The Sound of Quality

I've been doing some research for a client the last couple of days. I sent him a file, with my findings yesterday night. I come back in the morning, and I see a reply from him. See for yourself - "I am sending another $50 to you via paypal. Based on the quality of research you're providing me, I would be more than happy to pay more than the contractual amount..."

And this after he paid me $50 yesterday. I tell you true, what makes me jump like Tom Cruise is not the fact that he sent the money. It's the fact that he sent it wiithout my having to ask, plus he's willing to pay even more now for further research than the amount agreed on.

End Note : Quality matters. I broke my head for a couple of days over a subject I knew squat about, and kept banging until I came up with stuff that provides value for money. I could have sent sub-standard work, and kept what he owed me. But I didn't. And that proves two things:-
1. That talent, hard work and perfection gets rewarded, even in this sick internet world of instant gratification and overnight hustlers.
2. I'm good.

ByGosch

Take on editor Ann Gosch, who runs ByGosch editorial services in the News Tribune.

"I didn’t even know enough about the subject to know what questions to ask to learn about it," she said.

At that moment, Ann Gosch the freelance writer thought maybe she should become Ann Gosch the freelance editor.

See Editors vs. Writers

"Besides, everyone who puts words on paper can use an editr, right?"

Guess this is one writer who sorely needs an editr ( so do I ).

In other news, if you have great voice and nothing much else, you might want to read "If They Mention Voice-Over Work, It's Just All Talk" by Howard Leff in the LA Times

And Sean Stubblefield, writing for the Student Operated Press, has this to say:-

"And, unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people seeking freelance writers don’t really comprehend the intricacies of being a writer...or how gifted a writer you may be, a real writer can’t be expected to instantly churn out meaningful or useable material on command. A freelance writer can’t make a living with these kinds of jobs."

Sean, find a new career or grow up. The reason people hire writers is because they don't know squat about writing or writers. Nuff said.

Bosses are for suckers

James Braly, writing for Marketplace, CA has a really, really interesting take on freelancing vs. a traditional job. He says that, um...the risk lies not in freelancing, but in sticking to an office job. He has a point. Judge for yourself from the quotes or read the full article. It's worth a read.

"Risky?" asks the tycoon's wife, her disdainful eyes strangely incongruous above her lovely, placid cheeks. Evidently the plastic surgeon cut her facial muscles. "How is a job risky?"

"Someone with a boss," I say, "must answer to that one person, who could end their career, destroy their lifestyle, on a whim. Tomorrow."

Absolutely true. But it takes an extraordinary amount of self-confidence ( or stupidity ) to implement this logic.

On a side note, it's little references like the part about the placid cheeks and plastic surgeons that make an article interesting. Fact, figures and analysis is just fine. But what makes an article really interesting is the little herbs and spices the writer throws in.

A peek inside the pages of a writer's mind

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How I Write : The Secret Lives of Authors - Edited by Dan Crowe

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The Chicago Sun Times has a book review for 'How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors'.

"Most writers are infinitely nosy about how other writers go about their business -- how they summon their muse and descend into their inner sanctum. Transitioning from this world of barking dogs and blasting car stereos to a terrain of precise words and intriguing plots is perhaps the most difficult process of writing"

Navel gazing by any other name - Writers writing about how they write and how they seek inspiration is welcome. But looking at the kind of teddy bear they need to hold in order to write is stretching things a bit too far. I mean, well...

Lionel Shriver keeps a lamb curio she named "Clippity" on her bookcase to remind her "to eschew fancy-schmancy character names." Next to Clippity is a tiny, cloaked shaman statue that looks like a Ku Klux Klan member. This, she says, is for penitence -- "for every time I craft a crap sentence."

Maybe it would work better if she added a new cloaked shaman statue every time she churns out crap. An overflowing bookcase full of tiny cloaked shamans would be a magnificient inspiration to write beautiful prose.

Why Me?

Magnificient article in the New York Times by Alice Lesch Kelly titled The struggle to move beyond 'Why Me?'

"Not long after my treatment ended, I found myself in a hospital elevator with a bald woman. I had no hair at that time, either, so we started to chat. (It’s amazing how cancer brings people together — I’ve had deep, 45-minute conversations with complete strangers in waiting rooms.).....Only when I accept the sometimes cruel randomness of fate will I be able to call myself a survivor."

