About.com?

Thrillride · May 8, 2008

ameliawrites said:
Well I ain't gonna get to 20,000 posts if I just sit here and read, will I??

I am currently trying to get a chunk of articles done AND its planting time, baby. Ugh..

Happy but still, ugh.

Amy

I hear ya...planting time for sure! Trying to squeeze in the writing with the rest of life is a fun juggle. I think I need to take my writing "space" (time) and guard it more carefully. Life creeps in! (But ya gotta garden!)

kburke247 · May 9, 2008

I just went through my second review. My mentor didn't tell me to pack my bags so that's good. The stress is leveled out by the exhaustion and I've got one big push left so I'm gonna hunker down tis weekend and make this happen. I'll keep you posted and thanks for all the advice, tips, and suggestions.

Kari D. · May 10, 2008

Good luck, Kburke!

Kari

princessvessna · May 10, 2008

Good luck with that last final haul...try to get at least a little sleep in, and be sure to leave time to really go back through everything and proofread, proofread, proofread

Vanessa

NancyP · May 12, 2008

This week's About.com Most Wanted are:

Bladder cancer
Exotic Cars
PDAs
Hardscaping
Insomnia

Bonne chance, tout le monde!

Thrillride · May 12, 2008

NancyP said:
This week's About.com Most Wanted are:

Bladder cancer
Exotic Cars
PDAs
Hardscaping
Insomnia

Bonne chance, tout le monde!

I am wondering what you mean by "most wanted"? Are guides the most actively being sought out for these topics? You don't mean the most recently posted, right? Because Hardscaping has been up there for quite a while, I've noticed.

Do you have some inside scoop?

Do share!

princessvessna · May 12, 2008

Thrillride said:
I am wondering what you mean by "most wanted"? Are guides the most actively being sought out for these topics? You don't mean the most recently posted, right? Because Hardscaping has been up there for quite a while, I've noticed.

Do you have some inside scoop? Do share!

As far as I understand, these are the ones they are having a little more trouble filling

Nessa

Thrillride · May 12, 2008

princessvessna said:
As far as I understand, these are the ones they are having a little more trouble filling

Nessa

Ohh. Still sitting here waiting to hear anything...*tap*tap*tap*

kburke247 · May 12, 2008

I Made It!

Wow! What a weekend of proofreading and breaking my brain creating content. This morning I sent my mentor a brief note thanking him for the experience and he just got back to me informing me that I graduated prep! Pretty exciting stuff.

What happens next?

MKL1025 · May 12, 2008

Congrats kburke247! I just finished prep myself and am waiting to hear back -- I was glad you referred to your mentor as a "he" since mine is a she and I'm really holding out hope that I graduate for this topic.

Regardless of the outcome, it'll be nice to go home after work tonight and not worry about formatting tags, crosslinks or the like!

princessvessna · May 12, 2008

kburke247 said:
Wow! What a weekend of proofreading and breaking my brain creating content. This morning I sent my mentor a brief note thanking him for the experience and he just got back to me informing me that I graduated prep! Pretty exciting stuff.

What happens next?

Congrats! I happened to hear back the same day my final review too. There's lots more fun, but the very first thing you should do is tell us what topic you are doing!

Vanessa

princessvessna · May 12, 2008

MKL1025 said:
Congrats kburke247! I just finished prep myself and am waiting to hear back -- I was glad you referred to your mentor as a "he" since mine is a she and I'm really holding out hope that I graduate for this topic.

Regardless of the outcome, it'll be nice to go home after work tonight and not worry about formatting tags, crosslinks or the like!

Good luck, hope you hear back soon!

Vanessa

kburke247 · May 12, 2008

Okay, okay, you forced my hand. My topic is lawncare. It's funny because I've been paying extra close attention to trees and shrubs and had to laugh when I saw your blog post about cooperative extensions. I was thinking the same thing.

NancyP · May 12, 2008

Congrats, kburke!!! You'll be receiving a couple of big long emails soon with your final review notes and a bunch of stuff you'll need to do.

Thrillride, each week Guides get a list of the topics About.com is trying to find Guides for; some have indeed been open for a while. I post them here because readers of this thread have indicated an interest in getting updates on available topics. (If this is getting old, just say the word and I'll stop...)

Crossing my fingers for you, MKL!

Kari D. · May 12, 2008

Congratulations, Kburke! The fun has just begun!

Crossing my fingers for you, MKL!

Kari

Thrillride · May 12, 2008

NancyP said:
Thrillride, each week Guides get a list of the topics About.com is trying to find Guides for; some have indeed been open for a while. I post them here because readers of this thread have indicated an interest in getting updates on available topics. (If this is getting old, just say the word and I'll stop...)

Not at all! I hope my post didn't come off like a complaint. I was just curious about the lists.

I'm just chomping at the bit waiting to see if I get into prep.

Thrillride · May 12, 2008

Congrats to you !!!!!!

herdon · May 12, 2008

Congrats Kburke. To answer you question, what you will be doing next is mostly more of the same. Each category must have a certain amount of content in it before you can go live.

So, after all the official stuff is finished, you'll be working on content for the next couple of weeks trying to get enough to go live. It's like going through prep all over again

princessvessna · May 12, 2008

kburke247 said:
Okay, okay, you forced my hand. My topic is lawncare. It's funny because I've been paying extra close attention to trees and shrubs and had to laugh when I saw your blog post about cooperative extensions. I was thinking the same thing.

