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It's March 13, 2010 and today is a wonderful day! The sun is shining as spring emerges in Central California. Cephas and I are hanging out in beautiful Yuba City, which is where this blog was created 1 1/2 years ago. It's taken a journey full circle to become an active blog platform for me. I'm finally satisfied with the layout and it's content niche. Since I'm so pleased with it, I am entering it into the blogging marketplace so I can use it as a voice for advertisers and private clients. Start calculating that jingle in my savings sock that is going to pay our way to the peace gathering in Jordan 2011.

Famous Celebrity Blogs

DAMN, I'm Cute. 

(Not me. The blog that is today's feature review.)

Okay. I'm going to take a gamble and step out of my comfort zone to review some famous blogs. DO NOT consider this a permanent personality transition for me. This is a temporary walk onto the catwalk of notoriety so I can share information outside of my normal realm...in all fairness to my readers. You have been forewarned. This is not the docile proper Midnight Writer. I'm in Hollywood zone now with Damn I'm Cute. (I just had to say that one more time. It's so out of character for me!)

Go ahead and click on the link to cruise Hollywood Boulevard with the star studded reviews this rank 4 blog features on its pages. I checked out the site info using this neat little gadget that I have on my browser. It pulls up page rank, whois info, a nice screenshot of the site which I pasted into this review, along with so much valuable information about the site. Find ranks with Google, Quantcast, Alexa, how many times it's been digged and so forth.

Damn I'm Cute is hot! It's got a lot going for it search engine wise and according to the social networks. But how is it for content and story interests? Let's take a look and see.

This is a no holds barred blog that relays celeb news and gossip in a blunt tell all fashion. I didn't find any restrictions on subject matter. The first article is about Lady Gaga trying to get past airport security. Read the article Lady Gaga's Glam Doesn't Stop at Airport Security.  The author's perspective about Lady Gaga's ordeal is witty and a little dicey. The most interesting part of the story is a reflection about getting through the security search with boots that were painted onto her legs. And no , she did not remove the wig and veil.

I scrolled down the website to get a feel for the celebrity tales on this cyber Hollywood Boulevard. I found famous names like Marie Osmond, Rose Ann Barr, Corey Haim's news of death, Jennifer Anniston, and Tom Hanks featured on the cover of Time Magazine. Wow! Jam packed full of hot stories and even hotter celebrities...this mag is worth a click or two of your mouse to pay your respects once a day. Subscribe to the rss feed so you don't miss out. And Billy Ray Cyrus, is your daughter Miley old enough to be dating that guy?

The Midnight Writer

This Blog made its Social Spark Debut Today

Hopefully Social Spark will approve this blog. I submitted it into my list of blogs on my profile at their site which brings my list to a total of seven blogs. When I am finished submitting my blogs, I will have over forty in the queue to write for Social Spark advertisers.

I hope to be very busy this summer as I'm saving to pay for a trip to the Middle East for a large peace gathering in Jordan 2011.  That means I have to earn some big bucks. Also, my husband and I are pitching a movie idea in L.A. in the next couple weeks. If the producer takes on the project, we'll be filming some of this event live for the movie. It's going to be an exciting year. I hope you'll join Cephas and me for the adventure.

Smorty Encourages Writers to Blog One Another

Smorty offers the opportunity to earn some money for writing paid reviews on your blog. As an incentive to improve the backlinks to blogs in their pool, Smorty encourages writers to blog about one another. In fact, they have a system set up to track the blogging reviews in your account set up when you join Smorty. After writing five blog you back reviews for others, Smorty opens up the paid review board to writers.

I Want to Share your Story if you Blog Me Back 2

If you have a story to share or if you want your blog reviewed, then email me at themidnightwriter1@gmail.com or follow/DM me on Twitter with your request. I will take on all reasonable requests with the exception of pornography, gambling or any illicit or illegal sites that defame any one culture, race or religion. Any sites targeting children in an illicit way should avoid contacting me because I will not review your site. Those are my only restrictions. Other than that, I look forward to reading the requests and to writing reviews about any and all interesting topics.

 

There is one requirement I have for any one choosing to participate in this project. I ask that every one write a review about one of my sites in return. I'll select the blog out of a list of 50 when you email or DM me. Some of my sites are listed in the sidebar so browse them. I will honor special requests to review a particular one of my sites if you express a passion for it.

