Summer Fun on Squidoo - With Prizes!

Have you seen SquidWoot on Squidoo?  The lensmaking challenge starts today and there will be a new one each Monday through July. With prizes!

First prize this week is an iPad so if you've always wanted one, hey, today could be your lucky day!

Visit the official SquidWoot announcement at SquidooHQ for information and rules. 

Ready, set . . . hey, where did everyone go?

Housework Really Is Fun When It's the Lens of the Day

Housework really is fun, especially when my lens about it is selected Lens of the Day!

What a nice surprise this morning to wake up to lots and lots of comments to approve, a sure sign that something special is going on on Squidoo.  Today, my lens Housework - How to Make it Fast and Keep it Fun, is Lens of the Day.

I've had a couple other LOTD's, but the excitement never lessens and, in fact, today I'm feeling especially blessed by the honor.  What wonderful comments the lens has received already!

Thank you, Squidoo, and thanks lensmasters for visiting my Lens of the Day.  Here's wishing happy housekeeping for all of us!

Look Familiar?

Got my shirt.  Look familiar?

Check the right sidebar.  See it?

You can get one, too. Right here.

Join the SquidBoo October 2010 Challenge

Quickly!

Between October 4th and October 28th, publish five new lenses on Squidoo using the SquidBoo template and you could become King of SquidBoo!

Halloween is really, really hot this year, so you'd might as well take advantage of the fact to get more visitors to your lenses. Choose a Halloween topic - scary, creepy, or cute - proceed immediately to SquidBoo HQ and start a lens. You have over three weeks to complete five lenses, so take your time and make them great, awesome, noteworthy lenses. That'll pay off later when Squidoo HQ chooses a cauldron of their favorite qualifying lenses to be in the running for one of 13 special, limited edition "King of SquidBoo" trophies. (Not sure how many lenses a cauldron holds, so don't hold back a thing when it comes to quality.)

You'll find all the rules on Megan's SquidBoo October 2010 Challenge lens. Remember to make your lenses using the official SquidBoo HQ front door or they won't qualify.

Remember five new SquidBoo lenses published October 4 to October 28 will earn you an entry into the contest and (I almost forgot) 500 points and a special trophy. Oh, and a hug from Frankenstein. Will you be one of the first-ever SquidBoo Kings? Ready, set, boo! Get started here!

Monstrous Changes on Squidoo

Squidoo has been taken over by monsters!  Well, not yet, but very soon lensmasters will start seeing adorable little monsters peeping out from the dark corners of the Squidoo site.  Don't worry, they come in peace, bearing gifts.

Kimberly hinted about it this morning, then this evening Megan released official word about the SquidooPlus system, due to begin implementation tomorrow.  So lensmasters won't be caught totally by surprise by the changes if they've paid attention to the banner on their dashboard.  Check out Megan's SquidooPlus lens and then read the SquidMonsters FAQ lens for more information about the new system and where the monsters fit in.

My prediction?  You're going to love these little guys and all the goodies they bring with them.  So get back to Squidoo, do what you usually do, and watch what happens.  Starting sometime tomorrow.

September Squidoo Goals

Have you set monthly Squidoo goals yet for September?   If you're not in the habit of setting goals each month, September is the perfect time to start.  With school back in session and the holiday season approaching ever so quickly, motivation for making more lenses and increasing opportunities for income is at its peak.

If you need even more motivation, check out Kimberly's Morning Coffee post for today.  Add your September Squidoo goals to the forum and, at the end of the month if you're able to show that you met them, you could win a prize. 

Make your goals specific and measurable.  Posting them publicly will add the element of accountability that many of us need to help us work a little harder to accomplish what we might otherwise give up on when we hit the inevitable rough spot.

To demonstrate that I practice what I preach, here are my September Squidoo goals:

1. Three new lenses this month, which will make 200 total! Still need to decide on something significant for #200.
2. Update all of my seasonal lenses, which is much easier said than done. I will ashamedly admit that some are horribly out of date.
3. Approach a new charity I learned about this week to let them know about Squidoo and, if they're interested (and of course they will be) do what I can to help them get started.

So, who's next?  Don't forget to post your goals on the SquidU forum, then feel free to share them here as well. 

Now let's get busy!

Squidoo MeetUp Day

The first Worldwide Squidoo Meetup Day is Thursday, June 10, 2010. It's not too late to sign up!

If there isn't a meetup scheduled near you or you can't make it to an in-person event, how about attending a virtual meetup! The Squidoo chat room will be open for an online meetup Thursday evening, U.S. time. Check the Squidoo's Chat Schedule lens for details.

