What this apparently means is that not only do I get the coveted Ezine Articles mug (at last!), I also get another mouse mat to go along with the one I already have.  But I will also be receiving a blanket and a hat too, both of which of course have the Ezine Articles logo on them.  No doubt my nice white cat will take up ownership of the nice red blanket.  Hmm.

Anyway now the challenge is over I have had time to sit back and think about what I actually achieved – and more to the point whether it was worth it or not.  Prizes aside I am still glad I did it and since I have had a lot of traffic from those 100+ articles it certainly was worth it.

I don’t think I will be taking part in the third challenge that starts on New Year’s Day though.  Instead I am going to try and set myself the challenge to get started on Hubpages again.  Will I try for 100 Hubs in 100 Days?  Possibly – we’ll see.  It would certainly be a nice challenge wouldn’t it?  In case you didn’t know, the Hubpages challenge is one of my five writing based resolutions for 2010.  Do you have any New Year’s Resolutions sorted out yet?

The reward for achieving my Hubpages goal will hopefully be some Adsense revenue instead of a new blanket for the cat (and the traffic of course).  But whatever happens in that regard, I shall keep you posted on this and my other resolutions for the New Year.

I made it through the tape... after 100 articles and around 91 days, the Ezine Articles Challenge is complete - for me at least

Wow.  I did wonder back in early August whether I would actually ever get to write that.  But today I did a quick count up and I now have 101 submitted articles since the challenge began.  At present 98 of those are accepted, with 3 going through the motions of being processed.  But hopefully they will make it and I’ll hit the target.  I’ve only had two bounce backs since I started submitting – one for accidentally copying and pasting a note to myself which shouldn’t have made it onto the finished article, and the other one for breaking an Ezines regulation.

I may still submit a few more just to be sure I’ve done it, but it’s still a relief to hit the target with some 9 days still to go.  I fell behind when we went on holiday but I had a terrific day last week where I managed to write about 14 articles in a single day.  That really broke the back of the task to be honest, and I’m pleased to have been able to complete it.

But was it worth it?  Did I achieve anything notable?

Well, I have to say it WAS worth it.  A lot of the articles are directed back to this blog and I did it to gain valuable backlinks and also attract traffic and attention, and that seems to be working.  I’ve also have potential clients coming to me for information on writing services, so that’s another benefit.

In addition to that some of the articles have also made their way onto this blog.  My aim is to share much of the information I have created with you guys too, so there is plenty more to come.

But perhaps the most telling part of those 100 or so articles I have written is that this is just the beginning.  Yes I may well win an Ezines mug to try and find room for on our mug tree.  Yes I may well get a certificate to stick on the office wall with Blu-tack.  But most of all I have proved that I can meet my own self-set deadlines and not just those agreed with clients.  That is great news as I go forward and develop this blog and my own eBooks that I have plans for in the future.

But I can also use that content elsewhere.  I could submit it to more article directories.  I could rewrite it and use it as a springboard to more articles, thoughts and ideas in the future.

I thought when I finished that would be it (always assuming I made it in the first place).  But in actual fact I feel as if the work has only just begun.  You can go back and see how I did throughout the challenge by going to the writing challenge section of this blog.  I’ll let you know when it becomes officially official that I passed!  And of course, I’ll tell you when that coveted mug turns up.

And yes, I may well tell you when I finally drop it as well .

Wow - I've actually nearly done it! (Click image to visit my profile on Ezine Articles)

Yes it’s my latest update for the 100 Articles in 100 Days Challenge on Ezine Articles.  And after a period of lagging behind (partly due to having gone on holiday) I have stormed ahead once again and now have just twelve articles left to write and submit to meet the Challenge!

I must admit there have been a couple of times where I wondered if I would actually do it.  And it was only having very publicly announced the fact that I was going to try on this blog that persuaded me to keep on going.

I think there are about 18 days to go too, so I’m six in front and making an effort to complete two articles a day so I finish with a few days left in hand.  And yes I shall be applying to receive my HAHD mouse mat and mug as reward for my hard work!

I’ve still got a little way to go of course, and I don’t want to fall flat on my face and fail at the last minute.  But it does go to show what can be achieved, and I think now I have the habit of writing these articles and benefiting from them to carry forward into the future.  And of course if they have HAHD Challenge #3 upcoming, I wouldn’t say no!

I need to get some speed up if I'm going to hit my target...

I have one article to write today, but that will leave me at four behind where I should be.  The article writing challenge ends on the 11th November, so I have a mere month in which to catch up and (hopefully) surpass the target.

I want to write a few more articles than I need to, just in case some don’t get approved in time or there is some issue with one of them.  I don’t want to cut it too close!  I have to say it has been a real eye opener thus far though.  Here are some of the benefits I’ve noticed so far:

• my traffic to this blog has gone up – all the articles are directed back to this blog, as was my intention originally
• I have already been contacted by one person asking me to write for them, and even though that one didn’t pan out it has proved to me that it works
• I’m getting more and more backlinks to this blog as a result of my articles being picked up and used elsewhere
• It’s all good publicity for me and my blog.  As a writer, it is essential that I promote my skills to potential clients, and that is just what these articles are helping me to do.

