Self-Hosted Perils and What Not

My word, but it seems like I have been gone from All Out War for years! I think about it all the time and I’ve meant to come back and post so many different things, but I’ve just been insanely busy!

I know, I know, it’s easy to say we’re busy, but I think I’m honestly telling the truth 🙂 We are up first thing in the morning, getting one off to work, another started on the music he’s working on for the day, and then into homeschooling. Over the course of the day, we’re like a well played pinball machine, bouncing around from homeschool, to freelance writing, to walking the dog, to feeding the other pets, to dishes, laundry, cooking, cleaning and half a million other little things that can steal our time before the man of the house arrives home.

Before you know it, I’m feeling like a rung out dishrag and ready to throw in the towel for the day!

Freelancing has been come and go the past couple of months, but it’s starting to pick back up again. Which is why I thought I should go ahead and post here while I have the chance. Never mind that it’s well after midnight and I have to be back up soon, I just had to check in!

For those who might be interested, my new website is called Scribbles & Sustenance. It’s still somewhat under maintenance, as I am currently working with a great graphic artist on artwork and decals for the site. But by all means, if you’d like to see it for yourself, just go here. You can even subscribe, if you’d like. I am just now getting my email newsletter campaign up and running, so no more than one email a week 🙂 And no spamming allowed!

It’s been really exciting, getting to work with all the tech people and learning new things, but it’s all a bit over my head really. Well, I suppose I should say it’s REALLY over my head. I don’t know the first thing about coding and frankly, I don’t care to start learning it! On that note, however, I am so thankful for the guys at TMD! They are around the clock angels, and I’m so glad they’re there. Lord knows I’ve worked them to death, lol.

Well, I just wanted to pop in with an update. I’m still out here in cyber space and haven’t fell off the edge just yet! For those who pray, keep me in your prayers, that my new site would take off like I want it to eventually.

And as always, I appreciate each and every one of you so much more than I’ll ever have words to say.

Be blessed! Have a great day!

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Busy, Missing You and Wondering…

I realize I haven’t been posting for awhile. I didn’t realize things were going to get so busy and hectic. Between writing for clients, homeschooling and taking care of “life as usual” around the house, I’ve hardly had time to do much more than breathe and sleep!

I’m not sure how many of my readers are aware of the fact that I recently went self-hosted and have transferred all the old content here at All Out War over to my new home on the web, Scribbles & Sustenance, but that’s what I did towards the end of February. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but somewhere along the line, I felt…I don’t know…maybe “cheated” is a good word??

Or, rather, maybe I just wasn’t ready for the wide world of self-hosted platforms.

I’m not saying I’m wanting to give up on that. Quite the opposite. I want to make more of a go of it now than I ever did, I’m just not sure how to go about it. I hear so many people talking about “finding your niche” or telling me I need to “narrow things down a bit”, when really, I could just open it up even more than I have it now and still be happy, as far as myself goes.

Maybe I don’t want to hedge myself in? Maybe I like being the jack-of-all-trades that I am. Of course, that may not net me a successful “business” or whatever, but writing is all I really want to do anyway. I always thought I would be writing fiction, but here I am, busy as can be ghostwriting nonfiction articles almost as fast as I can type them out!

I guess the one thing I miss most of all is the views and comments from all of you! I really miss that! I only have a precious handful of subscribers over there, and to be honest, that fact alone doesn’t give me very much in the way of motivation to write. I think to myself, “Well, who’s going to see it anyway??” and so lots of stuff I want to write, doesn’t ever get written.

Maybe I should just write them anyway? “Write it, and they will come,” lol.

I guess 🙂

I would like to get some feedback, if any of you would feel so inclined as to visit staceylynnwells.com and check out the layout and maybe even subscribe while you’re there 🙂 Really though, just some feedback on the look would be awesome.

Anyways, I guess I’ll trudge on and see what happens. I am getting lots of views, so maybe I’ll post something worth commenting on at some point.

Thanks all!

Jennifer Marie’s – Fumbling through it one day at a time

I would love for all of my readers to take a moment and visit my friend Jennifer’s blog. She’s just getting started and it would be awesome if she could see how great you WordPress bloggers are!

Because I think you’re pretty awesome myself 🙂

Much appreciated and thanks in advance!

 

Fumbling through it one day at a time

Source: Jennifer Marie’s – Fumbling through it one day at a time

Pricing Guide for Web Copywriters (Pressed)

Having worked a great long while for what is known as a “content mill”, I had no idea pricing was this high. Of course, not having a degree will often thwart the possibility of actually getting these numbers, but once I have a few years of experience under my belt, what then?

I just thought I would put this out there for anyone who may not know.

 

Curious what to charge your client for web copy? Use this handy pricing guide and never worry about under or over-pricing ever again.

Source: Pricing Guide for Web Copywriters

Scribbles & Sustenance – Consider Stopping By!