If you do make it to an official, or even unofficial meetup with other Squidoo lensmasters, take pictures! Make a lens! Post the link here in the comments so everyone can see!

But if not, let's make the online meetup the biggest ever. See you there!

OMG! New Lensranking System for Squidoo!

News flash! Squidoo has announced a new lensranking system.

Effective today.

Details on this lens.

The Journal of the Traveling Squid Goes Hollywood

I wrote before about the JaguarJulie-led project, The Journal of the Traveling Squid and the two journals and Giant Squid t-shirts that are circling the globe, fueled by lensmasters and creativity, propelled by goodwill. The U.S. journal has now reached Hollywood!

Lensmaster Kim Giancaterino took the journal on a fabulous tour, fully documented with great pictures and commentary in her new, purple star-awarded lens, The Journal of the Traveling Squid Goes Hollywood. From Grauman's Chinese Theater to the famous Hollywood sign, the giant t-shirt has been there; the proof is in the pictures.

When it comes time to auction off the Traveling Squid package for charity, surely the fact that Cary Grant's hand prints touched the t-shirt will add to its value, don't you think?

Hooray for Hollywood!

New Giant Squid Challege Supports Baby Squids

'Way back when I was working to become a member of the second-ever class of giant Squids, the only support we had was an occasional "You can do it!" on the SquidU forum. We supported each other, of course, but there were no small groups and no organization. Wow, has time changed things!

Now, with the help of the Giant Squid Organizers and an ever-growing team of Giant Squid Challenge Group Leaders, baby Squids have so much support! There's a Ning group, countless challenges and competitions, and group chats. Now you can also subscribe to Giant Squid Tips on Twitter to get daily quick tips and assignments that will help you swim your way to Giant Squiddom in no time!

The new Giant Squid Challenge will be starting soon. Learn all about it on this lens and don't be shy about getting involved no matter how many, or how few, lenses you have. I promise, you'll be glad you did.

Where is the Journal of the Traveling Squid?

Have you heard about the Journal of the Traveling Squid? It's a project created by lensmaster JaguarJulie connecting Squidoo lensmasters worldwide.

A journal and a Giant Squidoo t-shirt are making the rounds of the world, from the hands of one Giant to another. Each leaves his or her own mark on the project by writing a page in the journal, signing the t-shirt, and taking a picture which is then posted in a special photo album on Flickr.

The project has been so successful that there is now a second journal and t-shirt in the mix, this one traveling the United States (the first volume is still traveling the UK). Volume 2 is currently in the capable hands of Squidoo HQ folks Gil, Kimberly, Seth, and Corey. I'm happy to report that the next lensmaster in line happens to be me, the humble Susan52 herself. Woo-hoo!

The project is being chronicled by JaguarJulie on this lens. You must check out all the amazing pictures and read the journal posts. Then bookmark the lens and visit regularly for updates.

Where will the Journal of the Traveling Squid end up? Read the lens to find out!

Join Us In the Kitchen

Back in May a call was put out for great chefs on Squidoo to submit recipes for an upcoming cookbook. I'm happy to report that the cookbook is ready!

If you've always wondered how to make Chef Keem's brownies or Joan's Congo Squares, or if you've misplaced the link to Susan52's Pink Pickled Eggs, check out the f-ree download or order a print copy of the 66-page, full-color cookbook for only $14.49. What a great gift at a very reasonable price!

Look for this badge displayed by lensmasters who contributed to the cookbook. Many thanks to publishers David and Marta for the fantastic work they've done so you, too, can join us In the Kitchen With Squidoo.

See Lens on Google

Giant Squid Summer School students and RocketMoms on Squidoo had an assignment this weekend to make lenses featuring the new "captions contest" module and oh, what great lenses they came up with!

Some topics were more on the serious side, but most were humorous lenses that became even more comical when visitors added their own creative captions to the pictures the lensmasters chose. Several people bravely used pictures of their two-legged family members while others featured animals, especially pets. My contribution included pictures of my cats watching their favorite bird movie on TV. I thought the pictures were funny before, but the captions people submitted made them downright hilarious.

That's the good news.

The better news is that my See Cats Watch Birds lens is now getting hits from Google. The best news is that the phrases that bring up that lens on the first page of Google include "bird video for cats to watch," which means that it's only a matter of time before someone buys the bird movie featured on that new lens.

See lens on Google. Watch lensmaster smile.

Cooking With Squid(oo)

Squidoo has an awesome community of users (we call them lensmasters). At any given time, someone is cooking up a new promotion or challenge. It's hard not to stay busy and, in fact, easy to get too busy. Here, though, is a community project that's worth making time for.