 

Some sites that I am hoping to have reviewed are listed below:

 

The Midnight Writer

The Midnight Writer's Journal

The Midnight Writer's Freelance Quest

Blog Day Planner

Mountain Spirit Productions

The Twitter Files

Elite Blog Reviews

Join the Matrix

Revolution Matrix One

Angels for Gabriel

Blog U Back Info

The Midnight Writer's Network

 

I'll post occasional updates with blogs that I want targeted for blog me 2 reviews. Anyone who reads this can look over the list above. If you have a passion for one of these blogs, then contact me and request it. Otherwise, I'll choose the blog to be reviewed.

 

I'm waiting for the requests to pour in and I'm itching to read your site.

The Midnight Writer

Social Spark Offers Blog U Back Opportunities

Are you a professional blogger who writes advertisements for clients on your blog through companies that pay you to blog?

I can speak from personal experience about “sponsored conversations”, which is what some professional sites call advertised blogging for clients. I belong to over one dozen companies who offer bloggers pay for writing sponsored conversations on their own blogs. Not all of these companies keep me working on a regular basis. Some of them do not have work for my blogs because I have not achieved some level of qualifications required by them. (that can be a whole other topic to post about).
A few companies give me work on a regular basis on several of my blogs. One of those companies is Social Spark. I just recently achieved enough page rank with this company to write several posts a month. I have four blogs listed with them titled The Midnight Writer, Blog Day Planner, The Midnight Writer’s Journal, and The Midnight Writer’s Freelance Quest.
Since I don’t receive as many paid posts as I would like from Social Spark, I have begun to check out one of the other options they offer in their program. Aside from paid sponsored posts, they offer affiliate programs, cost per click offers and causes. An additional feature is their program called “Sparks”. With this, advertisers choose to list offers to allow bloggers to accept the opportunity to blog about them and they in turn agree to “Blog U Back”. This concept will help you in several ways.

• It will give you blogging practice writing reviews.
• You will help other bloggers and advertisers while adding pages to your blog with interesting and versatile content.
• It will help diversify your blog.
• You will increase your page rank by driving more of an audience to your blog since the blog u back offer will bring readers from the other person’s site to yours. Usually, in a Blog U Back offer each site puts a reciprocal link to the other person being reviewed.
• You will gain back links.
• You will accrue good karma by writing for something other than money to help others out.

Have fun blogging and if you email me, I’ll Blog U Back.
The Midnight Writer

Today this Blog Makes its Entrecard Debut

Image by Aldon via Flickr

Yes, I am entering yet another blog on Entrecard and hoping that it will be approved. I am working on a system to tie all of my blogs into one huge network, but it will be a few months before more details are released. In about three months, I will start utilizing this network to the benefit of fellow bloggers and freelance writers.

Blog Me Back 2 will be used exclusively for writing reviews and promoting this action among other bloggers to help connect us together in order to promote more content. It will also help with driving up page views and to encourage more visitors to this host blog and to other blogs who write a reciprocal review for me.

The image to the left shows a typical Entrecard traffic bar when someone is an active dropper on other Entrecards. This is an area that I need to work on. So I'll need your help by encouraging me to come review your site and drop on my widget. It will look like the image below.



You might be asking why I chose this image. I'll tell you. I love silhouettes and I always have been fascinated by them. Tonight as I was choosing which image to use for Entrecard on Blog Me Back 2, this one reached out and grabbed my attention. It reminds me of a down home version of my Midnight Writer silhouette image that I use in my profile. Instead of heels, the woman is barefoot and that is how I like to be, barefoot walking in the grass in a beautiful meadow. The wind is blowing her simple country style dress and a ribbon is visible in the back at her waist. She's playing with some flowers it looks like and that is what you would find me doing on a mountain campout. the shadow is Mysterious and that is my middle name.
Any more questions, just ask me. And be sure to visit Entrecard. You'll see Blog Me Back 2 over there, I'm sure of it. I'll probably be clicking away tomorrow dropping on your widget.
The Midnight Writer