It's not really an article. It's an outpouring of the writers' heart and mind. This piece brings together a lot of the parts which put together make for great writing. For starters, there's the fact that the illness strips away all the artificial layers of personality and leaves no gap between the writer and the writing. What you see is the writer, as is. Second is the issue of the need to find solutions. Some people relish challenges. Facing down problems is like nicotine, dangerously addictive. When you bump into a problem which refuses a solution, you fall back from science onto faith. You close your eyes and let a higher authority decide what's best for you - If only becuase there's nothing much else you can do about it. Which is the stage Alice Lesch Kelly finds herself in.

I have nothing to say to Alice about her cancer. I have nothing to say to Alice about how to face the issues arising out her health problems. All I have to say is, write. Write some more - A lot more. And enjoy it. Because this is the best you can do, Alice. And your best is darn good.

Alice Lesch Kelly is a freelance health writer based in Newton, Mass. and she is the author of masterpieces such as 'How chocolate helps your heart' and 'Tick-Proof Your Yard'

The Art of Freelancing

Article in Statecollege.com by, um..someone discusses 'the art of freelancing' questioning the worth of your words.

"The great irony is book writing. People I know who refuse to write for less than $2 a word will spend hours each week writing a novel or researching a non-fiction book....Article writing makes money. Book writing is for fun. At least for me."

Two questions - Would you write for $1.99 a word? And have you read this article?

In other news, Web Worker Daily asks whether telecommuters are more vulnerable? "Is navigating change more difficult for the far-flung versus traditional on-site workers? What changes has your web work arrangement weathered, and how would you say your career has flourished (or not) since that disruptive element was introduced?"

For a site which caters to telecommuters, these guys seem to be overly insecure. Besides, it would be a mistake to lump all telecommuters into the same bracket. There are indispensable freelancers and then there are guys doing ( or trying to do ) the exact same job, and their contracts get flushed faster than toilet paper.

Sparky

LuWanda Banks, freelance writer and guardian of the creative spark, writing for Massachusetts Live has advice for writers' groups.

"Fourth, if you wrote what you felt was a humorous piece, and no one chuckles, it wasn't funny. If you wrote what you felt was a sad piece, and people laughed, you need to rewrite it. If you wrote what you felt was clear and concise, and there are lots of questions about what you meant, then you learn that it isn't clear at all."

Um...Right. Moving on....

Writers are often, and rightly, advised to avoid wasting ink and write large and rambling essays. Well, guess writers should learn from A minor history of miniature writing. And, as a sidenote, if you can read this, you need to have your eyes checked.

And here's an interview in the Louisville, Kentucy Courier-Journal with writer Anna Quindlen ( Her accomplishments are listed here - Anna Quindlen - Uber WAHM ). She saves the best for the last.

"You wrote the book "How Reading Changed My Life." What do people really gain from reading?

When you read … you're able to transcend your world and understand better what it's like to be (someone else) in America. And that's just invaluable because our country has become so fragmented by race and class and ethnicity.

And on a purely personal level, given how isolated so many of us are, reading makes you feel less alone. … I can imagine my life without writing. I cannot imagine my life without reading."

She's right. Guard that spark.

Mom and a Hack Writer

Mother's day is here and writers are scraping the barrel to find just one more piece of nostalgia, full of apple pie. Vivian Pettyjohn, writing for ePluribus media, chimes in with her mother, a hack writer. And it's one heck of an article.

"When she was exactly the age I am now, she looked back over her years as a writer and decided that there was nothing of lasting or redeeming value in anything that she had done. She felt that she had started out to make a living doing what she loved to do, got stuck on a hamster wheel of production and ended up a hack."

All I have to say to Vivian is, I wish I was 1/4th the hack her mother was. Which means that I wish I was 1/2 the writer you are. Happy Mother's Day.

And just to prove my point, here's one more story on spiritual motherhood.

And finally, Arthur Levine, writing for The Conservative Voice, tries to explain why you should buy articles from him. Unfortunately, Arthur, someone screwed up. Either you or your editor. And half the article about why you should buy articles from a good writer is printed twice, on the same page. I'd say that if this is your way of advertising your services, you shouldn't have quit that day job.

Keep tuned.

