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2011-11-09

Don't waste away! Challenge yourself!

Are you falling into a rut as a writer?

HubPages has tools and resources to pull you out!

Though HubPages is known for being a great place to earn rewards from your writing, garner feedback, and build a brand, it is also a wonderful place to challenge yourself as a writer. Here are four opportunities we provide that may help you stretch toward new writing goals and endeavors:

  • Weekly Topic Inspiration: If you tend to write on the same subject over and over, consider veering from your comfort zone by joining the Weekly Topic Inspiration crew. Each week, we choose a new theme for Hubbers to write on as a group. In addition to providing a supportive, social environment for writing, we do a bit of preliminary keyword research to give you ideas for search-friendly Hubs on the week's subject. Care to join WTI this week? We're sharing day care and babysitting advice!
  • Contests: Contests on HubPages don't just exist for fun and prizes- we also present them as opportunities to help you become a stronger online writer and branch out into a new type of writing. This month, we're inviting all Hubbers to explore their creative sides with the HubPatron of the Arts contest
  • HubChallenges: Whether you like to write in a solitary manner or with a big group of friends, a HubChallenge may be just the sort of thing you need to kickstart your writing career. We have a special HubChallenge section in our forums where you can declare your writing marathon intentions (and get support). Inspired by NaNoWriMo, melbel created HubPageWriMo- perhaps her story will inspire you to embark on your own Hubbing challenge!
  • The Fascinating Fiction Podcast: If you're a fiction author and want to build your audience, consider doing a reading! While in-person book readings can be intimidating, HubPages' Fascinating Fiction podcast invites fiction Hubbers to record readings of their short stories in the comfort of their own homes- then submit them to the podcast series, which is featured in iTunes and on the HubPages blog. It's a great way to get new readers and develop a stronger personal brand.

No matter what you do to challenge yourself on HubPages, we hope you have fun doing it.

Happy Hubbing,

Simone Haruko Smith
Community & Marketing Manager

Recommended Hubs
The Ghost Flower: Photographs of Monotropa Uniflora

The Ghost Flower: Photographs of Monotropa Uniflora

by leahlefler published 7 days ago

The Indian Pipe plant is often confused for a mushroom or fungus, with its waxy, pale form and habit of living in the deep woods. Pictures of this parasitic plant, which contains no chlorophyll and survives by taking nutrients from the fungi that live among the root systems of large trees.

Driving a BMW Rear Wheel Drive in the Winter Snow and Ice

Driving a BMW Rear Wheel Drive in the Winter Snow and Ice

by Mark Ewbie published 5 days ago

Why the BMW rear wheel drive is rubbish in the snow and ice and what to do about it.

The Cabin by the Lake- A Poem

The Cabin by the Lake- A Poem

by WillStarr published 6 days ago

A lifetime of memories, accumulated at the family cabin by the lake.

What are the Qualifications to Become an Event Planner and Where are the Jobs?

What are the Qualifications to Become an Event Planner and Where are the Jobs?

by Patty Inglish, MS published 2 days ago

Jobs in the line of planning meetings, events and conferences are increasing, especially in government, and are expected to add 16% more new jobs over 2008 totals by 2018. The average wage is fairly high at over $23.00/hr and many of these positions do not yet require a college degree. Experience can be more important than a degree.

Teaching Shakespeare With Movies

Teaching Shakespeare With Movies

by prairieprincess published 3 days ago

Introducing a Shakespeare to a group of teenagers or children can be a bit intimidating. Will they be put off by the archaic language and different setting? What resources should you use? One resource that is good to include is a movie. This article will help you decide how to use the movie most effectively as you teach Shakespeare.

Matthew McConaughey Movies-Best to Worst-From Dazed and Confused to The Lincoln Lawyer.

Matthew McConaughey Movies-Best to Worst-From Dazed and Confused to The Lincoln Lawyer.

by Cogerson published 5 days ago

A statistical look at Matthew McConaughey's entire movie career. Every movie he made from 1993 to 2011, will be ranked by box office grosses and critical reception.

