by AJ
AJ's Musings: Lessons I have learned recently – thinking outside the box and the tank
May 13, 2009 in AJ's musings, Editorial by AJ
When I first thought about this article, it was going to simply be called “Thinking outside the box”. Then I published a lens about my goldfish – whaaaat? A goldfish? Who could possibly want to know about my goldfish?
No longer swimming upside down
OK, bear with me! My goldfish lens was certainly me “thinking outside the box”. So, then I thought OK, I’ll call the article “Thinking outside the box and the tank”.
A lens about a goldfish? Is my “niche” pets? No, not at all. But, I am in the position of having to make a lot of lenses if I want to apply for Giant by the next deadline, which is 30 June. At the time of writing, this equates to 14 lenses in 50 days, which means 1 new lens every 3.5714285 days and that’s what “going for Giant” does to you. The calculator becomes your best friend and you don’t want to know what happens in this house if anyone borrows my calculator and does not put it back on my desk immediately!
So, what about that goldfish? Poor thing got ill, in fact it was swimming upside down and was a very sick goldfish. It’s OK, I knew what to do because I had researched the topic years ago, when it first happened.
So what did I do? Did I proceed to apply the magic remedy? (You’ll have to read the lens to find out what it is – ha ha!) No, I must confess, I did not do it immediately because I had one of those “lenslight moments”. You know. The second something happens and you think: “I could make a lens about that!”
So I rushed off to find the digital camera, turned off the auto flash so that it would not reflect off the glass and did a photo shoot. It took awhile because it’s amazing how much wriggling an upside down swimming goldfish does! But you will be pleased to hear that as soon as I got the shots I needed, I immediately applied the remedy and yes, dear reader, it was upright again within a couple of hours and back to normal the next day. Honestly, no goldfish were harmed in the making of this lens!
But why do a lens about a sick goldfish? The topic of goldfish is a huuuuge topic. But think about it….. A goldfish swimming upside down is a very SPECIFIC topic. And oh, joy, when I did the keyword research, I came up with a keyword specific URL plus great key phrases which will hopefully guarantee a high ranking in Google.
Also, the topic was one that I already knew about. No need to do any research, just find some links for further reading and to encourage those all important click-outs. Result, a new lens in under less than three hours, as opposed to three days, of work AND a topic for my next SquidLog article.
What doing this lens has taught me is that sometimes we can become too entrenched in what we believe are our niche topics. I know that it is recommended to publish in a niche and I agree that when you have a niche then it makes life easier, particularly when you can link all your niche lenses together. I am currently developing a new niche on tips for WAHMs and have published WAHMS time management tips and Stop procrastinating but it’s great to be able to think outside the niche sometimes. It keeps us fresh and stops boredom kicking in.
We can also get into a habit about how we make our lenses and how we use our favourite modules. Although I had some important information that would solve a problem with a goldfish swimming upside down, I was faced with a problem myself. How on earth do I make a lens about a potentially boring topic interesting? OK, I can solve the problem of the upside down goldfish, but this is what I was faced with:
Intro: This lens is about how to help a fish that is swimming upside down.
Text module: exact description of the problem.
Text module: possible causes.
Text module: possible solution.
Yes, I wanted to make a quick lens but it had to be “AJ quality” as well. What to do?
In the end I used the black box modules, in a way I had not used them before (yep, as I said before – you will have to visit the lens to find out how I used them!). Only I made them orange box modules – I am so glad you can have orange boxes, very relevant when the topic is goldfish!
However, after I published my lens, I saw another lens, by Elizabeth Jean Allen, where she uses the black box to brilliant effect on: Walking for fitness. I recommend that you go and see what she has done. Lizzie is REALLY thinking outside the box!
[ratings]
With thanks to 
Overheard on twitter...
Ah, reading about your using the idea about your goldfish to write a lens tells me that you are ALREADY thinking like a Giant Squid and just missing the formality of having those 50+ great quality lenses to officially earn the Giant Squid badge! Well done on this article and for that lens. Very unique and quite interesting.
Oh, BTW, I had seen Lizzy’s use of the blackbox — with it actually colored black and inserting flowers or animated pictures with her text. Quite a nice touch. She should do a lens on how to creatively use the blackbox!
–JaguarJulie
JaguarJulie’s last blog post..Celebrating My 3 YEAR Anniversary!
Love your connect-the-dot approach to this post. I suspect you have so many ideas circling, you’d find away to write them all at once if you could.
Lots of good foot for thought there! Thanks, AJ.
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Yes! Thinking out of the box is sooooooo needed to break up the boredom. I will always believe that the best lenses are in the writing, and you create some of the best. Also, another one of my beliefs, I think we can be passionate about anything we find interest in, as long as we put our heart into it.
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