I just wanted to take a moment to ask if anyone would be so kind as to stop by my brand new website, check it out and give your honest feedback. It’s been up and running just a little over a week and I am trying to get it just right.

It has all of the same content I have here, however it is arranged differently and has a fresh new look.

Thanks in advance!

Source: Scribbles & Sustenance – Thanks for stopping by!

I Finally Did It! Brand New Website!

Well, folks, I finally took the plunge and decided to go to a self hosted site! I’m super excited, but I have literally worked my butt off getting everything lined out this whole weekend. There’s still SO much to be done, probably a million things I haven’t even thought of yet, so…

I would be super honored if any of my readers would be kind enough to head over to my new blog, check it out, and provide feedback. Especially those who have their own self hosted site.

Some of the biggest changed include the fact that I have categorized everything a bit differently. Now I have certain posts for certain days. It doesn’t mean that I will post each and every day, though I wish I had that kind of time, but just that you can expect certain things to pop up on certain days of the week.

I have also added a pitch for my freelance writing career in my home page. This will hopefully be a place that I can send potential clients who want to know more about me and my writing style and possibly something else later on. I’m not even sure if I’m doing it right, just playing everything off the cuff right now.

Anyway, if you happen to click the link above and visit, as I said I would simply ADORE any feedback you would like to send my way. To say that I’m in experienced in my own website is quite an understatement.

Thanks so much!

The Old Stokermatic

Don't Forget The Old Ways

Daddy built the house that we lived in when we were in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. I was far too young to remember a lot of the particulars, but some things stood out more than others.

Like the way Mom use to pull her old ringer washer out the kitchen door and into the yard with an extension cord to use it. She would put a metal washtub up in a chair to sit underneath the ringer and fill it with water to rinse the clothes in as they came out of the ringer.

I remember the big upright canisters of propane that we used to run our stove that Mom cooked on. I can’t remember what kind of cook stove it was, just that it ran on gas and sure did a fine job cooking a meal.

I remember exactly where everything sat, and how simple it was…

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Cast Iron Is Still Going Strong

Don't Forget The Old Ways

Cast iron has been used for cooking for over 2000 years. Well, that’s the rumor, but I’m sure it’s close.

As long as there has been a meal to make, apparently, cast iron has been one of the means to get it done.

Since the “stove” did not come along until about the middle of the nineteenth century in Europe, cast iron was about the best thing to cook in over an open fire. (It still is today, in my opinion!)

Even when cooking got moved indoors, with the addition of fireplaces and hearts, cast iron “spiders” were often used, as well as the hanging dutch oven.

It took me a while to figure out what a spider was, actually. I have always been an avid collector or very old cookbooks and you see a lot about searing and cooking things over an open fire in a spider.

As it…

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What Are Your Favorite Stock Photo Sites?

Let’s face it, every once in awhile, you simply can’t take your own photos for your blog.

Well, I mean, not all of us can.

For instance, I’m a wife, mom, homeschooler, blogger, freelance writer and bass player in a band, so it gets kind of hard to get out there and take the perfect photos all the time 🙂

Just hanging out at the park!

Every now and again, I will throw in some stock photography. I’ve heard enough about all the ways you can be sued for using other stuff and I stay away from that like the plague! It is certainly never my intention to step on any toes, that’s for sure!

In my search for stock photos, my favorites have turned out to be Pixabay and Pexels. With these two sites, there are no attributions needed, you don’t have to join, sign up or pay, and you are free to use the images however you want.

Other sites I have found are just not as good, but I keep looking. So…

I was wondering if you would be willing to share your favorite stock image sites? Please, list them in the comments below and when I get enough, I’ll make another post for the benefit of other bloggers as well.

Also, if you’d like a link back to your own blog, please make note of that in your comment and know that I greatly appreciate it!

Thanks!

Aflac Spams Job Search Site

This is one of my biggest pet peeves, especially as a freelance writer. One of the ways we, as freelancers, often find new clients is to run job board searches. They do not often turn up anything useful, but this is ridiculous…

For the last couple of months, Aflac has been posting these ads 10-20 at a time, for different locations across the country, with the heading “Benefits Freelancer”. Now maybe I’m wrong, but as I understand it, you can’t “freelance” insurance benefits. As a matter of fact, being a “freelance” writer usually means that you are self-employed and not working for any one company in particular.

Still, there are positions like this in my email and on the website itself time after time…

This pops up at least 2-3 times per week and I have to wonder, is their company really so in need of employees or are they just posting these to push back legitimate freelance writing gigs? Because running a search with the word “freelance” in it will bring back page after page of these ridiculous spam ads.

Whatever it is, it gets on my nerves.

Ok, rant over. Hope everyone has a great Monday!

 

Benefits Freelancer job in Dale City, Virginia, US. Read the Benefits Freelancer job description and find other Aflac jobs at Monster.

Source: Benefits Freelancer Job in Dale City 22193, Virginia US