I'm ending my Content Challenge early. Family and professional demands blossomed suddenly--both good things, to my way of thinking. I'll scale back to weekly posts that focus on the freelance writing and content marketing world. 

Those of you who are interested in Airbnb and other vacation rental topics, please visit our Walker's Riverside Properties website. You'll find real estate stats and information as well as vacation rental posts.

I'll see you in a week. 

According to Laurie Blossoms, of the www.theadventurouswriter.com, one of the best ways for a freelance writer to create original content for Valentine's Day is "to 'marry' two subjects that wouldn't normally go together--much less get engaged."

I'm taking Laurie's advice. I'm "marrying" Valentine's Day with content marketing. Content Challenge #14 is my salute to St. Valentines and content marketing, as well as a tribute to the love of my life.

On this Sunday, I'm almost halfway through my 30-day Content Challenge. As I did last Sunday, I'm posting a psalm from the Bible. It, too, is timeless and timely content. 

Booking an excellent vacation rental can be tricky. This is especially the case if you’ve previously had a bad experience with an online vacation rental from Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com or any of the vacation rental possible sites. It can also be daunting for first-time users wary of unwanted surprises. Following these tips will help you navigate wisely through the listings and make choosing a fabulous vacation rental easier.

​Start your search broadly, and gradually narrow until you have the location(s) that meet your basic criteria.

• Search first by just the city, town or general area, omitting any travel dates. Unless you are traveling to New York City, Boston, or another large metro area, starting with the town name lets you see generally what’s available and what everything costs. (If you are vacationing in a metro area, skip this step and proceed to the next bullet.) My sister and her husband live near Meadville, PA and rent out a little efficiency apartment attached to their home. Searching by “Meadville, PA” lets you see what the general area has to offer.
• Once you have a taste for the area, narrow your search by including your actual travel dates. Your options will almost certainly narrow somewhat. If you’re searching just a few days before you intend to travel, you may see very few listings. Anything that is already booked for any part of your stay won’t show up in your search. This is critical to remember. If you’re booking a 2-week stay and your favorite location is already booked for just one of those days, it can’t show up as a possibility.
• Narrow your search further by pinpointing the type of lodging you want and any amenities you need. Do you simply need a clean bed and access to a bathroom, or do you want a private place with a separate entrance? Is one queen bed in the general living area of a studio apartment fine, or do you need an actual bedroom so that you can rest while your spouse works late into the night?  Is price the key consideration? If so, then use price as a filter. Airbnb allows you to filter by several characteristics including price, number of guests, whether you can book instantly, whether the spot is an entire space, and several other factors.

Carefully look at the photos during the process of choosing a vacation rental.

• Can you mentally piece together the pictures and “see” the entire room, apartment, or home? You should be able to do so. If a listing says the home has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, the photos should verify that. Listings that indicate more amenities than the pictures show might raise a red flag. Conversely, a listing that clearly shows the loveseat sleeper twice—once as a loveseat and a second time set up as a single bed—earns bonus points for transparency.
• Do any photos give you a context for the location of the home or apartment? Photos should provide an accurate idea of setting. Our first online vacation rental booking advertised itself as a “secluded” cabin. The photos showed a cabin nestled amongst trees. What they didn’t show was that only 2 sides of the cabin were “nestled.” The other 2 bordered a broad open driveway that was shared with the owner’s home which was located just a few feet away. That experience taught us to look carefully at photos and ask for details if we have questions.
• Are the photos blurry, filtered, or taken in an odd perspective? Blurry, filtered, or dark photos can camouflage problems.  Photographing from certain perspectives can literally hide unattractive areas. Careful inspection of what the photos picture and how they were taken can help you see things as they really are.

Read the listing in its entirety before you choose.

• Listings are designed to fill in the gaps that photos can’t fill. They can tell you—for instance—that the neighbor to the left is a professional trumpeter who practices 5 hours a day—with his studio windows open. If you are a light sleeper working the night shift while away from home, you may want to consider another place.
• Listings state the owners’ expectations and often indicate just how strongly they feel about their rules. We have a strict “no pet” policy because of allergies. We aren't being mean, we're being sensible. 
• Listings share details about public transportation options, parking limitations, distance to airports, and accessibility to places of interest. These details may be deal makers or deal breakers for you. 

