by Alicia Rudnicki, Library Mix

If you are a can-do kind of person, you may love how-to articles. Think of me the next time you read one online. I am among the masses of freelance writers going mental from spending way too many hours cruising the Internet to research articles for  “content” publishers.

Anyone who has done research online has probably clicked on a content publisher such as About, Do It Yourself, Ehow, How Stuff Works, Livestrong or WiseGeek.

When I began thinking about creating an issue on the idea of self-help, it occurred to me that the Internet has become a cyber sea of self-help literature.

Answering life’s little questions
If not the places to find answers to life’s big questions, online content publishers are the go-to guys when confounded by matters such as “How to plant bamboo on the island of Bali” or “How to read a fluke meter.”

Yes, these were article assignments I could have accepted if I were more intrepid. But it seemed to me that I wouldn’t help anyone, especially myself, if I accepted them.

Bali is familiar in a distant, dreamy way, because I’ve seen the musical South Pacific countless times. But I have no clue what a fluke meter does, although I do love its name.

Nor do I have any idea how to write reasonable responses to most of the thousands of assignment titles offered by my publisher, including “What does it mean when horse manure is yellow?” and “How long does it take the love flower to be harvested in fairyland?”

Mastering the 500-words-or-less classic
But speaking of self-help, I have managed to increase my bank account a bit by mastering the art of condensing topics such as the “History of American baseball” and the “Environmental effect of paper plates” into 500 words or less.

I have also managed to amuse myself countless times as I cruise the assignment lists for topics to accept. Just the other day, I discovered the following titles serendipitously listed one after the other: “How do I check into hotels anonymously and discreetly?” and “How to draft your own divorce order in Michigan.”

Be on the lookout for my upcoming classics on “What is the meaning of the slope on a number line” and “How to make dresser drawers slide more easily.” Unlike the vampire lit articles I wrote last year for another publisher, they  will never "go viral.” But maybe, just maybe, they will help some people.