Early Childhood Education: Choosing a Preschool Program

Early Childhood Education: Choosing a Preschool Program

by leahlefler published 6 hours ago

Choosing a preschool program is a difficult choice for parents seeking a quality early childhood education curriculum for their children. This article addresses several areas of concern and suggests questions and observations parents should make before deciding on a preschool program for their child.

How to Be a Hit at the Ugly Sweater Party

How to Be a Hit at the Ugly Sweater Party

by Jeannieinabottle published 33 hours ago

Learn how to take the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party to a whole new level this holiday season. Don't have an ugly sweater? Find out how to make your own or where to buy one!

How to Prepare Roasted Garlic

How to Prepare Roasted Garlic

by stephhicks68 published 6 days ago

It is easy to prepare roasted garlic to use in your recipes, or as a spread. Whether you use an oven, a grill or an electric garlic roaster, add some rich flavor to your meals with healthy garlic.

Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

by kittythedreamer published 33 hours ago

This year for Thanksgiving why not try out a fun and Thanksgiving-themed Thanksgiving scavenger hunt for the children? If you have a lot of children in your family that will be gathering for Thanksgiving, a Thanksgiving scavenger hunt can be the perfect game to keep the kids active and entertained.

Single Parent Dating Tips

Single Parent Dating Tips

by habee published 3 days ago

This article provides tips for single parent dating, along with safety precautions for single moms dating.

Are You A Night Owl Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

Are You A Night Owl Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

by molometer published 44 hours ago

Are you the square peg in the round hole? Have you ever thought that you were out of whack with the rest of society no matter where in the world you have been?

The Christmas Orange:  A Christmas Tradition

The Christmas Orange: A Christmas Tradition

by cardelean published 4 days ago

Family traditions during the holidays are a great way to spend the holiday season. Here is my family's tradition of the Christmas orange.

How to Start Seeds for Hydroponic Systems

How to Start Seeds for Hydroponic Systems

by Shelly McRae published 6 days ago

How to start seeds for hydroponic systems. Use rockwood cubes and a small container to start your seeds for use with a hydroponic system.

HubPageWriMo - 100 Hubs in 30 Days

HubPageWriMo - 100 Hubs in 30 Days

by melbel published 6 days ago

November is NaNoWriMo which is short for National Novel Writer's Month. During this month, writers are to write an entire novel from start to finish. This extremely popular even is fantastic for fiction writers. However, I am not so great at writing...

Advantages of Shopping Online

Advantages of Shopping Online

by Jamie Brock published 6 days ago

In today's hectic world, people are looking to the internet for more convenient ways to get it all done. Like shopping for instance: Who has time to shop when you have a full time job, kids to shuffle, dinner to cook and a house to clean? If you...

Raising Livestock on Small Acreage

Raising Livestock on Small Acreage

by homesteadpatch published 42 hours ago

Suggestions for livestock on a piece of land as small as a quarter acre. Including rabbit, chicken, turkey, fish and goat.

How To Play Nice in Life’s Sandbox - 5 Essential Lessons Learned in Childhood

How To Play Nice in Life’s Sandbox - 5 Essential Lessons Learned in Childhood

by Sally's Trove published 4 days ago

Lessons learned in childhood can help us play nice in life’s sandbox. Here are the lessons I learned in childhood that can do more good than harm as life’s sandbox expands while the world grows smaller.

Irish Gods and Goddesses List and Descriptions

Irish Gods and Goddesses List and Descriptions

by kittythedreamer published 6 days ago

Before the rise of Christianity, Ireland was a wild green land filled with the powers of the ancient deities. Who were these ancient Irish Gods and Goddesses? What lore surrounded these Irish Gods and Goddesses and why did the ancient Irish Celts and even modern-day Pagans still worship these Irish Gods and Goddesses?

Backpacking in the Philippines: Useful Tips for Beginner Mountaineers

Backpacking in the Philippines: Useful Tips for Beginner Mountaineers

by The Outdoorsman published 3 days ago

Interested in backpacking? This article contains reasons why you should try out this rewarding sport, and some useful tips to get you started. Plus, you'll get a sneak preview of the most popular climbing destinations the Philippines has to offer.