Read the reviews, and remember that:

• A location with lots of reviews in a short time isn’t necessarily a better listing than a place with fewer reviews in the same time period.  One of our Airbnb listings is a Gulfstream Vintage Cruiser camper. In one stretch from the beginning of June until mid-October, we hosted just two guests in the camper. One stayed for 69 days. The other stayed for 70!  The 2nd guest came the same day the 1st one left. In 4 ½ months, we had 100% occupancy, but only 2 opportunities for feedback. Guests leaving feedback often share tidbits like that, but you’ll miss them if you simply buzz through looking at the number of stars each guest gave the place.

Each of us has different expectations about how clean a place should be, where the line is between cozy and cramped, and what noise level is acceptable. Factor in your expectations as you read the reviews. Note where your expectations intersect with the expectations of guests providing feedback. Pay particular attention to what those folks say.
​

Book your place as far in advance as possible, especially if you have limitations, you like lots of amenities, or you need a very specific location. You’ll have more options early since fewer places will already be booked. You’re also likely to find the places that offer easy access without the need to climb steps, or provide special amenities like complimentary breakfasts, or have a laundry facility.
Assume that the hosts mean what they say regarding their house rules.  Despite our clearly-stated no-pet policy, we occasionally have someone ask us to make an exception. Our answer is always the same, but we hate to have to say what we’ve already said.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions before you book. Good hosts understand that you may need to know some details that their listing description or pictures didn’t capture. We’ve answered dozens of questions about how far our location is from a factory, night spot, or sporting venue. We’ve fielded questions about extra amenities we might provide. We would much rather field those questions before guests book with us than have them cancel their reservation. ​

Recently, several big-name magazines--including Money and Time--have moved from print to digital-only or reduced their number of annual issues. Some see those actions as a sure sign that "Print as mass media is dead." Others, like Walsworth, clearly disagree. "Print Magazines Aren't Dying and Here's Why," proclaims an article written late in 2021. 

As a freelance writer and content marketer, I'm watching the print magazine industry carefully.  Will readers who can't or won't read magazines online have access to print magazines in the next decade? Will magazines that switch to digital-only content thrive in the long term? 

Who knows? Even the industry gurus disagree. However, one thing seems obvious: the relationship between freelancer writers, readers and print magazines is evolving.   Content Challenge #11 takes a brief look at what that means now and may mean in the future.

If you look only at the recent drop in print magazine titles, you might be a really gloomy freelance writer. Where will you pitch your next article? Who will you contact? HOW WILL YOU SURVIVE?

There is another side to the coin, especially since most of the magazines no longer in print are still available online. People are still writing words for other people to read. Online magazines regularly post articles and blog posts that appeal to their target market. The result is largely unaffected, even though the process is different. To thrive, freelance writers will need to "go where the jobs are" and fine-tune their skills to match a digital audience.

Your opinion of the changes in the print magazine industry depends upon whether you prefer to hold a paper copy in your hand as you read or scroll through the text on your phone or laptop. 

Readers who prefer to read online generally find the switch to digital copy a bonanza. As more magazines move to online formats, readers appreciate:

• ​Expanded content.
• Greater number of choices.
• Lower price compared to print.
• Less impact on the environment.

Readers--like me--who prefer a printed copy generally see more disadvantages than advantages in the changing print magazine industry. The negatives include:

• Fewer choices, especially in niche areas like hobbies.
• Fewer issues each year as publishers cut costs.
• Fewer pages in each issue, again to help publishers cut costs.

There are a few benefits to this chaotic situation. They include:

• Significant price discounts.
• Freebies--such as gifts or gift subscriptions--with a paid subscription.

​

Out of Money and short on TIME. Wow! If that's not bad enough, yesterday we discovered that we will shortly say goodbye to Health, People en Español, and Parents. We soon won't be InStyle, EatingWell, or enjoying any Entertainment Weekly, either. Today's Content Marketing Challenge looks at a struggling industry.

​I hope it's evident that I'm talking about print magazines, not predicting apocalyptic changes. Yesterday's announcement by Dotdash Meredith CEO Neil Vogel was the latest in an industry that's declined significantly in only a few years. Several magazines, including Redbook, Money Magazine, Marie Claire, CookingLight, and O: The Oprah Magazine, have all recently ceased printing. Others, like TIME (which went from weekly to bi-weekly), Reader's Digest, Vogue, and Sunset, have reduced the number of issues per year rather than stop printing altogether. When the pandemic hit, Airbnb "temporarily" stopped printing its magazine and hasn't yet announced if it will resume publication.

I noticed when Money magazine went out of print. My husband and I had recently subscribed to Money and several other magazines in order to place them in our short-term rentals; we thought our Airbnb guests might appreciate them. Before the last issue went to print, the publisher notified us that, henceforth, Money would be available only in digital format. Our subscription was transferred to Kiplinger's Personal Finance. 

