recipes, Supplies, Decorations, and More (thanks, Edi!) and want to keep that door open.

I have started a few new article series already this spring.

Spring Themes and Units for Preschool, Pre K, and Kindergarten: Lesson Plans, Activities, and Crafts

A woman who used to work for an educational publishing company told me that this article is great and could easily be fleshed out into an ebook, which was a huge ego boost. I'm not sure that will happen in the near future, but it got me thinking.

Easy Homemade Mother's Day Craft Project Ideas: Button Projects

I'm sure it's not a surprise that I love writing about button crafts. On a whim, I started searching for seasonal and holiday button projects one day. There are a lot out there, so I'm going with it. I've also written an Easter themed button craft article.

Washi Tape Craft Project Ideas for Mother's Day

Everywhere you look these days online, there are washi tape projects. I have some non-seasonal ideas washi tape ideas planned already. However, with the Easter traffic long gone, I'm really ramping up my seasonal content this month so I published this article first.

This is not new for the spring, but I've also had a couple new seasonal and holiday photography series going this past year.

Spring Photography Props and Photo Shoot Ideas

Here are a few more examples of my existing spring and summer articles.

Fresh Homemade Lemonade Recipes

Alcoholic Popsicle Recipes: How to Make Popsicle Margaritas, Cocktails, and More

Spring Crafts for Kids: Easy, Fun Ideas

Fourth of July Desserts: Easy Patriotic Recipes

Things to Do in Milwaukee for Mother's Day: Brunch Specials and More

What do you want to see for the remainder of the spring and the summer?

I am most interested in ideas relating to teaching/education, crafts, photography, holidays/other seasonal topics, food/cooking, and Milwaukee, but I am always open to other suggestions. Some of my highest traffic articles are out of my norm, such as Frugal Storage Ideas for Small Homes: Creative, Unique Organization Methods. (I know that isn't a seasonal topic, but it's the first thing that came to mind.)

Where I Linked Up Today:

article ideas for the winter

I have put out a couple call to actions now for seasonal HubPages articles and gotten so many great ideas that I'm requesting a little help again. Some of you may remember that I put out my first call to action this summer right after I got accepted into the Apprenticeship Program. It was tremendously helpful to feedback on my new ideas and to get some new one in the mix as I was planning 8+ article titles for 6 months straight.

I also put out a fall call to action in August. I actually ended up with way more ideas than I ended up using, which is a good problem!  Thanks to many of your suggestions, I put together the following seasonal topics the past few months.

• Fall Photo Ideas
• Fall Autumn Greeting Cards: Homemade Card Ideas to Make
• Tailgating Party Ideas and Tips: Food, Recipes, Supplies, Decorations, and More
• 3 Ingredient Recipes: Slow Cooker Crock Pot Dinners
• 4 Ingredient Recipes: Slow Cooker Crock Pot Dinners
• 5 Ingredient Recipes: Slow Cooker Crock Pot Dinners
• Halloween Math for Kids: Free Candy Corn Activities, Worksheets, and Printables
• Thanksgiving Math for Kids: Turkey Math Problems, Worksheets, Games, and Printables
• Easy Homemade Hot Chocolate Recipes
• Recipes for Toasted Baked Pumpkin Seeds: Sweet, Spicy, and More
• How to Make Corn Husk Dolls and Other Corn Husk Craft Ideas

In the fall, I specifically requested lots of food and recipe ideas. I feel like I've already tapped a lot of cold weather recipes the past few month. Of course I'm always open to new suggestions, but I'm looking for other winter ideas as well. They can be related to a holiday (Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, etc.), but this is not a requirement. General ideas for crafts, fashion, food, teaching, etc. are also much appreciated. 

What do you want to see? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

recipe and food related article ideas for the fall

Shortly after I started the HubPages Apprenticeship Program in June, I put out a call to action for article ideas.  I got a lot of great feedback on my new ideas and received some excellent suggestions for other articles.  As we head into the end of summer, I'm starting to think about fall article topics, including fall food topics, and wanted to get your input again.

First, here is a recap of the many of the new summer related food and drink articles that I wrote this year.  This will give you an idea how I structure my articles.  I do write a number of articles that relate to specific holidays, but I also write a lot of articles geared toward specific seasons that are likely to get traffic year round.  For example, an article about lemonade will get most of its traffic during warmer weather but will continue to get hits in other seasons as well.

• Cooking Live Lobsters: How to Host a Live Lobster Party 
• Blueberry Dessert Recipes
• Cold Orzo Pasta Salad Recipe With Tomatoes and Feta
• Sangria Recipe with Red Wine
• Fresh Homemade Lemonade Recipes
• How to Make Lemonade Cupcakes and Other Lemonade Desserts From Scratch
• Iced Tea Drink Recipes
• Iced Coffee Drink Recipes
• Fourth of July Desserts: Easy Patriotic Recipes
• Fourth of July Drink Recipes: Non Alcoholic and Alcoholic

Last year, I only wrote one food related article for the fall: 10 Pumpkin Recipes for Thanksgiving.  This means that there are tons of possibilities.

What do you want to see?  Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

contemplating new articles

One of the things that we're supposed to focus on in the HubPages Apprenticeship program is using as many original photos as possible.  Obviously I do use original photos frequently, but I don't create a lot of articles with exclusively original photos.  So I'm stepping up my ball game here.

Do you remember my neighborhood walk post from last summer?  I still have tons of photos from around the area as well as of our own house.  I'd like to put together an article about Milwaukee style bungalows.

I've thought about writing a blog post about keeping a clutter free house for a while but have never made it happen.  It'll be a good article topic.

HubPages is having a recipe contest this month.  Many people are posting multiple recipes a week, so my one little submission will probably not win anything, but it's worth a shot.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I am putting together a tutorial for gift tag note cards.  I need to get few more samples made it up different sizes.

I had a really hard time coming up with a title for this topic.  It isn't about packaging per se, which is what the common searches are for on Google, but it's about what to include with online order packages (business cards, return offer such as free shipping, etc.).  I decided that a title about growing your online business and how to get repeat customers will fit the bill.  We'll see how it goes.

Also in the works...

How to Stay Inspired: Tips for Writers and Artists

Gift Wrapping with Newspaper: Creative Eco Friendly Ideas

I may consider some travel topics, too.

You can view all of my current articles here.  What else would you like to see?