Oh fun! Congrats! I was wondering when that would get filled. I almost applied for that one too...but I guess in my case, trees and shrubs were meant for me. Thanks for dropping by my site...I just thought of that since I'm an almost-master gardener and most people dont even know there's an extension

Keep blogging away so the site looks fresh. Your editor will send you a list of things to fix. You get to do lovely HR paperwork. You'll need to make sure each category has at least 5 links, onsite or offsite....you may want to link to gardening or landscaping, if you need some links...they've both been around a while and have tons of articles.

At first, I was overwhelmed because I saw all that had been written in gardening and landscaping and said "Hey, what am I supposed to write? They've covered most of it!" Now I am definitely finding holes I can fill, and new angles on articles and ideas they've had. I'm running behind because I've been sick and had some other not so great things going on...it will get better. It better soon since it's our season!

Anyways, welcome to About and the Home and Garden area. I'll have fun linking up to you and such...like I need to write an article about damage to trees and shrubs caused by weed whackers...oooh, that just came to me as I wrote this...cool!

Good luck in the race to go live!

Vanessa

HeidiW · May 12, 2008

Congrats kburke! That's awesome!

Good luck MKL!

Thrill, I'm with you, just waiting for that message that I'm in prep! I think you applied before I did though. Hopefully the wait won't be too long, I suspect they have some kind of schedule for when they go through apps and notify people.

While I will never be competition for those of you applying for gardening topics, I do enjoy my almost-daily ritual of going out for about 1.5 hours before dark to do gardening and yard work. And it does provide a nice distraction from waiting and other work stuff!

Heidi

Thrillride · May 12, 2008

princessvessna said:
Oh fun! Congrats! I was wondering when that would get filled. I almost applied for that one too...but I guess in my case, trees and shrubs were meant for me. Thanks for dropping by my site...I just thought of that since I'm an almost-master gardener and most people dont even know there's an extension

Keep blogging away so the site looks fresh. Your editor will send you a list of things to fix. You get to do lovely HR paperwork. You'll need to make sure each category has at least 5 links, onsite or offsite....you may want to link to gardening or landscaping, if you need some links...they've both been around a while and have tons of articles.

At first, I was overwhelmed because I saw all that had been written in gardening and landscaping and said "Hey, what am I supposed to write? They've covered most of it!" Now I am definitely finding holes I can fill, and new angles on articles and ideas they've had. I'm running behind because I've been sick and had some other not so great things going on...it will get better. It better soon since it's our season!

Anyways, welcome to About and the Home and Garden area. I'll have fun linking up to you and such...like I need to write an article about damage to trees and shrubs caused by weed whackers...oooh, that just came to me as I wrote this...cool!

Good luck in the race to go live!

Vanessa

I'm a Master gardener in my county. I am so happy to see you guys sharing that with the rest of the world. The Cooperative Extention Office is a wealth of knowledge!

Thrillride · May 12, 2008

HeidiW said:
Congrats kburke! That's awesome!

Good luck MKL!

Thrill, I'm with you, just waiting for that message that I'm in prep! I think you applied before I did though. Hopefully the wait won't be too long, I suspect they have some kind of schedule for when they go through apps and notify people.

While I will never be competition for those of you applying for gardening topics, I do enjoy my almost-daily ritual of going out for about 1.5 hours before dark to do gardening and yard work. And it does provide a nice distraction from waiting and other work stuff!

Heidi

Don't you dread this waiting??

Still, how cool that you are killing time with gardening! The nice thing about a gardening ritual is that your yard stays so nice with that kind of attention.

We must not dwell. We must focus on other things...right after I go check my email.

HeidiW · May 12, 2008

Thrillride said:
Don't you dread this waiting??

Still, how cool that you are killing time with gardening! The nice thing about a gardening ritual is that your yard stays so nice with that kind of attention.

We must not dwell. We must focus on other things...right after I go check my email.

Well, I suppose I'll have to get my yard nice before it can stay nice! I have a million projects going at once so it looks a bit chaotic right now, but I can really see it coming together. Once I finally get new rock put out in front (I live in the desert, no lawn!) it will be a huge improvement in appearance.

Now, any of you gardening experts have tips on getting out a deeply embedded and very painful thorn? If so please PM me!

Heidi

bwright · May 13, 2008

Hello everyone!

I have just applied for a topic on the available topics list and wanted to stop in here and say hello to everyone. I've been through Prep before for the business topic, and the time spent on it was ex-cruciating! If, no WHEN I'm accepted into prep this time, I'll know just what to expect and how much time to give it.

My fingers, eyes, toes and whatever else is crossed. I'll keep you all posted.

Any other new recruit/applicants here?

popmuze · May 13, 2008

Count me in! I just got accepted into Prep! Now what do I do???? Any tips for easing the process?

For instance, what's the protocol during Prep of using previously published material?

About.com?

Thrillride

A Suburban Farmer

kburke247

Kari D.

princessvessna

Garden Geek Extraordinaire

NancyP

Thrillride

A Suburban Farmer

princessvessna

Garden Geek Extraordinaire

Thrillride

A Suburban Farmer

kburke247

MKL1025

princessvessna

Garden Geek Extraordinaire

princessvessna

Garden Geek Extraordinaire

kburke247

NancyP

Kari D.

Thrillride

A Suburban Farmer

Thrillride

A Suburban Farmer

herdon

What's up?

princessvessna

Garden Geek Extraordinaire

HeidiW

Thrillride

A Suburban Farmer

Thrillride

A Suburban Farmer

HeidiW

bwright

popmuze

Last of a Dying Breed