Detective Mom and the Case of the Missing Shoe
Based on a true story. Detective Mom to the rescue!
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1690420/detective_mom_and_the_case_of_the_missing.html

Best Kids' Birthday Party Locations in Kansas City
Kansas City is a great place to throw a memorable birthday party for your child. This article compares five popular children's birthday party venues in the Kansas City area.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1681362/best_kids_birthday_party_locations.html

How to Write Poetry for Page Views on Associated Content
A list poem, chock full of ideas for poems that will earn you a gazillion page views... if you're daring enough to write them. To all those struggling AC poets out there: This poem is for you.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1666610/how_to_write_poetry_for_page_views.html

A Butterfly Cinquain About Junk Food
"My Last Meal." If you think I'm leaving this Earth with a belly full of vegetables, you're sadly mistaken. This butterfly cinquain celebrates my favorite junk foods, and has nothing to do with butterflies.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1657233/a_butterfly_cinquain_about_junk_food.html

Adam Lambert Acrostic
ADAM LAMBERT...Oh, how I love thee...Let me count the ways. Oops. This is supposed to be an acrostic poem. Okay. I can do that, too. Adam Lambert ROCKS!
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1652837/adam_lambert_acrostic.html

A Blog About Why I Don't Blog

"Maria, you'd be a GREAT blogger." That's what they tell me (and by "they," I mean "my one friend who has a successful blog"). But what do they know? Where am I going to find the time to update a blog on a regular basis? Oh, all right, I'm proving I have time right now. And there's a lot more time where this came from! You wouldn't believe it! But while I'm in here writing, my daughter is out in the living room, watching "Max and Ruby," and that makes me feel like I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing--reading to her, teaching her the alphabet, counting, playing dollhouse with her, feeding her nutritious snacks, taking her out to play with other kids her age, etc. Besides, there are plenty of other Mommy Bloggers who somehow manage all that stuff, and they're probably all way prettier and smarter than I am, so what chance do I have at making a mark in the blogosphere?

More importantly, how the heck am I going to make any money off of my blog? I don't know diddly about AdSense, and I wish the quality of my writing were enough to bring me thousands of regular readers. My experience with Associated Content has taught me, however, that quality of writing (on the internet) has nothing to do with page-views. Nope.

About Associated Content: That's where you'll normally find me. I've worked my butt off, reading and commenting on thousands of articles to entice the authors of those articles to check out my work. In nine months, I've published almost 60 articles, and I'm now up to roughly 22,500 page views. And 94 people have been silly enough to become "fans" of my work on AC. Associated Content pays me $1.50 per every 1000 page views, and informative articles are eligible for upfront payments (usually in the $3 range--more if you're an SEO expert). I don't normally write informative articles; most of my writing is creative, "funny" stuff. I'm doing okay for a creative writer at AC; lately, I've been averaging about 350 page views per article. Most of my reader traffic comes from within the AC community, but I've had a couple of articles land primo parking spots on Google. My hideously written, keyword-loaded article about YoVille on Facebook has over 6000 page views now.

So, with all my ties to AC, I'm not sure I can devote much time to a blog. I could repost my AC articles here, but then I'd run the risk of missing out on potential page views, right? Wouldn't I prefer for people to read my stuff at AC, where I'm getting paid for every page view?

I don't know what I prefer. I'm just trying to prove that my Creative Writing degree wasn't a complete waste of time (good luck with that, sucker!). It's disheartening to see so many great writers online, slaving away for pennies...but I know why they do it. Here I am, doing the same thing. I might not be "great," but I'm okay. Until my novel is published (and, dammit, I guess I need to finish writing the thing before I have any chance at publishing it), I'm going to continue slaving away. Because I love it.

Now, where the hell did this piece of toilet paper come from? Good Lord. Time to go.

If you're curious about Associated Content, you can check out my AC homepage here: http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/272765/maria_roth.html

We'll see what they have to say about my first blog post. They may very well decide that they don't want me here. What do the rest of you think? Will my husband ever forgive me if I start blogging regularly, in addition to writing my one or two AC posts every week? Will my children start to draw pictures of me with a keyboard growing out of my fingertips and a computer monitor growing out of my eyeballs? Probably.