The June/July 2019 issue of Money pictured at the top of this article was their final print issue. I kept it for nostalgia's sake. I stashed away the April 2019 issue of EatingWell because of its cover and its recipes with cauliflower--one of my favorite veggies. In light of yesterday's announcement, I'll continue to hang on to it. 

If the print magazine industry continues its steady decline, I may frame both issues and hang them on the wall to remind myself--and future visitors--what a printed magazine looked like. Perhaps I should gather a few more and display them in the Airbnb units as a unique feature for our guests to enjoy.  

More about this tomorrow.

​You Accept the CHallenge, Too!

If you're nostalgic and subscribe to any print magazines, I suggest keeping the current issues until you know that they aren't the end of an era. 

A quote from the Times Record News summarizes this book well: "The Wolves at the Door is for anyone who has ever been told, 'No. You can't.'" 

A headline version of the book might read: "Baltimore socialite and amputee becomes America's greatest female spy."
​
​Both summaries are accurate but understated.

​Today's Content Marketing Challenge highlights the bravery and determination of Virginia Hall--America's greatest female spy--and the biography that shares her story--The Wolves at the Door.

​Virginia Hall was an American who grew up in Baltimore. After traveling through Europe with her family as a child, Virginia left home in 1931 to live in France and pursue her dream of serving the United States as a Foreign Service Officer. Denied the opportunity to serve because of her gender and her handicap, Virginia moved to Britain to work for British Special Operations Executive (SOE). There she learned the trade of espionage and sabotage. 

Throughout World War II, Virginia worked tirelessly to defeat Naziism. Operating inside occupied France–with the help of the French Underground–Virginia helped POWs and downed airmen escape to England, secured safe houses for agents, sabotaged transportation and communication hubs, operated a suitcase radio, and narrowly escaped capture numerous times.  

Kudos go to the author, Judith L. Pearson. She handles suspenseful, dark, and dangerous content without sugar-coating it or magnifying it beyond reason. The account churns with turbulence but doesn't completely drown the reader.

 You Accept the CHallenge, Too!
Recommend a book you've read recently.

1. What's the basic storyline or content area?
2. What's your field? Freelancing? Education? Business? Something else?
3. What makes your choice worth reading?

​Most of us know that daily walks are good for us. We may not be able to list many specific benefits, but we know that walking is a low-impact elixir of health that's doable for almost anyone and doesn't require expensive equipment. My morning walks provide another benefit--they spawn lots of ideas that help me create content. To mark the halfway point in the Content Challenge, let's discuss daily walks, the well-known elixir of health, and the silent elixir of content creation.​

According to WebMD, a morning walk yields an extensive array of health benefits. These include, but aren't limited to:

• Feeling better.
• Clearing the mind.
• Lowering blood pressure and the risk of stroke, heart disease, and diabetes.
• Improving memory and reducing the risk of dementia.
• Boosting energy, overall physical health, and mental health.
• Preventing weight gain.

These are impressive! For me, the most remarkable reason to take a morning walk is this statement, also from WebMD: "Studies have found that 1 hour of brisk walking can increase your life expectancy by 2 hours." Wow! One hour of brisk walking can mean two more hours of life. 

In an earlier post, I shared how my habit of early-morning walking began when I started walking our puppies, Pepper and Callie. That was 13 years ago. Callie has passed, and Pepper is old and unable to walk briskly for any distance.  I'm still able to enjoy a brisk walk and have done so for so long that a morning without a walk seems incomplete.  I have two dogs to thank for helping me develop a habit with many health benefits. ​

Alan Moon, the creator of the wildly popular Ticket to Ride board game, says that "Ticket to Ride came into existence in the spring of 2003 during my morning walk along the Atlantic shore in Beverly, Massachusetts.  The night before, I had played a railroad prototype . . . and the playtest had not gone well. I was thinking about how to change it when a new idea suddenly popped into my head. The coastline and scenery disappeared during the rest of the walk, as this new idea formed into an entire game. I began playing it in my head and couldn't wait to get home." 

My morning walks haven't yielded results on that scale, but they certainly help me create content.  Here's what I've noticed:

• In the morning, my mind is fresh. I concentrate better. While I walk, I can ponder ideas and have some uninterrupted time to develop them.​
• Quite often, I meet neighbors. We chat briefly. Something they say or do spurs a thought. Sometimes those thoughts blossom into outlines for articles or blog posts. 
• The beauty and charms of nature spawn ideas.  A fiery-red dawn is awe-inspiring and thought-provoking. A wild bunny, a hawk in an evergreen, a turkey near a stream--these strike my imagination. My mind ponders while my feet pound the pavement. 

