The Shackled Muse

My apologies for the long long absence! I’ve been hard at work expanding my arty endeavours. I’d love to say that I designed countless jewelry pieces during my offline hours, but sadly that would be a lie. (I made a few though…)

I’ve been reading. Yes, my new book on beading techniques. More than 300 techniques, thats a lot to learn. I’ve been reading Etsy help articles; everything from taking better pictures (they really cant stress that enough…) to top seller advices and tips, to seller blog and blog sites. You name it, I read it. (applying everything I read is a different matter.) I’ve been commenting in a lot of forums to get my name out there. To be seen.

(I’ve also been reading all the Final Notices creditors like to send out when people (me) don’t pay their accounts… So, yeah,  all my online endeavours better be a success!

Its growing, thankfully. I’m $60 richer since signing up at Fiverr. Even though the Fiverr gigs are for, well, a fiver (as in $5) I’ve made some headway off the site. I contacted a potential client on Fiverr with regards to a logo he needs. He was happy enough with my work and we’ve moved negotiations and business off Fiverr, which makes the payment process go so much quicker. Also, its a really good deal. So, THANK YOU FIVERR. On a side note, I signed up at Dealerr aswell, Fiverr’s European rival. All the best will hopefully come from it.

Blog-wise I’ve been expanding too. A new domain has been registered, sadly the site is still empty. Only has a link to my Etsy store. The entire purpose of the new site is to act as my online store. Jewelry, Digital Art, Traditional Art, Hand made stuffs. You name it. Doubt I’ll add my poetry but we’ll see how that goes.

The whole etsy thing made me realize I need a stand alone shop as well. Plus a blog. So this shall solely be the blog from now, but all handmade goodies will be displayed over at The Shackled Muse Studio.

Awesome, right!

I’ve stumbled upon a little gem of a blog. Its called the Joy of Butter. Oh, don’t let the title throw you, its not a blog about butter. To quote the tagline: “The Joy Of Butter: a collection of thoughts about a life complete with food, wine, dance and passion.”

Now if you ask me, those are all the good stuff that make life worthwhile! Just to give you an example, the latest blog entry is all about the tango.

This is not merely a form of dance, its a form of art…

As Brandi says: I am absolutely head over heels in love with this dance. I began taking lessons about three months ago and after the first class I knew I had found something that I could and wanted to devote my time and energy to. For the first time (in a long time) I have found something that takes me out of my head, something that requires precision, presence and concentration. The steps and dance are not only beautiful and powerful but almost become a meditation, you almost enter this trance-like state when you’re fully in the moment. My world has changed.

Also, MUSIC!! Followers of this blog will know how much music means to me. Not pop, not Britney Spears. Real Music. Performed by real artists.

Throughout the ages music has been used to express our feelings, our emotions, whether its sorrow or joy. English is not our universal language. Music is. If you agree with me, then take a look at this article!!

THE JOY OF BUTTER

Okay… So, it’s 5:07AM I’m listening to a variety of songs on Media Player while searching for stock images online. (stock images to use for Photo Manipulation.) And I think the laptop’s glare is messing with my love’s sleep, he tried to kick me off the bed, twice…

Earlier this lovely evening I had a plan. The plan involved watching the Ghana vs Uruguay match, putting my sick boyfriend to bed and then, right, then put on some Binaural beats to stimulate my creative side while I write countless articles. (Okay, not countless, but at least 6 MyDigitalLife articles for the coming week, 4 for this site, maybe 4 or 5 for Helium and 3 for my other blogger account.)

Don’t look at me in that tone of voice, I discovered that it is possible to write all that in one go. I know your dying to find out how, and I promise I’ll cover that in my next article. Or at the very least, when I attempt to write again…

Anyway, that was plan. So, where did it all go wrong, I hear you ask.

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When I started out with my first blog, I had no idea how categories worked. I treated them like tags. Yup, every time I typed out a new post, I just took some keywords from the post and added them to the category section. Just randomly adding them as I went along.