Six Great Ways to Reuse Old Phone Books

Six Great Ways to Reuse Old Phone Books

by CWanamaker published 3 days ago

If you’re like me, you still get those huge yellow and white phone books delivered to your door every year. With the power of today’s internet, I can’t grasp why these books are still around. I realize that some parts of the country have...

Best Places to Retire in Florida - A St. Petersburg Review

Best Places to Retire in Florida - A St. Petersburg Review

by Patty Inglish, MS published 7 days ago

St. Petersburg is great for both work and retirement, with hundred of attractions within just 25 to 30 miles. A wide range of rents is available and the downtown area is in ongoing development. Transportation is readily available in several forms, including mass transit and a nearby airport.

Pro Tips

Create a Winning Contest Entry

Last week we pointed you toward the HubPages blog to get advice from HubPages judges on creating winning contest entries. The judges' tips share some common threads, and we've noticed several similarities across winning entries from past contests as well.

Here are four key elements seen in the majority of winning contest entries:

  • Succinct, clear, compelling titles
  • High quality images that relate well to the text (it goes without saying that these should be legally used)
  • Strong, intriguing introductions
  • Good use of space (e.g. not too long, well-paced, and smartly formatted into several different capsules)

Of course, all winning contest entries must also meet our qualifying requirements. To make sure that yours do, visit the official HubPatron of the Arts contest page.


Hub Nuggets

This Week's HubNuggets

Amazing new Hubbers join HubPages every day, and we highlight their best Hubs in the weekly HubNuggets contest. Each week, 18 Hubs from three different categories are selected and nominated by the Elite HubNuggets team. The community votes for their favorite nominees in each category, and the top three from each are awarded with special Accolades and get featured in the weekly newsletter.

This week, RedElf presented HubNugget nominees from the _ categories in the midst of fantastic Mother Goose shenanagins. Now that the winners have been chosen, you can enjoy them below!

Simone

      HubPages Tutorials and Community
44% Matt Stark

How I Earned Hub of the Day

A detailed description of the process I went through to create a great hub that won me Hub of the Day.

34% missolive

Online Research Writing - Tips and Tricks

Online research and writing informative text can be a rewarding process for a writer. Your efforts are to deliver knowledge and textual support for your readers. Whether you are developing your own research or writing for hubs or blogs online research writing is an insightful experience. The following hub will guide you through the steps of preparing and documenting online research, pre-writing skills, reflective editing and the publishing of your respective text. I have also provided links to s

9% billabongbob

HubPages (Writing) And Housework - How To Get Them Both Done - Part 1

Balance your time between writing and doing household chores. Find out how to get 'everything' done easily and with no stress.

      Family and Parenting
70% Kristin Halsted

Diagnosing Dyslexia in Your Child; A Parent's Guide to 10 Important Signs

Academically speaking, few things are as frustrating, for both parent and child, as a child who struggles to learn to read. I've been there. I know. Reading comes fairly easily and naturally for most children. With their boundless energy and...

14% UrbnLegend

Journal of a Single Black Father

I've never been one for beating around the bush, so I guess I'll just get to the point... So here goes: It's Saturday morning and usually I wouldv'e been up for at least 3-4 hours by now. Had maybe 3-4 cups of coffee, and plotted out my day... But...

8% Sparrowlet

Messy Bedroom Blues: Solutions for Parents and Children

Frustrated with a messy child who won't clean his room? Here is help for parents.

      Business and Employment
60% eye say

How My TV Career Began or Girls Can Be Camera Operators too

30 years after a starting career in television as a camera operator in a male dominated field, the author looks back at how it all began

17% Carolus

Business Letter Writing

How to write an elegant and professional business letter.

16% molometer

Webanswers. You Are Going To Pay Me To Do What? How To Make More Money Online.

webanswers allows you to make money by just asking and answering questions. You earn every time your answer is used on the internet.

