Dove Cottage and Wordsworth

All things that love the sun are out of doors; the sky rejoices in the morning's birth; the grass is bright with raindrops--on the moors, the hare is running races in her mirth; and with her feet she from the plashy earth raises a mist; that, glittering in the sun, runs with her all the way, wherever she doth run. (Wordsworth)

Wordsworth truly had the ability to stir emotion and inspire others with his words. Every time I read that passage, I feel uplifted.

Wordsworth was a major English poet who helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature. He became England's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.

The death of his parents and his separation from his siblings shaped him and influenced his early work, which is reflected in themes of loss, death, separation and abandonment.

He became close friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, moved to Somerset, which was in close proximity to Coleridge. The three collaborated on and produced Lyrical Ballads.

After time spent in Germany, Wordsworth and Dorothy moved back to England to Dove Cottage in the Lake District. Fellow poet, Robert Southey, lived nearby and Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey became known as the Lake Poets.

Wordsworth's brilliance lives on in writings that are timeless.

Note: Dove Cottage (shown above) was the setting where Wordsworth composed some of his best work. Some seventy thousand visitors wander through the cottage and grounds each year.

The Keep by Tristan Wayne Dyke

Today's spotlight is on a promising new poet, Tristan Wayne Dyke. He offers a haunting glimpse into the human experience with his evocative prose piece: The Keep

The Keep
Walls of mistrust
Stand high, strong, and impenetrable,
sentries of pain, sorrow, and deceit.

Doors that once swung wide with welcoming warmth
are now tightly closed;
Luster faded, adorned with memories
chained midst locks of despair.
Every traveler has within them a key
should they wish to enter.

Pass through the Great Hall with anticipation,
lo, stand where others once did;
Haunted by specters wearing smiling masks
who surely conspired with false intent.

Peer through aged windows, those mirrors of the soul, which once brightly lit
Shone warm with rays of laughter and whimsy,
But that now reflect only darkness.

Journey long, damp passages bordered by seeping walls of tears.
What secrets do they hold
Locked away yet begging to be told?
I pray thee gentle stranger travel onward.

Dear friend, I beseech thee, hold high your torch of hope.
Tread carefully down stairs that echo with loss and regret.
Walk silently and swiftly past dim chambers where dreams have fled.

Something calls to thee; your name knows it not.
You do not perceive that which summons you,
For deep within this cold and naked prison lives an entity.

A being with strength and beauty
Unseen by those who look through uncaring eyes
Its soul beats strong with life,
Filled with the dreams and desires of all living things.
Its essence cries out at the sound of a gentle approach.

It longs to burst the shackles of its past and to soar as it once did.
To climb above worries and doubts,
To spread magnificent wings, feathered by angels and made strong with love,
To show the world that it would yet live as it once did.
That it shall lay in anguish no more.

Should a stranger appear, the cold prison cell will warm.
Judge not the shell in which it rests, but approach slowly, carefully, and with soft tread.
I beg of thee, do not possess the treasure you have found
As you would those things of the material world.
The gentle creature before you wishes to be possessed not by one,
But owned by all.

If thou hast within the courage,
reach out to touch and cherish that which welcomes your presence;
For the beauty you've discovered has been sought by many, yet found by so few.

It is a precious thing you have uncovered at the end of your journey
For within this fortress deep,
This desolate keep,
Beats a fragile thing . . .
It is a heart.

Learn more about this author, Tristan Wayne Dyke.

Copyright 2007, Bruce Wayne Dyke aka Tristan Wayne Dyke

One Month with Bukisa

I've reached the one month mark with Bukisa. I said I would keep readers informed of my progress. From here on in, I will just give monthly updates.

Bukisa Stats

• I joined Bukisa April 26th
• I have 13 people in my network
• 6 have started to create articles
• 3 have produced more than one "starter" article
• My network earnings: $.30

My Bukisa Article Stats

• I've created 24 articles
• My article earnings: $2.21
• My total earnings: $2.51

My observations: The biggest challenge seems to be in gaining traffic, so those who join Bukisa should take a hard look at traffic generation methods, either bookmarking their content or using other methods to send readers to their pages. Giving thought to how to gain reader views can make a difference to earnings.