This is good if you work with tags. Categories is a completely different matter.

Get your categories right and your site will be more organized. If you have a widget in the sidebar that lists all your categories (and how many posts per category) the better. Now visitors to your site will be able to see which topic of interest you wrote about, and how many posts are filed under that topic/category.

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So, you have your hosting set up, you registered a domain and you installed wordpress. (there are other options, such as drupal, but I’m only familiar with WP.)

Plug-Ins

First, lets take a look at useful plug-ins you need. You can search for them on www.wordpress.org, because there’s such a big variety to choose from

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I am no expert. I had a website that crashed a few months ago, and I’m still in the process of building it up. I’m not a blogging fundi like Dooce, and I’m not a SEO expert like The Infopreneur. However, I enjoy what I do, and I think I’m getting better at it. 

Yes, I blog. “Real” blogging. I’m not a problogger, and I’m proud of it. Even when I make a big income from blogging I still don’t want to be known as Problogger. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: they are not bloggers, they’re just marketing strategists giving tips on how to make money from blogging.

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Kitchen Parade challenged bloggers to write about budget cooking and shopping; I accept the challenge. The original series was posted a year ago, and my entry wont be part of it, but we all could do with some budget advice. For their article, click here.

As most of you know, I quit my SAPO job for a better job, then lost the better job. The job hunt has been unsuccessful for the past 3 months, so money is scarce and times are tough. I make a few bucks here and there by blogging and writing articles for various sites, while working on the awesomest awesome online shop ever. Still, a strict budget is a number one priority for survival.

A few tips for shopping and cooking on a budget:

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Jy verstaan my so goed,
maar tog ook nie.
Ek weet ek maak jou soms seer.
Soms, net soms,
verloor ek beheer.

Ek probeer so vreeslik hard
om my siel weg te steek…
diep binne, o so verfoeilik.
Soms, net soms,
is dit vreeslik moeilik.

Jy sien reg deur my
en tog bly jy lief,
vir my; al voel ek soos ‘n klug.
soms, net soms,
wil ek ver weg vlug.

Jy le nou langs my
verdwaal in jou drome land.
Ek kan nie help om te wonder –
soms, net soms –
hoekom vind jy my so besonders?

wat sien jy in my,
wat hou jou aan my sy?
Al bly ek verborge,
Soms, net soms,
verheug ek in my sorge.

ek probeer jou weg druk
maar tog is jy nog hier.
jy het my hart gevang.
Soms, net soms,
maak dit my vreeslik bang…

This is a guest post written by James Richmond, back when he was still owner of The Info Preneur, and back when my original site was still up and running. Sites come and go, people come and go, but the information still applies. Here, he shares his tips for beating writers block

James, over to you.

Writers block or brain melt happens to everyone, even Cheryl will have writers block every now and again. It happens to everyone, but there are some simple steps to lower the frequency of this happening. I have published over 150 posts to my site in 10 weeks and I haven’t yet been stuck for things to write.

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It’s been a bit of a downhill week.

Just as I got all fired up with me exercise routine, I slipped on the stairs and sprained both of my ankles. Right ankle healed quite nicely but left ankle turned blue…. eeeek. Needless to say exercise schedule is on hold right now. Tried some walking today, to the post office which only happens to be 2 or 3 blocks away, and I nearly died…. I will, however, update the two exercise posts I’ve been working on. The entries can be found at the top of site, the page titled Watch Me Melt.

I signed up at a site called Fiverr, stuff people would do for $5. Posted two or three gigs and received 3 orders already. So wish me luck with that.

Anyways, apologies for the lack of profoundly interesting or life altering articles which I promised… I solemnly promise to write some good content tomorrow…

Ooooh and on that note. I’m adding a new category: Unshackle Your Budget. Its something that we’ll struggle with these days, and I do believe I’ve have some tips to share. (from experience, and been-there-done-that.) One of the sub categories will be Recipes, as I do believe I’ve concocted some recipes up to make your Rand/Dollar/Pound stretch.

Till we meet again.