When I get back home, my mind is fully awake and ready to tackle the day. Obviously, I haven't come up with an idea as life-changing as Alan Moon's was. Nevertheless, I plan to walk tomorrow--and the next day. I don't know when a "Eureka!" moment will happen. When it does, I want to be able to ponder it at length.

Our family is hooked on the popular board game, Ticket to Ride. We like the travel theme, the variety of maps, all those little trains and stations, and the nuances that make each board similar but different. We play often when we get the opportunity and have experimented with numerous strategies. The concentration is palpable, and the competition is intense.

I don't know if Alan Moon, the game's developer, had this as a goal, but he designed a game that also teaches valuable lessons about life. Content Challenge #8 explores how Ticket to Ride presents life lessons on a board. 

Is my imagination working overtime, or does life mirror what happens on a Ticket to Ride game board? What can we learn about life while playing a table game? Here are a few suggestions:

Plans don't always work out. Robert Burns was right. "The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry." If you've played the game even once, you know that your well-laid plans can go horribly wrong in a single round of play. And, the likelihood of disaster increases as the number of players increases. Don't these things happen regularly in real life?
Some blocked plans can be salvaged by making a detour. For example, say that you're the green player in the picture. You kept the destination card going from Helena to Santa Fe. Your original plans to go straight through were thwarted immediately when the yellow player claimed the route from Denver to Santa Fe on his first play. Other players blocked the shorter detours. So, your route to Santa Fe from Helena will include a significant detour through Phoenix. It's not optimal, but still possible.

Has something similar ever happened to you? Of course, it has.  You're chugging along smoothly toward your destination in a relationship, job, or course of training. Suddenly,  you face an obstacle such as illness or financial setback and are forced to detour. Your way isn't completely blocked, but it's significantly altered.  

Some blocked plans don't offer any detours that get you to your original goal. In the game of Ticket to Ride--and in life--plans sometimes have to be abandoned. The idea that held so much promise fizzled when the Great Recession hit. The venture with the strong financial projections in 2019 cost you most of your savings when COVID came and stayed. After trying your best, you fail to finish your education. In these cases, you're forced to focus on another route.

In the picture above, you see that all the routes into Munchen are claimed. When the yellow player--who was working her way from Cadiz on the southwest corner of the map up to Munchen--saw that, she knew that destination card was impossible to complete. Life is like that, too, sometimes. 

​Waiting for details to work out can be excruciating. You need only one more red card to complete a route and end the game. Victory is within reach--if you can just get a red card. Maybe you'll draw a red train card--or a wild card--just in time to win the game; maybe you won't. Either way, waiting is tough.

Learning to look at a problem from several perspectives can help you discover a  solution. Suppose that you've drawn extra destination tickets. All of them look impossible. Then, you tilt your head in a different direction and notice a "backdoor" path that will allow you to complete a long route using only 4 trains. The solution was "hiding in plain sight." You just needed a different perspective to find it. 

I see you nodding your heads as you recall times in real life when, after examining a problem for a long time, you suddenly "saw " a solution. Perspective can make all the difference. 

The most difficult routes often reap big payoffs. My husband and I frequently play the Nordic Countries version of Ticket to Ride. It's designed for 2 or 3 players and features trains, tokens, and cards in unusual colors; you see them pictured below. The section from Lieksa to Murmansk is 9 trains long. You have to be brave to try it, but if you make it, you earn 27 points for your effort!  Life's that way, too. Accomplishing a challenging task often yields huge rewards on several levels. 

Here's today's call-to-action:
​ 
You Accept the CHallenge, Too!

I intentionally ignored one of the most obvious lessons about game-playing and  life:

Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. It's trite but true. The important thing is that you keep chugging along. What's your strategy for winning or losing well? Could you verbalize it?

If you're a Ticket to Ride fan, you may have ideas about how Ticket to Ride presents life lessons on a board. I would love to hear them. 

As I mentioned in an earlier Content Challenge post, my husband and I listed an efficiency apartment on Airbnb almost 6 years ago. As hosts, we’ve discovered both pros and cons of utilizing Airbnb or another vacation rental platform. Through our contact with hundreds of guests, we’ve also learned what Airbnb guests appreciate. Today's Content (Marketing) Challenge shares those discoveries. ​