I have not been idle in my quest but with the stress of being harassed for (what is now) seven months solid by my local council I have not exactly had much by the way of spare time. Not for anything.

However I have been putting the coins I find in a pot on my desk and then feeling guilty that I have not updated my journal of finds, attempts and results.

This is the update for all those other updates. It was prompted by a big search for the none standard cable used to directly attach the digital camera to the PC.

My 2 gigabyte SD card works fine in the camera but the reader in the printer does not want to play ball. Since we moved at the start of the year I had yet to use the camera direct to the PC. In my search for the blasted cable the wife noticed a stash of small change at the bottom of a box. This was all I needed to get down and sort out the box in question.

Added tot he other coins I have been picking up the finds today amount to 18p in coppers and 55p in silver for a total of 73p which is worth about US$1.51 or there about.

Adding it all up I now hold UK£3.02 which is worth about US$6.05 or there abouts.

This puts me on Step 14 of my plan and the quest to put a £5 together. I have a theory about this that relates to the development of civilization. I am currently at the hunter gatherer stage. Just foraging for berries and going where-ever coin is to be found. I am starting to form an idea about what is next but until I get into stages 15 and 16 I don't think I'll be ready for it.

The good news is that I will soon be publishing photo's of the book I will be selling. I will give my reader(s) the chance to jump in and nab it for a song first.

I know it is not very interesting for you guys but I have not been in the best of health and this has a habit of impacting on my ability to get things done.

A case in point being that I was awake most of the night with a bad neck.

Not very interesting as far as converting my penny into a huge swedge of cash goes.

Still I have some ideas (as I have said before) and will be doing my best to help others get to the same goal too.

I've not given up but life is getting in the way of life at the moment.

I have recently written on the topic of matrix and pyramid scheems at The Fantastic Site of Lord Matt, my home blog. They are never worth the investment because they do not create new wealth but simply create a vortex that sucks value out of the community and into the pockets of a few.

The subject is up for debate so visit the article and leave a comment if you wish.

I prommise that an update will arrive soon.

I have not run off. I have scavenged a few more pennies and I have my eyes on a £50 boost.

But while the possibilities get on with figuring out reality I have been looking at affiliate sales.

Wrote a book and have another one being proof read as we speak. Now when I say book I mean ebook. In printed terms it is a large pamphlet at 36 pages.

My big hoo-ray, so to speak, was that a professional proof reader has taken the second of these books to proof read. The price - free. Now that is good.

Admittedly the proof reader is a good friend so that probably helped but I had been willing to spend money.

Can't be all bad.

There is not a lot to report at the moment. I found a few pence and am still failing to put tht book on ebay.

I do however have a community at MyBlogLog where you can join up as a sign of moral support.

I have a policy of not sending community messages very often if at all. So you will not be spammed to death. The reason being that I would rather give you time to discover how truely great my site is on your own and if possible tell all your friends.

If you mention that I'm spammy they would not want to join. Therefore, the answer seems to me to be don't spam. So I don't.

More to be reported soon I hope.

The task of turning 1p into a million pounds is not about the money. Sure, the money is nice, it will be grand (groan) to have that sort of wealth but it is about the discovery, the process of getting there that matters most.

The wealth of expirence that it will bring.

I would like to make lots of people richer in this and if by chance I make them richer in money too that's nice.

So what I plan to do is this - remake this website so that rather than being a blog it has a blog in it. The main body of the site will become a portal of sourts. A club where anyone can freely come and learn from other people, just like themselves, how they did it. As a community we would all change and grow as people by helping each other fullfill our quests.

If along the way we set up ways for people to trade, to sell to each other and tot he public than that is good but it first the community that I would like to see grow. A central and free place where we can keep on line notebooks of our efforts.

This will not happen overnight, it will take time and it will take effort but I feel that it is a worthy gift to my fellow human beings.

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

Douglas Adams, "Last Chance to See"
English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 - 2001)

In defiance of my own inheritance as a human being I am going to try and learn from other doublers and report back my musings and then, and this is the truly strange bit, put it to work.

I wonder what will happen.

One great way to earn some cash into the pot is to enter competitions. If you enter them anyway or like the Readers Digest Prize draw they select you to enter then the "rule" suggest this is just your money not the money for the pot. But each person has to interpret the rules for themselves.

Here is a competition I would not have otherwise entered. A review to get £50.

Well here we go.

Financial independence: My Review.

The site is a classic example of a blog run on drupal (a platform I personally think is too powerful and chunky for most uses and too flaky for others).

It's focus is on being independent money wise.

That means no debts and no credit card bills controlling you.

The site itself has recently had a makeover and now looks quite smooth although the content to advert ratio is not quite there yet. The side bars need to reach a better ratio of content to linkage. As this is drupal side bar parts like recent comments, recent posts and recent recentness are all good options should all be there and early on at least one side.

I think in adding adverts he has lost site of the reason the side bars are added to a site - to help users navigate. The loss of one advert to the gain of more internal linking is no loss at all.

Further content I would consider would be the listing of "land mark posts" nice and early.

