Friday, November 17, 2006

My first week as an official freelance writer

So, this week was my first week in the world of freelance writing. It has been both exciting and frustrating. My first offer for writing sounded good. Get paid for writing short articles, each article pays $5 and each project would consist of 3 articles. So we exchanged emails, they described what my first assignment would be briefly and that they would email me back with more specifics later that day. That was 5 days ago, still nothing. But I didn't let that deter me from starting my new career. I am happy to say I did find a company that I have already written 5 articles for, each paying $5 to start off. And the people I am working for are actually very cool, we have alot in common and they are just very down-to-earth people; the best kind of people to work with! Payment was made to my paypal account within hours of turning in the final article, which was such a relief! I was worried about getting paid ontime and paranoid that I would spend my time writing articles but end up getting stiffed on payment. Thankfully that was not the case.

My second experience is with an essay writing company. At first I thought it would be a great thing. I get to choose which projects I take and the payment is shown up front, usually per page. However, one of the assignments I took, I didn't notice there was a mistake in the payment details. In the beginning it says 1 page $7 a page payment with a total payment of $7, however, when I go into the details, it says 5 pages minimum. So I am not sure whether I will get paid for my work at this point. The website has a live chat option for support and questions, however, the 3 times I have tried since last night, it states there are no agents available :( And they are listed in VA which is an hour ahead of me... they should have an agent available at 10:30am!

I also realized after accepting two orders that it would be alot more work than anticipated. One of the essays requires 5 sources, none of which can be from the Internet :( Oh well, I accepted the orders, I will have to complete them, so I guess I'll make the best of them. And now I know for the next time what to look for ahead of time. Call it a beginner's mistake lol.

The best offer I've had is actually one that initially I will not get paid for. I found an online women's pub and they are looking for writers, column managers, all sorts of things. This site is something I can get really excited about. Women helping other women; always a good thing! I turned in my applications a couple days ago and finally heard back today, so I am very excited. Now I just have to decide which position I actually want to do and give them some samples so they can pick what I would be a best fit for. So that's exciting :) :)

So this weekend I have two essays to write, 4 articles on Disneyland (oh how horrible right?) and sample writings about relationships or whatever it is I decide that I want to do for the women's pub. Not only that I signed up for a novel contest where we are challenged to write 50,000 words by Dec 31st.... so far I have written only about 600 words :( But this weekend I will have kid-free time to write, so hopefully I will put a huge dent in it. Even if I don't win or make it to 50k words, I will have at least accomplished something I have been talking about for years, writing a book!

So far I am very excited about my new career choice. I have always loved to write but didn't realize that if you have talent and good spelling and grammar, it's pretty easy to get into freelance writing. Had I known, I would have done this a loooonnngggg time ago.

Oh yeah, I forgot I am also writing for a news blog. I only get paid $1 per post, but the great thing is I can pretty much write about whatever I want and there's no lenth requirement! It's an easy thing to do inbetween other assignments, and when I need a break from whatever I'm doing.

Another update will be forthcoming this weekend after I finish the two essays that may turn out to be the job from hell.. we shall see...

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