Skillz To Pay The Billz

During this learning and discovery period, I am looking to take on some freelance writing projects.  Time to build that portfolio, kids!

My strength is inspirational and instructional writing.  I thought of breaking into the technical writing field - writing all those stereo instruction pamphlets.  It sounds really boring and I'm sure it does get a little mundane, but in thise case the paycheck would more than make up for a yawn here and there. 

According to Payscale, the average salary for a technical writer is around $40,000 to $70,000.

Needless to say it is time to sit down and write up a portfolio that spans the wide array of possible fields, concentrating most of my attention on the style that makes me happy. 

As for the site progress....holidays are slowing me up a bit.  I did, however, read an article over Thanksgiving that spoke of exactly what my site is about and how these things bring happiness.

I hope to reveal more of what the site is to everyone very soon. 

Love & Gratitude,
Erica Nicole

Yay Food!

I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving!  I find myself very tired and ready for another nap. 

Work on the website is going well.  Not a whole lot to report.  I will be writing another article soon, but wanted to write a quick post wishing you all well.  :-)

Love & Gratitude,
Erica Nicole

To Do....Learn A New Language

Who doesn't need to brush up on a second language?  It is on many life lists out there.  So why not get started...especially because...it's free.  My husband mentioned this site to me and it is an excellent business tool.  Not only for those who do business overseas or travel for fun - but those sticking around in their own country will undoubtedly find themselves in a situation where they would benefit from Spanish or French or English lessons beyond those of high school. 

So without further adieu - enter,  Live Mocha.

The more we close the gap on our differences in the world and remove barriers such as language - we can begin to understand each other, release prejudices, and obliterate ignorance.  Oh what a wonderful world that will be.

But, that's just my humble opinion.


Love & Gratitude,
Erica Nicole

This is What's Up...

I keep having to remind myself that this is a journal to show the process of getting this project up and running and not just an 'interesting articles' blog.  I figure no one wants to read the ups and downs...at least they won't until it's finished and becomes a huge success ha ha.  But regardless, I need the therapeutic activity and reconnect that writing this blog brings me.

So right now I'm debating on what I want to program my website in.  I have always used Frontpage and html.  But I feel it is time to open up to PHP, MySQL, and possibly using different web editing programs.  This is why I actually chose to make it a year before I opened the site - I could have slapped together a site in no time, but this needs to be professional and I have to expand my knowledge on how to do that.  My husband bought me A Brain-Friendly Guide Head First PHP & MySQL - hopefully this giant book will limit those moments of having to close my eyes and lay my head in my hands making sense of what I just read, translating everything to code. 

Programming is like a big fun puzzle that everyone can do, but most people won't or do not want to.  Which makes it all the more appealing!  Programming mechanical gizmos and creating a website is slightly different considering what I put into my coding won't have to move mechanisms 'in real life' it just has to function on the site itself...and yet somehow it can be just as frustrating and time consuming.  Especially since I'm alone in this.  I have clued very few people as to what the site is truly about.

The first thing I need to learn is how to call up a random item from a pre-fabbed list.  Then it'll be time to expand on that knowledge to make it functionally fabulous...pray for me.

Ha ha.

And by the way, I now have officially less than a year to get this puppy hoppin'.  Here we go...

Love & Gratitude,
Erica Nicole

P.S.  If any of my former English teachers and writing teachers read this - forgive the sentence fragments and such!  Feel free to print a copy out and send it to me with red marks.  I love you all!