Lately, I've been attempting to earn money by writing how-to articles for publication and sale online. It's been difficult, because the things I know well either have miniscule audiences (not a lot of medieval European kite flyers online, that I've seen), or have saturated audiences (do I really have anything to say about calligraphy that hasn't already been said elsewhere?).
Then the Husband pointed out that I'm a compulsive teacher, can figure out how to teach almost anything with about fifteen minutes' advance warning, so why wasn't I pursuing the lesson angle, already?
That muffled thump you're hearing is my head against the desk.
The challenge is that actual lesson plans, the spreadsheets that teachers use in the world of formal education, are available for free just about everywhere. The good news is that not everyone works in the world of formal education, so not everyone will want or need to see "how to teach this" presented as a spreadsheet. I think I should be able to write a decent article on, for instance, "How to Talk to Space Aliens" and include a lesson plan, which I can make available as part of the free excerpt my publisher requires me to provide.
Of course, this reminds me that I was asked to write an article for a major calligraphy publication, and I am ridiculously overdue to finish it and send it in. Luckily, the editor told me it's a quarterly offering, and I can have it ready in time for whichever issue is coming up next; but still, I'm really stretching the limits of how far I can procrastinate and get away with it.
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