Actually I think that is more the issue - both side bars push adverts high up quite quickly. What is needed is navigation and basic framework then advert one side and then a centre aligned advert the other side. Those tall adverts are good but small squares ad so forth allow more range for the same space.

Bigger is not always best.

If he is serious he would also consider using an adserver like OpenAds or if he would like stubsie 9the host) can cut a deal for free ad server hosting with me (private message at MyBlogLog for that one).

For all the work he has put in tot he site (and it has been very good work) the site still feels just a little disjointed to me. I can not put my finger on it.

No, I lie I think I do know where the issue is - the advert banner at the top. It looks crap and it spoils an otherwise great site. It might convert well but I think the site would retain better without it.

Also headlines should be easy to get to and the site feed should be pushed as hard as those adverts.

Ideally your advert spaces want to have self adverts in rotation to. This way people grow used to looking at the adverts to see what you have to say. Have fun with short run funny content and other playful fillers. (See me about those ad servers I mentioned).

When it comes to written style Stubsie has come a long way. I don't think he has that high an academic education (so what) which is suggested to me by his written style.

This is a massive shame as his niche is a bit funky about written style. But I'll give the guy this he is better than me when I started and he makes less mistakes less often than I still do.

My tips for greatness would be then:

- loose the top advert, it smells.
- link to flag ship content
- Get an adserver (see me...)
- Work like stink on written style. Read sites like copy blogger and just keep writing. Write write write alright. The more you write the better you get at it.

Good points

+ You can create an account and get a free blog there. If you wanted to have a go at doubling there are far worse places to open your account. (blogger for example being a bad choice).
+ It looks nice.
+ The main host is a nice guy
+ It has massive potential that in the next six months I think we will see a lot more clearly.
+ I've been a guest blogger there.

As many of my readers are aware I plan to sell a copy of James and the Giant Peach because it is such a good book.

However some do not agree.

James and the Giant Peach. Roald Dahl. ABC-Clio; Knopf. Challenged at the Deep Creek Elementary School in Charlotte Harbor, Fla. (1991) because it is "not appropriate reading material for young children." Challenged at the Pederson Elementary School in Altoona, Wis. (1991) and at the Morton Elementary School library in Brooksville, Fla. (1992) because the book contains the word "ass" and "promotes" the use of drugs (tobacco, snuff) and whiskey. Removed from classrooms in Stafford County, Va. Schools (1995) and placed in restricted access in the library because the story contains crude language and encourages children to disobey their parents and other adults.
http://title.forbiddenlibrary.com/

Any time you can get a discount you have less return to earn before you make your target.

Globally Local are offering 5% off orders over $25. While this is not a fortune it does mean that you are going to be subject to less effort when using that investment.

On that same train of thought GL have another offer where they encurage you to be your own boss and actually give you the tools you need to make it happen.

While not every person seeking money will be suitable for this offer (or is that the otherway arround) I think it is worth a mention.

If you recall I recently sadi that I had been spring cleaning ith the wife and claiming any coins I found.

Well I found a total of 18p which while not a fortune and a lot less than basic minimum for my cleaning efforts it was a boost nd puts me at about £2.19p which further reduces the need to make much from the sale of the book.

I think I will feel better once I have done that.

I have been too busy for words these past few days so I have no update for you.

I have been writting a booklet which will be about 10,000 to 12,000 words in sze on the subject of websites and business.

Now I did not set out to write lots of text but I did set out to write down the most important points.

For those of you doubling a quality eBook can be a great little earner.

There are two great ways to earn money from an book:

Number One: Sell the book - instand money (simple)
Number Two: Give it away - money from people who click links (harder)

In both of these cases the book needs to be good enough to be used for both methods. The rason being is that a free book that was not good enough to be sold is not good enough to be read.

But anyone can write an eBook.

Here is an over view.

Start by writting down five headings which are the main poitns of the area you are going to write about. Add introduction at the begining and conclusion, sources and notes at the end.

You can also put an about the author in there somewhere too.

Now try to write about a page on the topic in question.

Some headings you will find that you have laods to say and it will go on for more than one page. That's great. Go with it. Add subheadings if you want to break it up a bit.

Keep those paragraphs short too.

Now some headings you will find that you have nothing to say at all.

So write a sentance to introduce the topic and then think of some sub headings.

If you can not think of anything to write under your sub headings (or worse no sub headings at all) then you need to research this area. Read about it and collect some juciy quotes from lots of sources.

Make it clear what is quotes ad what is your text. This is called fair use when you cite your scoureces and give links or URLs where ever they exist. Fair use has it's limits so don't grab masses of text. You text is what people are going to want to read so try to say everything int he quotes in your own words too.

The wikipedia is a good source so use it.

This blog is going to strive to be quotable so use it.

Use all your resources.

Now you shuld have at least five plus four pages (nine). Make sure every source you mention or quote from is on the sources section and that your bio and link is in the about section in the notes at the end. Most software supports endnotes (like footnotes but at the end) so make use of them when there are extra snippits of information to share that don't flow well.

Now if like me you will have come up with loads of other headings and your nine pages will soon grow.

Export as PDF and get rady to use your ebook.