Lensmaster Rewards4Life (actually David and Marta) is putting together a Squidoo community cookbook, a real, hard-copy book full of recipes provided by lensmasters on Squidoo. The book will be available to purchase and, believe me, this will be a one-of-a-kind cookbook that you will want to own.

Thing is, David and Marta need more recipes to bring this project to life. They've set June 1st as the deadline for recipe submissions and today, with less than a week to go, they must have 41 more recipes to keep the cookbook project going.

It's quite simple to submit a recipe. All of the steps are outlined in their lens, Squidoo Recipes Cookbook, but to summarize here is what you need to compile and email to David and Marta: Your recipe, the category (side dish, dessert, etc.), a list of ingredients, the directions, your picture or avatar, and a photo of the completed dish. They also want to include a link to your lens about the recipe, if you have one, and a short bio of you.

With all the magnificent recipe lenses on Squidoo and all of our talented chefs, certainly there are enough people to provide the remaining recipes. What a shame if this project doesn't fly because of lack of support. So, why not set aside a few minutes today and gather your favorite recipe and submit it with the supporting documentation to David and Marta at the address on their lens.

Let's eat!

Squizazzle!

I'm having so much fun on Zazzle. I hope you'll check out all my designs, including Squidoo promotion designs, at The Green-Eyed Cat.

I Squidoo, Do You? by susan52z

New Photo Feature on Squidoo!

Well, I happened to be in the right place at the right time today and discovered a brand new module on Squidoo!

It's a photo gallery. Very, very cool! You can see it in action in this module on one of my lenses.

To add a photo gallery module to your lens, go to the module picker and look under "P" for "photo gallery."

TIP: Make sure that the pictures you use are similar in size, particularly in height. The thumbnails show in a neat row, but as the pictures rotate through, they show in their original size. If the sizes vary a lot, the modules below the gallery will "bounce" up and down as the pictures above rotate through. Bouncing modules aren't fun and may cause your visitors to click away before they finish reading your lens, definitely not cool.

From now on I'll be taking more and more pictures to go with my lenses, how about you? Let's hear it for Gil and the rest of the Squidoo staff. W00t!

Squid to Squid

I met another Squidoo lensmaster, face to face!  

For an up close and personal report, visit "A Tale of Two Susans."

Squid for Kids

Just had to share this with my Squidoo friends. Presented to me as "Redneck Seafood Dinner" (it's okay, I'm from Arkansas) it could also be "Squid for Kids," don't you think?

A Challenge and a Cheerleader

Back in mid-October I received the following message via email:

"I'm going for the 100 club too (although I am behind you by a few lenses) and I'm going to be keeping my eye on you and your lenses! Susanna"

Thus began the challenge. Susanna was challenging herself, but little did she know how she would challenge me! Susanna had a plan, which included four lenses a week in order to make the 100 Club deadline of the 31st. Wow, four a week. That's a lot of lenses!

Guess what. She did it. And, after giving up on my goal with nine to go, then receiving a kick in the tentacles by (guess who) Susanna herself, so did I. I published my 102nd lens last night at a few minutes before midnight. Susanna is up to at least 110 (Squidoo hasn't updated totals in a couple of days). That's more than four lenses a week and, I might add, hers are good, quality lenses. No junk in her lensography, that I can guarantee! Here's her latest; just check it out to see what I mean.

Susanna Duffy, you're a shining star in the Squidoo sky, or is it sea? Either way, thank you for being my cheerleader. You're going to make a wonderful member of the Giant 100 Club!

Non-Geek Gets Best Tech Lens Nomination

What an honor! My Kindle lens has been nominated for the 2008 Giant Squid "Best Tech Lens" award. Very cool!

It's kind of ironic, though. I'm not exactly known for my technical prowess and I'm rarely mistaken for a geek. In fact, I'm rather technologically challenged. Actually, that's what has made my Kindle lens a pretty good lens; I designed it from a "Why would a non-techie type person like me want a Kindle wireless reader?" perspective. Happily, that approach has worked rather well.

The prize for the winner is basically bragging rights on Squidoo, which is a great reward. I'd be thrilled if you'd consider voting for my lens. The link to the voting module is on the Kindle lens, which I'd love for you to visit to make sure it's award-worthy, or you can go directly to the tech lens module on the 2008 Giant Squid Awards lens here. Be sure to take a look at all the lenses nominated in each of the different categories - all 21 - and vote for Giant Squid of the year while you're at it. (Good luck with narrowing that one down.) Voting deadline is December 21, but go ahead and vote now while it's fresh on your mind, and thank you very much for your support!