I've created a series of articles to help newbies to make the most of writing for Bukisa.

• Getting Started With Bukisa

• A Neat Technique for Creating Effective Bukisa Articles

• Free Keywords Tools for Online Writers

• Keyword Density: How to Calculate the Number of Keywords to Use Per Article

• Strengthening Your Bukisa Network: 4 Steps to Success

• 10 No-Brainer Ways to Earn up to $400.00 or More Monthly on Bukisa

It is to be expected that some who join a site such as Bukisa, will never put in the effort to create a body of articles or submit other content that nets them ongoing revenue.

Any undertaking takes time. This is especially relevant for online content sites such as Bukisa. Articles and other forms of online content tend to gain traction as they are linked to across the Internet.

• Some online writers find they earn more on their older articles, simply because enough time has gone by for these articles to be spread widely across the Internet.

• Evergreen articles always do far better in the long run, so choosing topics that will continue to attract reader attention is important.
  

• Video content should offer instruction and a good rule of thumb is to create a series of videos.

Speaking of videos: I see instructional guitar videos. I think this is a a great idea and I'm sure those who make these videos return good results in revenue generation.

Bukisa allows for different types of content creation, so if article writing isn't not your game, other possibilities are available.

It will be interesting to see how matters develop over time. It's early days yet but I'm willing to give Bukisa a fair effort to see if I can develop another revenue stream.

If you have pictures, videos, music, or writings you would like to submit and earn on, you can easily join Bukisa. Sign up is easy and fast. Why not turn your content into cash?

New Susan Boyle Video--Memories

Susan Boyle came out and sang Memories, proving once again that this woman has grit and determination. In spite of a rocky start, Susan rose to the challenge and won hearts all over again.

Susan was chosen to go forward in the competition. Here, for reader's enjoyment, is the video. Enjoy!

Three Weeks With Bukisa

Well, I've reached the three-week mark with Bukisa. What's been happening?

I've posted 23 articles, I have 12 people in my network and, so far, I've netted $1.36 in earnings.

Now, granted, the earnings are small and some of these articles were published only yesterday. I've also been busy writing and haven't had time to bookmark all of these articles. I am giving it time to weigh the earning potential. I've read about a number of writers who have done well with Bukisa through sustained effort.

Looking at my content, one thing that stands out is that I need to work at getting more traffic to my articles.

This morning, in fact, I wrote an article about using free article directories to drive traffic to your Bukisa articles. This article is in the publishing que so keep a watch out for when it goes live. This is a strategy I've used successfully in the past to gain traffic to articles I've published at other sites.

Bukisa earnings are contingent upon traffic, so to make a success of writing for Bukisa means looking at traffic generation methods.

Additionally, it involves helping those under you to stay motivated and to evaluate the long-term potential of Bukisa. I wrote the following articles to encourage and strengthen my network:

• Getting Started With Bukisa: 7 Steps to a Successful Bukisa Business

• Strengthening Your Bukisa Network: 4 Steps to Success

One person in my network, webichanga, has been writing excellent articles about living in a haunted house and about ferrets and how to care for them. Webichanga seems to grasp that long-term gain comes through effort and good writing.

I recently read a very good article over at The Brainy Money Blog. Josh writes: "If I can get 20 views/article/day on average, my 50 articles will produce 1000 unique hits per day. . . this means that (hypothetically) I should make $3.65 every day once I’m done with this experiment. If I succeed, this will give me about $100/month in income.

I like his figures.