Let’s Get It Going on with the Blog Me Back Concept

Are you ready to take the plunge? I am and my fingers are hot and ready to tap those keys as I write about you, or your blog, or your website or your company or a service or product that you provide. I want to experience the art of writing reviews about others like you for several reasons. We can count them here.
First, it will help me polish my writing skills and I will develop a better eye for physical and grammatical layouts in both blogs and websites. Blogging about others,or writing reviews, will help you polish your skills, too. That is very important for a freelance writer.
Second, it is not always about the money! It’s really not! Sometimes it’s about recognition. Get your name out there by writing as many reviews as possible to help you get noticed as an author. The beauty about writing reviews about others on your blog is it builds pages that are cached in google and other search engines.
Third, if you write reviews on your blogs, you gain page count to help increase your blog rank while you build some quality content on your blog. The first year is sort of proving grounds for any blog to figure out if the subject matter is readable and if it will carry both an audience and your interest as the writer. If both happen, it’s a good blog and I say promote it.
Finally, reciprocal blogging builds back links to your site and the for the person you are writing about. Include some hyperlinks to help bring attention to other pages deep within your site and theirs to really increase the view value and page value of a blog.
There is one major point that I almost forgot to mention- you retain the authorship of your work right on your own site. In freelance writing, that is what I call having the best of both worlds.
So have fun and Blog Me Back Too! What are you waiting for?
The Midnight Writer


Technorati Tags: reciprocal blogging,reviews,critique,freelance writing,Blog Me Back Too,The Midnight Writer,The Midnight Writers Blogs,promote

Sharing Random Thoughts about Reciprocal Blogging

This is my day planner online. If you want to view it, just click the photo since it’s hyperlinked. I use this to help plan the work on my domain blogs and to monitor the progress of posts, programs, ideas, reviews or just about anything that I do online.

This Blog Day Planner needs a review to help me improve its function, the posts, the content, the layout and all aspects of its design and purpose.

If you review the above blog, then I’ll review the blog that you chose to post this review. Why, I’ll add 100 Entrecard credits for good measure and give you 3 inbound links back to your site. If you take the challenge, email themidnightwriter1@gmail.com so I can blog u back and send your EC credits.

Be honest in your review but upbeat and offer solutions to problems if you can or make suggestions to problem areas, please. Thanks.

 

Random Thoughts about Reciprocal Blogging

So here are my random thoughts that I would like you to consider when you blog me back 2. Please add to this list in the comment section following this post.

• First and foremost, be honest. Give a fair critique on blog style, layout, fonts, images, colors and most of all content.
• Talk about the nature of the posts on the blog being reviewed. Give some examples in the conversation.
• Use a natural flow when writing. A blog review is not a content article so formality is not necessary.
• Use good grammar and sentence structure but followed more loosely as blogging rules apply.
• Be precise and to the point.
• Talk about the blog or content author and give some bio information and a profile link.
• Please read a few blog posts on the site you will reviewing.
• Offer your creative insight on areas that you see need improvement.

This is a good list to get you started. I’m anxious to read your ideas.

The Midnight Writer

I’m Seeking Intriguing Subject Matter

If you are a regular reader of my blogs, then you know that on my diverse blogs I cover a large variety of topics. I am a creative freelance writer, so it makes my heart go flutter and my brain gets all electrified whenever I happen upon some unique subject matter on which to sprinkle my creative magic dust.

Will you be the next intriguing subject matter for one of my ghost written blog articles or will your story appear in one of my magazine articles, or in a private collection of stories that I’m saving for my first work of short story fiction?

If you think you are the stuff that great stories are made from then contact me at themidnightwriter1@gmail.com and give me the juicy details. We can discuss the publishing format after we decide if your subject matter is the stuff of intrigue.

I’m anxious to get started so please hurry and send me your synopsis so we can create a masterpiece!