Turning Silver into Gold - Mary Furlong

Turning Silver Into Gold - How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace, by Mary Furlong

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You can read abut the book and boomers on Amazon. I want to talk about Mary Furlong. Authors are always more interesting than their books. Dr. Mary S. Furlong has advised Preisdent Clinton ( Politics had to come in somewhere. besides, that's what piqued my interest. ), Congress, the AARP, and corporate clients including IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Merrill Lynch, Procter & Gamble, and Microsoft.

And what exactly did this 'advise' involve? I dug into the good doctor a little more. Basically what she ( and her firm ) does is to provide data regarding boomer trends and polling data. Quote "Mary Furlong’s book has a social heart as well as a business sense. She is trying to assist people who are in business, but not simply for the sake of exploiting a market. Adding value to life is as important to her as it is to us at AARP"

She's also featured here. Seems to me like a lot of hype and packaging in return for, uh...whatever it is boomers are looking for. Still, there's no debating that she's highly successful at what she's doing - Or boomers are more gullible than others. Maybe Mary Furlong has some polling data on that....

YourSpace ? Not any more

The flap over the Obama campaign taking over control of a Myspace Obama fan page from Joe Anthony started with this column, for the record. I don't have anything to add, since this little bit of news is already being jumped on by every self-respecting pundit.

So, why the post? It's because I have a little bit of soothsayering to do. Please take note of the time and date of this post. And if I'm wrong, unload on me. Here's what's going to happen. Joe Anthony is going to vote for Obama, and declare his support, publicly, and on stage. And it's going to become one of the biggest photo-ops this season. And, the Obama Myspace page is going to break 200,000 'friends', as a result. Why do I say this? Do a search for Obama on this blog, and you'll probably realize that I'm some kinda fruitcake. Allow me to add to my reputation. Sometime back, Obama had just announced his run, and after the initial flurry of attention and media coverage, there was an Obama vacuum in the press. What happened? Biden opened his mouth. My point? Edwards hires bloggers, and the ash is still smoldering over that little episode. But Obama has a tiff with the internet community, and believe me, what's going to happen is a flurry of coverage, ending with Obama climbing even higher in the polls.

Finally, time for one more fruitcake prediction - Watch out for illness and personal problems on this campaign. Going to be some very strong candidates dropping out, citing personal problems.

Editors vs. Writers

I was completing a writing job for a client, and I had to write a small paragraph about writers not having to worry about shoddy work, so long as there was an editor to clean it up. At that time, the thought struck me that that was all editors were good for.

What I mean is, how many editors are accomplished writers? If they were accomplished, they wouldn't be paper-pushers drinking stinking mugs of coffee and poring over stinking work from stinking writers, now, would they? The reason I'm crowing about this is that I was reminded that knowing the science of writing and where to put in and take out a comma doesn't make you a writer. It's whether or not you have the art of writing inside you that makes you a writer.

So, do you think writing is an art or a science? Answer will be a very good indication of whether you'll end up with your mugshot in a best-seller list or drinking coffee at 3 a.m., trying to decide whether the writer mistakenly emailed the piece to you instead of the fiction editor.

The Truth vs. Objectivity

Again, apologies for dredging up this comatose blog. Problem is, I could not think of a better place to write this. Hate Associated content, and I'm pretty sure it would have been rejected outright ( if not posted in the daily funnies section ) by any and all recieving editors. For what it's worth - The question is, to a journalist, is truth more important or objectivity?

I know where I stand on this question - The truth provides the backbone for everything I write and most of what I do. Not to say that I don't lie, but when confronted with oppposing viewpoints pulling me in different directions, I defer to the truth - And let the chips fall where they may. The reason I'm harping on this is because I feel that objective journalism ( a front for trying to appear non-partisan ) is driving the coverage. Reporters, analysts and talk-show hosts are careful to quote the viewpoints of both sides, without appearing to hold an opinion themselves. Fine, you're not an opinion columnist. Reporting waht people said is fine. But if you know a clear and plainly apparent falsehood brewed into the statements, do you still quote, without questening the falsehoods or refuting them? If it makes yu partisan, so be it. The truth must speak.

Update

Applied for a gig. Gave one of the posts on this blog as a reference. If you're the guy who I applied to, please give me a shot. If you're not the aforementioned, please ignore me.

But just the act of firing up the ol blog gives me a sense of responsibility to make a substantial post. So....

