Merry Month of May

May 2009 is here! and there are holidays for lensmaking!

Holocaust Remembrance Day - May 1
Mothers Day - May 10
Engelbert Humperdinck Birthday - May 2
Bing Crosby Birthday - May 2
International Nurses Day - May 12
South Carolina Ratification Day - May 12
Memorial Day (USA) May 25

A quick search on line for celebrity birthdays in May or holidays in May will provide tons of great lens ideas just for you!

Oh, did you see my lens about the Dancing the Maypole ?

Some Things Bear Repeating

As I fly around Squidoo land in my role as a Squid Angel, I look at more lenses than you can imagine! lol It is fun, and I dearly love to find one worthy of a blessing.

I continue to see these common errors - so I decided to again alert you to these:

1. Bio - oh my! sometimes I dream about that orange guy. Please add a photo and a bio. Introduce yourself to your readers.

2. Default module titles - again and again I see reasonably good lenses with all default module titles. Don't be guilty of that one. Change the title in every module that you use. I am especially aware of this one. It was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn on Squidoo. I would create a beautiful lens, send it proudly to The Isle of Squid, and shortly receive a message "your lens cannot be accepted because you have default module titles." And I would fix them, and resubmit. Over and over. Save yourself some grief. Fix those module titles as you create your lenses (and if you ever spot one on a lens of mine -- do me a favor -- drop me a note and tell me). Thank you.

3. No Intro Picture. A lens without an intro picture is half done. Add a picture to that intro module.

and keep having fun making super lenses!!

Joan's Jolly Judicious Jetsetters

If you are working toward becoming a Giant Squid or Giant Squid 100, and you should be, you are invited to join the Jolly Judicious Jetsetters. The JJJ's are a part of a new challenge that was arranged by the Giant Squid Greeters.

The 5 teams are competing to find out which team can produce the most quality lenses from May 1 to June 15. Won't you join us? This is already fun as people are twittering about it and there's lots of good-natured competition happening even as we are adding folks to our teams.

This is a great way to get to know fellow lensmasters -- and to have your lenses critiqued! Just leave a note in the comment box stating that you would like to be on the team!

Complete that bio

This is good advice for all of us -- old and new!

Keep that bio fresh and appealing! Of course, you must have a photograph and a bio. Or if you have a friendly and quickly recognizable logo like Ohme or Growwear, then that works too!

Introduce yourself as if you were at a business social hour or a Chamber of Commerce meet and greet breakfast. Be friendly and cordial. Tell us about yourself and why you love Squidoo. Tell us about your children, your dogs, your cats. and somehow mention your expertise or interest in each lens.

Yes, I use a default bio sometimes, but I am trying to train myself to change the bio for each lens.

Your bio is very important. And I can assure you, if that orange guy is in your bio, many of us will rush right on without reading your lens.

PS - a little special angel advice -- I don't ever bless a lens with an incomplete bio or a default module title - the worst offender and the one most often forgotten? Guest Book!

Believe me, I have had to correct many of my own many times over, so I am an expert in those default module titles. Check them, and then check again. It's so easy to take a quick look, consider your lens "done" and overlook that default Guestbook title.

Have a fun day Squidoo-ing!

Lens ideas

I have two lenses to recommend to you this morning!

The first is Carnival of Squid for May 2009 Created by Susan Villas Lewis, this is a directory-in-the-making of lens ideas for May. You simply choose one of the subjects, make a lens, and submit it to the plexo for that particular day! There are some unusual lens ideas here and you don't want to miss this opportunity to create something original and wonderful!

Greekgeek has created a new lens of Top Ten Squidoo Tips. This lens is sure to teach you something new! She even explains how to add the "back to the top" button at the bottom of your lenses! Exciting tips and ideas here!

Have fun creating this weekend with these two tools. Don't forget to use some of Greekgeek's ideas to update some of your tired lenses!