So there you are.  Good news, even if I am still a few articles behind schedule.  So it’s off to write another one now – I have a little catching up to do!  You can read the rest of my posts to this part of my blog by going to A Writing Challenge.

Everyone loves receiving an unexpected gift, whatever shape that gift might take

Well it has been an interesting week all in all.  I was about eight articles behind schedule and I had about another fifteen awaiting submission, so I thought it was about time I lit a fire underneath things.

So on Monday night (as I was keeping up with progress in the men’s singles final in the US Open!) I wrote four new articles and submitted all of the backlog that had mounted up.  I’ve written a couple more today as well, which has put me just ONE article behind schedule.

That’s pretty good and I am pleased with how it’s going – and I had a nice surprise in the post today that got the enthusiasm going again too!  I was awarded Platinum level on Ezine Articles a while back, and today I got a package from the US from the website itself.  Inside was a note of congratulations, along with a mouse mat featuring the Ezines logo, a branded notepad, an Ezine Articles pen and even a sticker for good measure.

That was completely unexpected and very nice too – I needed a new mouse mat!

And it has all given more more impetus to carry on writing and submitting plenty of articles to complete the challenge as well.  I’m delighted with what I have achieved so far – very nearly at the halfway mark as I am – and I am determined to keep the momentum going.

I know some have completed the challenge already, but so long as I do it in time I’m not worried if I’m not one of the fastest.  Keep that in mind if you have attempted the challenge yourself; if you have fallen a bit behind it is easier than you think to get ahead again!

Am I still heading for my target of 100 articles in 100 days on Ezine Articles?

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last updated you on this, but there is a good reason for that.

We had family visiting for the last week or so of August, so I ended up just doing a few odd essential writing jobs and pretty much shelving the challenge for the time being.

But you will be glad to know that I am back on the case again!  As of today I think I am just six articles behind schedule, which isn’t too bad considering I didn’t write any for about a week.  I am very conscious that we are off on holiday at the end of this month though, so I really want to get ahead of myself again before we head off.  That way I won’t be behind when we get back.  It will be into October by then so it’s crucial that I can keep up the momentum.

So far today I have written two articles, but I am in the mood to write more and I have nearly finished my client work for the day.  I think perhaps a few more tonight would be a good thing to aim for!

Anyway my latest article published on Ezine Articles is called ‘Online writing – can you challenge yourself to write about new topics?‘  I hope you enjoy it – there should be plenty more coming soon!

Keeping track of articles submitted

My most recently published article was called “Online Writing – Are You Panicking About Writing That New EBook Project?” and it contains advice that you could actually apply to any type of freelance writing job you take on.

This is what I am aiming for while writing all my Ezine Articles pieces – giving away nuggets of valuable information that people will hopefully find useful.  If you have taken up the challenge – or if you are simply thinking about writing some articles for Ezines to enable you to get valuable traffic to your website – try this technique yourself.  It works.

So in a nutshell – so far things are going well with the challenge.  I’m hoping to squeeze in a few more articles this week, but I’m taking some time off and recharging my writing batteries a bit so we’ll see.  More updates coming soon!

Now I know that is a tiny amount, but it seems that something is starting to work.  And I have submitted just twelve articles so far – four or five of which still have to be published.

Does this bode well for the future?  We’ll see!

And that has had a great effect on my writing for the 100 Articles in 100 Days Challenge as well.  I have been out and about today so I took the opportunity to sit down and write a few more articles to count towards the challenge.  I have written four so far, and I hope to have written more by the time you read this.

More ideas are going in the notebook for writing fresh articles...

That means I am ahead on the challenge so far.  And hopefully the impetus of making it to Platinum and being able to send in unlimited numbers of articles will make life easier and get more articles written and published much sooner.

At the time of writing I am seven days into the challenge, with a total of eleven articles written.  I am still sticking with my plan of focusing on one article a day before I tackle any client work, and it really doesn’t take long to do either.  It has certainly made me re-evaluate the importance of my own work and writing ambitions, alongside writing for clients.  Client work is enormously important of course, but I have other things I want to do for myself for the future, and I think perhaps this Ezine Articles challenge has tipped the balance slightly in my favour.

So even if you aren’t taking part in the 100 Articles in 100 Days Challenge, use this opportunity to think about what you are doing for your own writing.  Is there a book you would like to write?  Do you have a great idea for a writing related website of some kind?  No matter what that goal might be, focus on it and try and allocate a few minutes a day to devote to it.

It might make a big difference to your future writing career.

There's a mountain to climb...

I have employed a new strategy to make sure I do at least one per day though.  I now sit down and write that first article first thing in the morning.  It doesn’t take long, and if I get more time later on I can do another one.

I’m still waiting for the article I submitted last week to go through so I can – hopefully – carry on submitting.  Apparently it is possible to be promoted straight to Platinum Status, which would obviously make things a lot easier as I can then submit as many articles as I wish whenever I want to.

Currently I am on stage three of five with my article review – with five being the published stage.  I made it from zero to three overnight, so here’s hoping the final bit gets completed soon!

Meantime I am continuing to write, write, write – and hopefully you are too?  Let me know if you have taken up this challenge; you can read more on the main page of this section, at A Writing Challenge.

I’m out and about tomorrow which may mean no blog post, but I’ll be back to report on my progress very soon.