Here's a sampling of some of my recent Bukisa articles:

• 21 Terrific Everyday Tips

• Tea--A Refreshing Drink for All Occasions

• The Bukisa Article Widget: Where to Find it, How to Use it

• Automatic Writing--A Unique Writing Method

• Writings That Have Predicted Events Before They Happened

• Random Event Generators and the Global Consciousness Project

• Boisterous Bailey--A Talkative African Grey Parrot

If you are looking for ways to earn money without having to pay money to get started, Bukisa may be a good fit, if you can produce quality articles relatively quickly.

I will write another post when I reach the one-month mark with Bukisa.

Two Weeks With Bukisa

I mentioned I would keep readers posted about my experiences with Bukisa. I've now reached the two-week mark. What has happened so far?

Two Weeks With Bukisa

• I've submitted 10 articles and am receiving page views and a trickle of earnings from these. It's early days yet and I will have to wait to see how it all plays out over the long term.

• 11 people have joined my network at Bukisa. A number of those people have gotten started writing their own articles. It's neat to see the network growing almost daily. While I'm not looking to the network for the bulk of my earnings, I do see the potential--and because of this, I'm helping to promote articles written by those who join my network.

• I've created Hubs with my Bukisa article feed sitting near the top and hope that this will help to increase views of my Bukisa articles. The updated article feed should also help to keep Internet spiders pointed towards my Hubs, as well. So, this is a win-win scenario.

• So far, I've earned .74 for my content

• I've earned .05 on my network

I encourage anyone interested in writing short articles to join me at Bukisa. Bukisa, like HubPages, is a revenue sharing model, which means that you do the work once and get paid revenue and/or royalties month after month. It's a long-tail game but if you can create a volume of articles, your earning potential is unlimited.

I'm encouraged that in two weeks with Bukisa I've seen the results outlined above.

Writing Bits and Bites

Hello Everyone. Whew! This has been a multi-tasking week! I've done a little bit of everything: writing, editing, answering letters, bookmarking, doing necessary techy stuff, researching, promoting others' writings . . .

I'm trying to decide if I have time be a judge in a poetry contest and I'm leaning towards not taking the opportunity, even though I'm flattered I've been asked to do this. I rarely turn down anything writing-related, as most of my writer friends know. In fact, I'm always asked how I manage so much output . . . Hmm . . . maybe I'm really a squirrel with an die-hard case of ADHD . . .

I'm swamped at present. I'm negotiating a contract for a children's book and I must set aside time to work towards this. I've had a headache that just won't go away (I suspect this is due to eye-strain from too much time glued to my computer).

After much consideration, I joined Bukisa. I really can't juggle more work at present so this is the last opportunity I will target. The early results are promising and I will be writing an update once I reach the two-week mark.

Now, I'm off for a much-needed cup of coffee.

Still waiting for spring in the chilly Maritimes.

Recent Writing Bits and Bites:

• How to Write for Magazine Markets

• Who is Susan Boyle?

• How to Write a Resume Using Free Online Tools

• Article Writing on Steroids: Fast Article Writing Tricks

• How to Make Homemade Noodles

My First Week With Bukisa

I thought I would start off this week by relaying what has happened over at Bukisa.

It has now been one week since I joined Bukisa on April 27th. What has happened so far?

I started off with my first article: Creating a Pattern of Success: Life-Altering Strategies for Tackling Tough Challenges. The article has received 35 unique views and has earned .12.

I wrote another article: Who is Susan Boyle? which has gotten 28 views and has earned me .10.

I also started an article series about keywords. My first article, What Are Keywords has gotten 63 views and has earned me .22.

I submitted 7 articles this first week and revenue came in at .51 cents, which, although small, is pretty good for having just gotten started with Bukisa.

What I've found unexpected and rather exciting is that 4 people joined my network. I didn't expect that this would happen so quickly. And, I've started earning on one person who has submitted an article.

Before recommending anything, I always like to try it first so that I can give the real goods to readers.

It will be interesting to see what the earnings are at the end of week two and whether my network will have grown even further. You can join Bukisa under me and I will work to promote your articles. Give it a day or two and you will start to see earnings coming in.

I'll keep you posted.