The Midnight Writer

The Birds are Serenading us in Brownwood, Texas

Today we traveled to Brownwood, Texas after dodging and enduring some heavy downpours that brought high winds and massive lightning bolts. When the storm began, we were in Fort Hood, Texas which is located about 20 miles west of Temple. We knew of a nice Inn with jacuzzi tubs for $36.00 a night that also had all the perks of two king sized beds, micro, fridge,  coffee maker, cable and high speed internet. So we left Fort Hood and drove 20 miles through the storm to shelter and relaxation.
Yesterday was Cephas’ birthday, March 25 and he hit the big 50. He was deserving some R & R from the highway and the cramped van to be able to relax. We enjoyed some good movies and a late showing of the X-files. I stayed up most of the night working on our website at Mountain Spirit Productions and our blog at Mountain Spirit Productions. I had to remove and reinstall the domain blog wordpress software to get the blog activated after a three month glitch that we could not resolve. It still has the primitive wordpress software but we’ll remedy that in the near future. Anyway, the point is that we had a good time sharing time together and relaxing in the warm dry motel room.
Our van roof leaks around the high rise vent so staying dry was important to us. The rain pours in right onto the bed that is not exactly as nice as a real waterbed, if you know what I mean. Since we didn’t sleep, we did the most logical thing, napped till checkout time neared, grabbed a shower and coffee, then drove a mile to the nearest Starbucks where we slept 3 1/2 hours. I bought a delicious coffee with a shot and we headed west on Highway 190, our destination being Abilene then New Mexico. There is some other pressing business in Texas that will have to wait till the return trip, as we’re on a fast turning calendar page.
The storms that I mentioned earlier really caused some damage around parts of Texas which we were very fortunate to escape. High winds up to 90 miles per hour took out windows in buildings and cars so that highway and city crews in certain cities had to clean broken glass from the streets. I’m so thankful to God that we missed the 90 mile an hour winds and the golf ball sized hail. That certainly would’ve damaged the top to our van, which is like a type of plastic. Maybe we were in tune with the spirit. I’d like to believe that we were. In any case, we were graciously spared.
Tonight, we pulled into a Walmart in Brownwood to be greeted by hundreds of birds getting ready to nest in the trees that border the parking lot perimeter. Darkness was settling in so the birds were flocking in the trees making them appear as if they are bearing loads of large fruits. Their musical chatter has been entertaining us since we arrived. Just in the past five minutes they have calmed and quieted. I take it they’re settling in for a night’s rest, and so shall we be in a little while.
Cephas was so enamored by the birds that he took out our camera and made attempts to capture hundreds of birds flocking from tree to tree. It was amusing for awhile just watching the cat tease the birds as it walked from tree to tree just watching and waiting for just one bird to get careless and land. It was too dark for the photos but we tried. Maybe photo shop will yield a magical image capture that we cannot see with the naked eye.
It’s 12:40 am and true to my name, I remain
The Midnight Writer

This is a Two for One Blogging Challenge

I hope this sparked your competitive interests and that I have some takers out there among those who love challenges and contests. As the title says, this is a two for one blogging challenge.

 

Cute graphic, huh? I chose it to symbolize the act of writing because that is the theme of this blog, writing reviews. That is also what the challenge is about.

So what’s the deal, you ask?

Bend your ears close to listen and I’ll tell you.

I challenge you to choose one of my blogs out of a list of ten. Each blog has themes, widgets, programs, social sites and other features. Choose something about the blog in general or in particular and write a review on your blog.

Please provide one photo or a video and three links back to the site that you choose with keywords taken from the blog being reviewed. Just find commonly used words on the blog and pick three of them. Hyperlink those keywords to three pages on the chosen blog to be reviewed. Please do not select only the top page, but go deep within the blog and choose 3 links to specific blog post titles.

Once you finish the blog post review about my site on your blog, then leave a comment on the blog that you reviewed with a link back to the site where the review was written. This will give each of us a back link to our sites while it gives you coverage on your review. People looking for writers to write a review will accept this as a sample of your work, so keep it professional.

Here is an important note about writing reviews for me: be honest. Write a review with decent language but use honest literary critiquing skills. Praise what is worthy and criticize where improvements are needed. This will help us both grow as bloggers, writers and blog reviewers.

Please follow up with a brief email telling me the url to your blog review post on your site. I will publicize this url to my social networks to give you more back links. In turn, I will also write a review about your site on this blog.

Next, I will make honorable mention of my review about your blog on one of my domain blogs and provide another back link to you. I will post your social network tags at the end of my post.

So what’s the two for one?

It’s a return review with an honorable mention on a second blog and back links on both blogs with buzz on the social networks.

Not enough for you?

(This award will be given once a month to the most creative review, based on public votes.)

You will receive the opportunity to write a guest post on one of my blogs or I will send you 300 Entrecard credits or I will give you one free month advertising in the sidebar of one of my main blogs using your 125 x 125 ad.

Sound good? Great! The first person to comment on this post will get a free review on one of my main domain blogs and 100 Entrecard credits without any further participation necessary. Please leave a link in the comment to your blog.

For more details, email themidnightwriter1@gmail.com.

Thanks for visiting and I can’t wait to read your reviews or to write my reviews about you!

The Midnight Writer