About.com?

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Nancy

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mental health

Do any of you "insiders" know what has happened with the subject of mental health? There has been an "apply now" notation on that topic forever. For awhile, it looked as though they were breaking that category down into smaller topics.

Is there someone at About to whom I could direct an email? PM me if you have any info - it would be much appreciated.

TIA,
 

plaidearthworm

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Okay, next week, my assigned stories will be finished. Time to get proactive on About.com; I'm making a list of stories per their guidelines, and I plan to email them, let them know about my weird news blog and add it to my application with them. Today, AOL News linked to a blog entry of mine, so I figure it's a good time to approach them. The Weird News section of About has been vacant since Feb., I applied in Sept., so what could it hurt? If they don't like my forward approach, then I just write those stories for my own blog, since I'm having a blast with it. But I'm betting the spot hasn't been filled yet because they don't see anyone with the right qualities, and I'm going to show them I'm the right stuff. :)
 

klow

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Hey plaidearthworm,
Congrats on the link to AOL News! That is big news.
I use AOL. Where do I look to read the entry they picked?

Keep us updated on your application. Sounds like you have a good plan in place.
Good luck!
 

ChicagoBookBabe

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Sample Length

Well, I'm getting ready to submit my application. I see they want a sample of at least two paragraphs. Should the sample be a complete article or will a portion of a piece be acceptable? Also, is it best to write in the about.com format for the sample - simple, direct but interesting - or will a portion of a research paper work?

I really want to get this in tomorrow before my courage takes a powder!
 

contempochic

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ChicagoBookBabe: As far as I can tell (though I'm not a guide, so you can take this for what it's worth) you're probably better off trying to write in the About.com format. At least that's what I've been doing. I'm sure your research paper is good, but the better idea you can give the editors about the kind of job you'll do, the better. You don't want to get a rejection just because of your writing sample, especially when you thought about changing it in the first place.

Like I said, though, that's just my opinion. Good Luck!
 

contempochic

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Plaid Earthworm: I just checked out your blog and it's hilarious! So totally going on my blogroll! I hope you get the About gig. I really like your writing style.
 

plaidearthworm

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Hey plaidearthworm,
Congrats on the link to AOL News! That is big news.
I use AOL. Where do I look to read the entry they picked?

Keep us updated on your application. Sounds like you have a good plan in place.
Good luck!

Here's the link to the AOL story, and my link was in the Sphere bar at the end of the piece. I've been moved to the bottom of the list now, since bigger blogs have picked up the story, but this morning, I was on top of the world! I've seen several hits on my blog from the link, so it did pay off. To see the blog entry, just click on my Weird Its link in the sig below. And thanks! :)
 

ChicagoBookBabe

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ChicagoBookBabe: As far as I can tell (though I'm not a guide, so you can take this for what it's worth) you're probably better off trying to write in the About.com format. At least that's what I've been doing. I'm sure your research paper is good, but the better idea you can give the editors about the kind of job you'll do, the better. You don't want to get a rejection just because of your writing sample, especially when you thought about changing it in the first place.

Like I said, though, that's just my opinion. Good Luck!

Thanks, contempochic. That makes sense to me too.
 

klow

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plaidearthworm,
I think my brain was on slow motion today. After I posted the message to you, I realized I could have found the entry on your Weird It link! Thanks. I really like your Sticky Notes. You would be great for the Weird News section on About.com. I can't believe they haven't responded yet...now that is weird, too! :)

ChicagoBookBabe,
Good luck with your application!

Keath
 

DTNg

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Hi Guys, This is a little off topic but maybe not much since I'm About.com's Guide to Weblogs. I'm up for Best Individual Blogger at the 2007 Weblog Awards. Can I ask for a vote?

Thanks so much, and back to regular programming!
 

klow

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I put a vote in, too...also noticed you can vote more than once, just not in the same day. :) Good luck!
 

Talia

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hehe it's a funny thing. Initially there's the excitement of being a finalist and the buzz of watching the votes and hoping people come back each day to vote. But then when you see other people with 3 or 4 times the number of votes you start getting discouraged and think only of not completely embarrassing yourself :D

Does anyone know what the time lag is between a topic being removed from the list of available topics and going live? I'm curious because I was accepted for prep for Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I decided it wasn't the right topic for me so I didn't participate. Months have gone by and the topic has been removed but there doesn't appear to be a new guide???

The mental health topics appear to come and go on the available list without converting into full blown guide topics...
 

jenfreedom

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klow

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Talia,
My topic, ADHD, was removed before my instructor informed me I graduated. It was about two weeks after finishing prep before I got the official email. Then I was given two more weeks to get the site ready to go live (I am in the process of that now).