   

 

Hubber to Hubber
hyphenbird

Hyphenbird, 314 Fans, 100 Hubs, Joined 9 months ago

Mckbirdbks Interviews Hyphenbird

A mother, writer, and much-beloved Hubber reveals more about her HubPages experience

First thank you for this opportunity to interview you. Please tell us about Hyphenbird.

Behind the bird is a lady who is getting ready to turn 56 years old and is more active than ever before. My days are filled with my eight year old son, writing, and volunteering in my community. I have lived in many areas while working in various fields (see the Princess Hyphenbird Hub). I finally came to North Carolina to spend time with my father before his death and seem to have put down roots. My small family is tolerant of my writing and allows me to live here as long as I cook occasionally. A favorite activity is hiking to the many waterfalls in the area and I like to cross stitch for relaxation. I live a simple and simply lovely life.

Other writers have been asked how they arrived at Hubpages. Would you tell us about how you came to write here?

That is a great question. Having written for most of my life, I was seeking a venue to showcase my work and earn income at the same time. While searching I found HubPages and spent a few days reading many Hubs and checking out Hubbers' profiles for a few days and knew this place was a home where I could pull up a chair to read and write for a long, long time.

What have you discovered about yourself as a writer since joining HubPages?

I have learned that people really DO want to read my creations and that I have a lot to share that can be inspirational or entertaining. I have also learned that I can share my life experience through my stories and poetry when I have always been too shy to speak about it face to face with people.

You write about a wide variety of topics. Tell us about which Hub or topic is your favorite.

My personal favorite Hub that I have written is about Rizpah, The Woman Whose Grief Touched the Heart of a King. The love, loyalty and sacrifice that she showed make me want to be a better person and help me to know that a regular person can be courageous. And I see from her that one person can open the eyes and heart of powerful people and change the world, bringing justice to those who were denied it.

My favorite topic is a difficult one to pin down. My mind is all over the place and I truly love to write-and read-about anything at all. However I must choose Creative Fiction. As a Christian and an honest person I am like George Washington and cannot tell a lie. And that is the truth! Creative Fiction allows me to exaggerate, expand and push the envelope of truth. A story may contain ten percent fact and ninety percent imagination.

Your profile page tells us of your love of photography. Please tell us about that.

Since I received my first camera, I loved seeing how a moment could be retained for a lifetime; a smile, a tear or an emotion etched in stillness for future generations. Photography is a venue that allows this to be accomplished with a minimum of time and effort. I love to capture the interesting part of a scene whether that is nature, a person, animal or whatever and bring it out. For example, one can take a picture of a tree and direct attention to the robin’s nest on a branch. There are always more layers to life than we see. Photography allows one to peel back the layers and magnify what is between them.

This question was asked of me, I appreciated having the focus diverted from me, so I relay it here, word for word. Is there a special Hub you will always remember? It could be yours or a fellow Hubbers. What made it special for you?

There are a thousand Hubs that I shall never forget. One that stays fresh is by Bumpsysmum. It is called The Sun Came Out Today. She has been battling cancer and began chemo treatments. Then that expected and dreaded day arrived when her hair fell out. She wrote this poem and her attitude is so bright that it shall never fade from my memory and I will strive to live up to her example should I have a similar challenge to overcome.

If you could interview a famous and established writer for HubPages, who would it be and why? Oh my! How can I choose? Since you didn’t specify living or dead I choose C.S. Lewis. His imagination knew no bounds and he wrote with great word choices and decency. He was an amazing storyteller and a man of integrity and loyalty.

I am sure I overlooked something that you feel is important to complete this snapshot of Hyphenbird. Please fill in the blank.

The foundation of my life is love for my fellow humans. I believe love must be the central operating force in one’s life. If we love every person we encounter, we shall ourselves live in peace, harmony and achieve great success.

That’s all Folks……


  HubPages Fun Fact: The Indian Pipe Plant (also known as the Corpse or Ghost Plant) is one of over 3,000 plants that contain no chlorophyll - http://leahlefler.hubpages.com/hub/The-Ghost-Flower-Photographs-of-Monotropa-Uniflora
working

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