As an article writer and blogger, one of the challenges is finding the time to do all the research needed to gather information about any given subject. Seriously, if you don’t know anything about the niche or topic of choice, you need to do your research and it would normally take you hours to get all your information to write a professional article, right? I know it takes me that long and sometimes I get side-tracked, too. I see a site I like and end up spending more time there than I should.

Well, I just discovered this really great tool that does all that time-consuming research for you so that you can put together an original expert article in literally minutes. I decided to give it a try. Frankly, my time is valuable so I’m willing to pay for good tools to help me save time and effort.

Instant Article Wizard, really delivers. All I have to do is type in my keyword phrase for the topic I want to write about and the software automatically locates results that I can create sub-topics from, so that I can formulate a draft of an article. I can keep adding additional keyword phrases to the project and the software further refines the research for me giving me tons of results from which to craft my article.

Once I’m done with all the research and I’ve sorted my sub-topics I can get the software to copy all the text to the clipboard to be copied and pasted into my favorite word processor. I spend an additional few minutes adding, deleting, editing, and putting “my spin” to the article, and soon it is ready for publication. I take two extra minutes to check my article at Copyscape.com and that’s it! What a great tool! I’m really impressed with Instant Article Wizard .

I thought I better post about what’s been happening lately. As of just recently, I’m no longer accepting any more WordPress/Web Development consulting projects. I am, however, still servicing a handful of existing clients indefinitely. I made this decision because I felt I was trading too much of my time for the money and it was stressing me out.

Now, that does not mean I’m no longer going to design free XHTML templates and WordPress themes. I still plan on continuing to provide the public with freebies just for the sheer enjoyment of it. I am and will always be a huge supporter of Open Source software.

And I will also continue to spotlight template designs by other web designers because I’m a big believer in paying it forward. People have helped me so I will help others. What goes around comes around.

You may have already figured out I have decided to focus on affilate marketing. I will promote the products that I have bought myself or plan on buying. I believe a marketer has to believe in the products to be successful. I like the fact that by using the right methods and tools, anyone can make a very good automated income as an affiliate marketer. What’s even more attractive about this type of income generation is that it can be done in as little as a couple of hours every day. Then you have the rest of the day to spend with family and friends doing whatever you like. That’s the life for me.

May 27 is the 5th year that WordPress has existed thanks to the hard work of a group of dedicated Open Source coders. Though I won’t be attending any b-day bashes, I will toast the gang from here with a glass of my favorite local wine. I love WordPress and really appreciate the efforts of the wholle WP team to constantly improve it. Cheers!

I’m very pleased David Cook won. He’s super-talented and already a star, in my opinion. I think he’ll do very very well.
Here’s a video of his winning moment:

I do not live in a fancy big house. I live in a modest 3 bedroom bungalow with a dear friend as a roommate and my son. We try to be frugal with our natural gas and electricity usage. Since I’m responsible for the utility bills, I’ve done everything right:

• replaced old fridge with new energy-efficient one
• replaced almost all lightbulbs with energy-saving fluorescent bulbs
• replaced all Christmas lights with led ones
• always set the gas furnace’s thermostat to no more than 70 degrees in the colder months.

Still I pay around $135 per month for natural gas (except for a couple of months in the summer) and around $75-$100 per month for electricity. It’s a little higher in the summer months because we run 2 window air conditioners in 2 of the main floor bedrooms and a couple of fans. Some say central air conditioning is more energy efficient, and I suppose it could be if it was just me in control of the thermostat. My roomate and I would not agree on what it should be set at. He likes it really cold. I don’t because after all, it’s summer, don’t you know.

The thing that gets to me is I’m paying over $2500 per year to big energy companies, when I can learn to make my own energy cheaply until I’m eventually off-the grid completely. And you could do the same thing too. Imagine what we could do with that extra $2500 or more in savings every year?

So I have set out to start changing the way I live and I’m planning on going totally off-grid in the next couple of years by using the information I found in these e-books.

My favorite of the 5 titles is the one called Renewable Energy Solutions because you can learn how to find free solar panels, wind towers, and batteries so that you can get off the grid on the cheap. Since the cost of going off grid is what’s stopping the average person from making the changes to their home, the information in Renewable Energy Solutions is a goldmine, in my humble opinion, and a steal at only $19.99.

I decided to get all 5 books so that I can save some more money and at a cost of less than $50, they are well worth the read. One of the keys to financial freedom is in fact living off the grid…so why not learn how from someone with 15 years experience of off-grid living?