I know that once I let my instructor know I am ready, a health editor must review everything before it can go live...not sure how long that takes.

Hope this info helps.

P.S. I voted for you today, as well...and I'll keep voting! Good luck! :)
 

Talia

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Thanks Jen and Klow for the votes

Klow - Sounds like around 4-6 weeks then. I'm wondering if they changed their mind about the topic. The reason I didn't go ahead was two-fold. The first is that I prefer something related to eating disorders or depression in the wider sense, but the other reason is that S.A.D. is well covered by several other guides. So, perhaps About decided there was nothing a new guide could add to the topic???

Good luck with ADHD. I'm betting that will be a popular topic
 

ShannonC_77

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So, I just thought I'd stop back in and say thanks again to everyone for encouraging me to keep going.

It's one week now until Prep is done, and I'm really happy I continued. Over the weekend I really got back into it, and I think the grammar issue was definitely a blessing in disguise for me.

I have my first performance review tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes (it got moved to Monday). I'm definitely finding everything more manageable now, a lot of hours, but I'm enjoying it.

Anyway, thanks again for giving me that push to keep at it!
 

klow

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Yeah Shannon! Keep on trucking! :)
 

SherS

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Shannon - I'm right there with you, hon. I go back and forth. I get flabbergasted at how much work it really is - then I think "no, it's really not, I just have a lot of other stuff going on too." Then to top it all off, I got sick in the middle of last week - my GI was kind enough to move my review to today.

I don't have a very good feeling about this, to be honest. I don't know why but I definitely get a sense that this isn't going to work out for me. That really irritates me, for a number of reasons, but mostly because I don't think I could possibly do anything else to change the outcome.

So I definitely understand where you're coming from, Shannon, with the concerns about time and commitment. I am very worried about that, even for the last week of prep (can't even think about what would happen if I actually got the gig - yikes).

OK, that's it - the end of whining. I am now back into positive mode, and I'll live there 'til it's over. :tongue

More advice from the trenches: If I could do it over, these are the things I'd do differently -
  1. Plan a loose outline of at least 15 categories much earlier, then trim down as prep proceeds.
  2. Collect at least 5 links for each category before prep even starts, focusing on About.com content first.
  3. Write more content or at least outlines of content pieces before prep starts, to give myself a cushion in case sickness or something else pops up unforeseen.
OK, off to have some lasagna and red wine, and to find my good attitude! I know I left that thing around here somewhere ...

:D
 

contempochic

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Shannon: I'm glad you're still plugging along. I hope it will be worth it in the end! I'm sure you're doing a great job!

SherS: I hope you stay positive! I know DTNg has said a couple of times that she seriously thought someone else was going to beat her out all the while she was in Prep. Prep sounds kind of killer, but at least it's killer for only two weeks...then hopefully you'll have the gig and you'll already have the hang of things.

Thanks though, for posting what you would have done differently. I haven't been accepted into Prep yet, but now I know what I want to do before the program starts.

Good luck to both of you! I really want to hear your success stories when you're done! ;)
 

ShannonC_77

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Good to hear from you SherS! I was wondering how it's been going for you.

It definitely is a lot of work, but I am producing more than they asked for since that does seem to be key. Luckily, I cleared my schedule really well so I've pretty much devoted this entire two weeks to just about.com, with a few other small jobs (and ironically, got bombarded with a few big jobs these last three days, but thankfully both clients are patient with me).

The thing that keeps me going is definitetly knowing that someone out there could be working harder, producing more, and so on. I'm fairly competitive, so it's helping me push myself further.

I had my first review today, and it seemed to go alright. I'm just wondering, for those who have been through this, did you basically just get a list of things that had to be changed? That's pretty much what I had, and they're all very doable (mostly just using a different template or changing a certain link).

I was hoping for a bit more feedback on the actual content, if it's what they were looking for, but I didn't get that. Is that common?

Right now I suppose that's a bit of a worry too, just that I know I've produced a lot of articles but whether they are going to be on the lines of exactly what they are looking for.

I'd say too, if I could offer one piece of advice, definitely pre-write, pre-write, pre-write. I did have to go over all the articles I pre-wrote again, but that was mostly because of my grammar issue. :) The formatting I didn't find too bad, it takes a little time, but for the most part it's not too bad to transform the pieces to fit what they need.

Another thing that does worry me slightly, I posted a lot of articles these last 5 days, but the next five days I will be slower. I have a mid-term this week, so I have to do some studying for it. I just hope it won't look badly if my production rate slows now.
 
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