As a woodcarver for over 25 years, I'm out of the art and craft world, and I have no background in writing whatsoever. During my wood carving days, I carved over 200 original, cartoon-like characters in wood, and most of the pieces were captioned. I would write about how the idea came about for the piece, describe it, and if there were any problems or challenges connected with it. This is how my interest in writing came about.

Several years after I started carving wood, I was invited to join the Southwest Writers Workshop, by the then, president of the organization, Eileen Stanton, who is one of New Mexico's top writer's. She has sold over 5,000 articles, to some of the tip magazines and newspapers in the country. With over 600 members nationwide, S.W.W. has some of the most talented and accomplished writers anywhere. Needless to say, I was flattered by the invitation.

As my interest grew in the field of writing, and in my 40's, I completed three writing courses to try to improve my writing skills. The Writer's Digest correspondence course; the National Writers Club course, and a creative writing course at the University of New Mexico, taught by Eileen Stanton. This is one of the best things I've ever done, as it has given me the confidence in my writing. And, it has given me the confidence to build my website, and write my articles to show the world, etc.

As a woodcarver, I always carved a piece to please ME first, and I hoped others would like it. And, so it is with writing...I write to please ME first, and then I hope others will like my work. And, then I write to please my readers...and, I never, never write to please a search engine, by picking words so that a search engine can munch on! And yes, during the polish stage of writing the piece, if I can come up with words, that will delight a search engine, I'll use them...otherwise, I just let things be. I can't imagine what one of my articles would look like, if I wrote for a search engine!

I don't consider myself an expert at anything, so I've chosen to write about a wide variety of topics during my first year in writing. I enjoy writing about my experiences...and especially if the article will help others, such as the piece I wrote entitled, "Smoking Sucks: How I Quit Smoking." or "Discrimination Against Older Workers (Ageism); or "Ricky's Story: Alcoholism and "Tough Love." Just Say NO To Dirty Humor is another piece I'm pleased has done well.

As a woodcarver, I always took chances with my work, and I sold almost everything I carved. It's the same with writing, as I have taken chances with my writing pieces as well. I took a chance with, SOS! My Serious and Silly Articles, which was more of a report on all my other articles, and in three months, it took the top spot (hits/views) and stayed there for two months. I took a chance with a piece I wrote entitled, "Auto Racing: Ladies...Start Your Engines, which an imaginary piece about 33 women drivers at the Indy 500 race. This piece raced up and took the tenth spot, and has done very well.

I took a chance with a piece I wrote, in which I quoted from an article in the newspaper, and then offered My Two Cents in the piece. This was the only article that debuted at number one, in October, 2006! I took a chance with, The SpaMobile Has Arrived (beep-beep), and it took the lead in publisher hits in its first month, and has been published on over 75 directories!

After my first year (8/06 to 8/07) I thought the reader might like to see how my articles finished the year, and see the wide variety of topics I chose. 1) Here's the Skinny On How I Lost 40 Pounds. This was my most popular article during the year, and is running away with the field (hits/views) at both EzineArticles.com and at Authors Den (writing site). 2) Music: The Beginning of Rock and Roll For Me (1955); 3) Discrimination Against Older Workers (Ageism); 4) The Seriousness of Depression; 5) Diabetes On The Rise; 6) I'm Proud to be an American Veteran; 7) Smoking Sucks: How I Quit Smoking; Halloween Party: The Two-Headed Monster; 9) Is Bald Beautiful?; 10) The Negative Side of Humor; 11) Auto Racing; Ladies...Start Your Engines...; 12) Don't Golf My Way; 13) Humor Helps Us All to Cope With the Aging Process; 14) The English Language is All "Greek" To Me; 15) My Personalized License Plate Reads: SLOWPOK; 16) The Positive and Healing Power of Humor; 17) How I Saved My Dog Daniel; 18) Does Life Begin at 40?; 19) Humor 101 For Dumbos; 20) Legacy; A Gift of Writing.

This is how the articles finished, as far as being published on other websites, with the number being in (parenthesis)

1) Smoking Sucks: How I Quit Smoking (published on 16 websites); 2) Sabrina: Another Smoking Casualty (15); 3) Halloween Party: The Two-Headed Monster (14); 4) Discrimination Against Older Workers (Ageism) (11/tie); 5) Legacy: A Gift of Writing (11/tie); 6) How I Saved My Dog Daniel (11/tie) 7) Music: The Beginning of Rock and Roll For Me (1955) (10 websites); Have You Ever Kissed an Ashtray (pucker-up) (9/tie); 9) The Negative Side of Humor (9/tie); 10) How Humor Helps Me To Cope (9/tie)

Needless to say, I have had a very productive and successful first year in writing! And, I'll have to let someone else decide if I'm a good writer or not.

ARTICLES PUBLISHED: (160+ websites/includes links); Direct link: http://humordoctormd.homestead.com/articlespublished.html Website name; humordoctormd - Over 150 colorful pages; over 300 graphics http://humordoctormd.homestead.com email; humordoctormd@yahoo.com Copyright; Jerry L. Aragon (The Humor Doctor