I've been struggling with my responsibilities towards a client, my conscience and the balance in my paypal. This guy seems to have a lot of dollar bills stuffed into his freezer, or his bank account. He likes the kind of research I do and over the last few months, we've reached a comfort zone where nothing much needs to be said. Upto this point, things are peachy.

Here's the problem - The reason he's asking me to do the research is because he's on a highly quixotic quest. Even leaving aside the larger picture, the focus of his every request is bound to be a major flop. And yet he keeps going. Sometime back, I tried to get him to take a more realistic approach, but I might as well have been talking to a brick wall. So I shelved the subject. But everytime he sends me a paypal, there's a small rabbit bouncing around in the back of mind, saying that you're giving him what he wants, but are you sure what he wants is what he needs?

So, after this wierd bit of navel-gazing, let's get to the meat of this post - You're a freelancer. You work hard and deliver results, to the best of your ability and as per your client's specs. But do you step back from the keyboard, and think about the success the client is going to have when he uses your material? Do you give suggestions to your client to modify his requirements, in order to give him a better chance? That, I think, would probably be the difference between a good freelancer and a professional freelancer. Of course, it could also end up with you being thrown out on your butt and the contract cancelled. All part of the game....

Freelance Jobs 7th March

Here's the jobs:-

Freelance part-time writer / editor wanted.

Web 2.0 blogger wanted. $10-20 per hour. Totally work at home and awesome gig. Perfect for a geek blogger.

Writer wanted to finish, uh...several books. This is either a bad joke by some craigslist regular who's sick and tired of all the 'writer wanted' ads or the guy who wrote the ad was punch drunk, hen-pecked and posted the ad just to spite his wife. Either way, take a look. Makes for some good reading, and you can't deny that they badly need a writer...

Someone has a few ideas, and I guess wants to get published. Though not written so explicitly, the poster is probably looking for someone to ghostwrite his book. $250-500

Handbag description writer wanted. $3 per description.

Art critic? Here's your chance to prove to momma that your obesession is finally gonna pay the bills.

Real estate web editor wanted.

'Women On Writing' mag looking for submissions from freelance writers. $50-75 per.

Weekly column writer wanted. Something to do with fashion, music, comic strips, etc.

Technical writers wanted. Well, not really. They're just filling up their list of 'available and impoverished tech. writers'. Still...

Now we're getting closer to the fun part. Shakespeare reviewers sought. It says no pay, but I guess that's beacuse of the new and tougher Craigslist rules. My guess would be that there is some monetary compensation involved.

Greenhorns wanted. Huh? Is it just me, or does it sound like the poster wants to use writers as guinea pigs for some dirty experiments? It's probably a nutty literature prof. These guys should be banned from using the internet. I'm gonna send him an email, though. And I'll post an update if I get a response.

Blog arranger wanted. LOL. Specially love the gems of wisdom part. I mean, whose blog doesn't have gems of wisdom? Ahem...Cough..Ok, let's get on with it...

Paid writing gig. Environment friendly. $.10 per word. My kinda gig.

And that's it for now. I've been posting on a forum which has some seriously flawed people. Heart goes out to them. Every post from one of them is a cry for help. But there's only so much help and advice and 'shoulder to cry on' you can offer on the net. All these people really need is some meaning to their lives. Anyway...

Blogs = Parasites ?

SiteProNews asks a question which becomes even more important considering the declining fortunes of the MSM, or old media. Are Blogs parasites? Here's the news flash - yes, they are. But they don't have to be. How is that?'

By simply co-opting the parasite. It's called evolution. Blogs stealing your readership? Start a blog. After all, the key USP for blogs is being able to be ahead of the print media in terms of news cycles. Prez making a statement? It's on the blogs, commented on, analysed, ripped apart and post-mortem'd before the MSM can even weigh in on it. So what des a savvy MSM like Time do? turn their best stars into bloggers. Go visit the Time Swampland, and you'll see what I mean. Joe Klein has an ongoing fracas with bloggers of all shades, Ana Marie Cox is weighing in on Stephen Colbert and the Libby trial. Karen Tumulty is pontificating on the '08 races. All in real time. End result? I visit the Time blog everyday, and I'm sorely tempted to join in the discussion. Now tell me, where's the parasite?

However, not every print magazine is as as smart or as net-savvy as Time. They do their reporting the old fashioned way. Dig up the stories, talk to people and call in the experts. And then they print it. And then the blogs take the facts and the meat out of the article, post it in attractively designed blockquotes with a tiny link for attribution. End result? The blog readers get the story, the facts and the analysis without even kowing who did all the work in the first place. More importantly, the print mag spends all it's money and resources, and the blog gets the clicks and dollars. That, without any reserve, is parasitic behaviour.

What's to be done? Nothing. Again, it's called evolution. Either you adapt or you're toast. Of course, there remains one tiny problem. If the host dies, so does the parasite...

Freelance Jobs 3rd March

Here's the jobs:-

Online business discussion and analysis site needs a blogger.

Proof readers ( fact checkers ) wanted for a magazine.
Note: The editor likes to drown his sorrow inside a bottle, so you might be at the recieving end of more than a few crazed emails demanding total servitude - If you get the gig.

Greeting card writers wanted. I would really like a gig like this, if only it involved steady work, instead of submissions and rejections.

Speaking about rejections, I read a column a couple of days back about being able to write, but afraid to submit. I can't remember where I read the darn thing, so you'll have to trust me on this. If you catch the fish and can't sell them, does that make you a fisherman? If you don't know how to sell your writing, you're not a writer. Period. Let me try this another way - It's really a question of motivation, not talent. Do you really, badly, need to submit your articles or manuscript? If you do, you will. If you have the luxury of choice, you probably won't. It's as simple as that. If it's the only way you can pay your bills, you'll be submitting and begging editors and laughing at someone who says they're afraid to submit.

Anyway, back to the jobs:

Transcription gig. Need a pro transcriptionist, so if you're a wannabe, best to pass this one by.

$500 writing contest. All you gotta do is write one line. Speaking of writing contests, I need to do a post on writing contests - Which basically would involve a big list of contests for writers which are held periodically, and the do's and do not's. If I don't get any new gigs this week, I'll write up the contests post. So now would be a good time for anyone suffering through my blathering to start praying that I get the gigs...

If you're planning to go for a nose job, facelift or breat enhancing surgery, hold it right there. You can get paid for it, and might even end up with a profit from the whole deal, rather than having to pay through your nose for it. Get paid to blog about your cosmetic surgery.

Want to help create a full website? new web startup needs your copywriting skills.

Freelance bloggers who blab about education, home and family, and personal finance wanted.

Freelance Jobs 26th Feb

Here's the jobs:

Cellphone blogger wanted
Chinese bloggers wanted
Paid how-to guide writers needed
A small detour here. The guy who runs the show for this gig seems to be on the right track, but there's going to be some hiccups along the way, before he makes it ( if ever he makes it ). Doesn't mean I'm being pessimistic, just realistic. I've seen too many bright sparks fizzle out to be optimistic. But then, maybe that's why I'm still broke...

Trivia writer wanted
Another short detour...The guy wants a trivia writer, and he says contact him describing your qualifications, blah, blah, blah....So what I do is write out a couple of trivia questions, their answers and send it off to him, without a single word about myself, or what I do. Nothing except the trivia. And he replies back saying he wants to talk to me. Go Figure...Ultimately what matters is whether people think you can do the job or not, irrespective of all other criteria.

Here's one more - Need NBA trivia writers for NBA online trivia game.

And one more - Children's trivia writer needed.

Creative writers wanted
Compensation? 100k+...Be careful, huh?

Want to go through biker blogs and post links on said blogs? Blog posters wanted.

Christian ghost writer wanted.

Pet care writers and bloggers wanted.

Fashion blog writer wanted. Looks to me like someone who knows squat about the internet wants to get his or her hands on a piece of the online pie. If you should get this gig, be ready to break your head against an unbshakeable wall of ignorance and suspicion.

Copy writer
wanted. $50 for 225 words.

Editor wanted for a novel.

Political writers and bloggers wanted.

Philosophy and physiology writers wanted to help author write a book.
Note: This is a serious gig, and you'll have to undergo an interview, if the author decides he likes your resume, or your pitch. Furthermore, I'm not sure whether he's going to find a writer with this oddball combination of requirements. On my part, I told him staright out I didn't have a clue about physiology. He still replied back, and it's 'under consideration'. After all, $2000 is a lotta money...

Ghost writer wanted for broadcast executive's take.

Want to write about runaway brides and Britney's breakdown and the subway hero and stuff like that? In-the-news scandal kinda website wants writers.

More DC scandals. Wnat to be a political investigator, sniffing out Washington's closets and coming up with dirt? Somebody wants a DC dirt-digger.

And that's it for now. There's a short poem buzzing about inside my head, and I've been trying to spit it out, but the end just won't arrive, and the beginning won't leave me alone. Driving me nuts, if I wan't nuts to begin with....

America - Addicted To Elections

Ideas can be pesky things. Once they start buzzing around inside your head, they refuse to pipe down, unless and until you give them an outlet. And the only outlet I have is this poor little blog and you - The hapless victim of my assault. So here goes nothing...

Granted, the 2000 election was something of a nightmare, with recounts and lawyers and the Supreme Court and chads and what not. It generated an intense amount of emotion, and got involved a lot of people into politics, who were otherwise quite happy to go about their life, and think about politics only when it was time to vote. Also granted that President Bush stoked the partisan fires some more by starting the Iraq war, which got even more previously uninterested people involved. And since 2004 wasn't far behind, it was basically a referundum on the war. So, ok I'll grant you that too.

This is where the real problem pokes it's head out. Once we had the 2004 elections out of the way, people should have been able to get back to their normal lives. Instead what happens? The campaign for 2006 begins. We all know how it turned out. Barely have the tremors subsided, and now it's all about 2008. It's supposed to be an earth shattering event, and if don't give up everything we do and focus on electing the right person, the world could come to an end. I'm absolutely convinced that the day the 2008 elections are over, it'll be on to the next one, with similar expectations and required contributions.

Stop! Enough already. Elections are meant to elect politicians so they can do their job until the next elections. Not so they can begin running for the next round. Every issue, every debate, every decision is colored by the fact of impending elections and what position would go down the best among core constituencies. This is not the way it works. The way it works is, you elect someone, let them do their job, and if you don't like the end result, you throw them out - After they get a chance to do it their way.

What's happening now is that nothing gets done, because every politician is campaigning to get elected 365 days a year. Whatever pretense of work they do, is dictated by what will help them to get elected again. Question is, why is this happening? The culprit is the MSM. Got nothing to write about? No scandals, no human interest stories, no runway brides, nothing - So, let's start beating up on whoever happens to next in line to get elected - Even if said election is a couple of years away. What they managed to do, in effect, is get Americans addicted to elections, not politics - Which is a big difference. Addiction to politics and policy, while not entirely healthy, is still commendable. But addiction to elections? That is, simply put, bad - Bad for the people, bad for the country, bad for the politicians and good for the media. Go figure.

Writers and Aspiring Writers

Allen Pierleoni, writing for the Sacramento Bee, quotes a few figures about writers and aspiring writers. "Some 24 million American adults consider themselves creative writers, but less than 5 percent have ever been published. About 175,000 book titles were released in 2006, (yet) at any given time, there are between 5 million and 6 million manuscripts looking for a publishing home"

I guess you could say that's good news - If you're a publisher, or you provide a service for aspiring writers. You think people in this country are over-educated maybe? or just plain lazy? I mean, all a writer ( an aspiring one ) today does is sit on his rump and bang away at his keyboard. I'm pretty sure there would be plenty less writers if you took all the people who do nothing but blog, and shipped them off to Iraq. Take that, John Kerry. Now you can say that if you get a proper education, you risk being hauled out to participate in the Surge, rather than just rant about it. I suspect there would also be a lot less people left behind in San Francisco. The streets would be kind of empty if you took away all the bloggers.

From another point of view, think about the Iraqis. The poor chumps risk bearing the brunt of a second wave of invaders. San Francisco bloggers and aspiring writers! Something tells me they'd be happier with Saddam..

Blogging For....

Is there anyone who blogs just for fun? Purely and simply for the joy of blogging? To let your thoughts flow, without someone starting to roll their eyes and start looking for an exit door.... Do you blog because you love to blog? Or is it for money, to pimp some product, rightwing, leftwing, whatever...

What brought on this introspective streak was an article in the NYT about debt bloggers. It's pretty good, and inspects quite a few aspects about debt blogging and the motivation, real and imagined, for the bloggers.
"A decade after the Internet became a public stage for revelations from the bedroom, it is now peering into the really private stuff: personal finance."

Point is, there's precious little motivation to blog, for the sake of earning money from the blog. So there's got to be something else, that pushes people to blog. There's more than 60 million blogs, with the number set to cross a billion in a year.
What the heck are a billion people doing blogging, if they don't earn money from it? Hence the question, why do you blog?

As for why I blog, that would be to maintain an online presence, where I can send my prospective clients. The intention was to showcase my presumed talents, but needless to say, it's not working out exactly as planned. That, I guess, would be because I have a tendency to stray off-course and start blabbing about things above my pay-grade. Being a lowly freelance writer, I should stick to blogging about that. But somehow, Obama and Hillary and McCain keep popping in. But hey, like I said, that's what a blog is for. Where you can let rip, without being hauled off to rehab.

Freelance Jobs 18th Feb

Today I realized a couple of things. All you need to have is talent. Write good, write beautiful prose and burn the midnight oil. You'll get the rewards. Secondly, even on the big, bad internet, there is a thing called trust. And it works. Beautifully.

The reason for all this blather is that I just completed one hard week of writing. I wrote - To the best of my ability. Then I sent in the stuff. Response? A big, fat paypal, along with a compliment on a job well done. So what do I do? I re-read everything I wrote. And it really looks good. Now I don't know which one makes me happier. The paypal or my writing.

Here's today's jobs:

Article writers wanted. $15 per article.

Howto guide writers wanted. $10 per guide.

Freelance writers wanted. Focus on international students in the U.S.A.

Freelance tech. blogger wanted. Manufacturing, finance, biotech., etc.

Website copywriter wanted. Knowledge of flash banner ads is a plus.

Proofreader for a novel manuscript wanted. Author is a non-US citizen with ESL.

Humor blog writer wanted, with a focus on celeb dishing.

Art blog writers wanted. Focus on news, exhibitions, and artists.

Freelance urban writers wanted. $15-30 per article.

Transcriptionist needed. $10 per tape.

Stupid Googe

There's a storm in a teacup brewing over Google's use of a strawberry and missing L in Google. I've blogged before about Google's employees being wackos, but this is one time the nutjobs at Google need some defending, and maybe some appreciation. If that is, their massive egos can take the additional praise without blowing a few gaskets.

The whole kerfuffle is over this:



First impressions - Don't try to con yourself. Here's what I went through when I first saw it on Google:

1. A thrill at being the first to discover Google screwing up.
2. A closer look at WTF is that between the O and the E.
3. Realization that it's a strawberry.
4. Taking a good look at it again. The stalk does look like an L...
5. Dismay that no one is going to digg this....

What does Google have to say about it? "When you look at the logo, you may worry that we forgot our name overnight, skipped a letter, or have decided that 'Googe' has a better ring to it," Google's Webmaster and official doodler, Dennis Hwang wrote on a company blog in response to the blogosphere's blather. "None of the above. I just know that those with true romance and poetry in their soul will see the subtlety immediately. And if you're feeling grouchy today, may I suggest eating a strawberry." Via Time.com

Steps 1-5 took me about 30 seconds to go through. Does that mean I have true romance and poetry in my soul? I don't know, but one thing I do know. Google's doodler's need a holiday - Preferably a long one, without access to the internet. And if they have nervous breakdowns or or other internet addiction withdrawal symptoms, no worries - It's all for the greater googe...

Freelance Jobs 12th Feb

Here's today's freelance jobs:

Business plan writers needed ( work at home )

Foodie writer wanted to write newsletters ( online )

Web copywriter wanted to write product descriptions and reviews ( tech. ).

Staff writers who can show the middle finger...Uh..Not exactly, but...

Joke writers wanted. $100 per. In cash. No kidding.

Wanna push a website? Website promoter wanted. This usually entails sneaking into forums or message boards, crapping your signature all over, and then hitting the road before they lynch you.

Conduct research and writeup stuff about why dogs love food. Uh...Ok.

Student researcher wanted to act as a flunky for supposedly humourous biz book writer...

Are you good at powerpoint, publisher and writing? Click here.

Okie. That's it. Today's news? Foot-In-Mouth-Against-YoMama disease has gone viral, with Aussie Prime Minister John Howard having managed to acquire said disease from U.S. Senator Joe Biden.
I have nothing to say, except "Next!"

Black And White

Obamamania continues to crash the gates. First it was will he or won't he? Then it was 'Hillary will trash him and if she doesn't, the Repuclicans will'. Next it was 'Obama isn't black enough' - With Biden adding fuel to the fire. Now we're on to Stage II - