In September 2006 I retired after forty-five years of employment. This was an adjustment in itself. I don't want to just sit around and watch television. To compliment my retirement years my wife and I joined a writing group in October of the same year. If you were ever in a writing group you know the routine. My writing history has started. I have always wanted to write. However, I never had or took the time to cultivate this interest. I am retired now so I can work on this interest.

June of 2007 comes and I have a need to get a message out immediately, I signed up for YourHub.com in July of 2005. I used it occasionally but I was not a heavy user. YourHub.com was an ideal media for my present need. I wrote an article about the Denver City Council at it worst. To my surprise YourHub printed the article in the following printed section. This success motivated me to write more articles and to start a blog. I have written forty-nine stories and sixty-five blogs since then. YourHub.com really had my interest. I would write about many different subjects and post comments on other's articles. This was an avenue to expose my thoughts and ideas to a public audience.

Many of the articles from other contributors gave me an attachment to them and I felt that friendships were developed. I would write and they would comment. They would write and I would comment. Reading and responding to others thoughts and words has become an interesting and exciting part of my daily routine. I was able to attend a bloggers night and was waiting for another one. Unfortunately there has not been another one that I know of.

Life goes on.

In the first part of 2008 it appears that there was a staff turnover in yourHub.com. It happens in every organization. Will this change yourHub.com? We will see. I have noticed some changes. It appears to me that more articles from staff members are printed in Thursday's newspaper insert. Also, many of the long time contributors appear to have cut back on their contributions.

I did become aware of examiner.com because of this turnover. Some of the YourHub.com contributors have started writing for examiner.com. I have explored that possibility and declined because of the need to submit a minimum of three articles a week. I am retired, three a week sounds too much like work. I write when I want to. Also, I want to write about anything and not be restricted to one subject. Therefore examiner.com is not for me.

On March 30 th The Rocky Mountain News had an article "Part-time writers find a nich - and pay - on the net." This article introduced me to Helium.com and AssociatedContent.com. I checked out both and decided Helium.com was not for me. I did become an AssociatedContent.com member. It is very similar to YourHub.com. You can write about anything anytime. They also have calls for content. The site has subjects that they need a story on. If you claim the call and they accept your writing you may receive a small stipend for the story. So far I have received a large sum of thirteen dollars. Their readers are from the entire nation, not just local readers. I don't ever expect to receive large sums of money for my writings. The hits you receive are much larger than the ones I have received on YourHub.com It is ironic that one branch of the Denver Newspaper Agency has an article that may impact another branch of the same company.

In addition to AssociatedContent.com I was exposed to Blurb.com by Joe McDaniel another YourHub.com contributor. This is an excellent avenue to have your works published into book form. I have one book and I am working on others. My wife and I were recently talking and reminiscing about events in our lives. We have decided to start writing down all these events and considering putting them into a book. No, it won't be a best seller, but it will give our kids memories of us.

All of these interests take time and I must decide on where to allocate my time. My main interest now is working on books. YourHub.com at the present time must take a back seat. Where will I be in the future? I don't have an answer.

Life goes on.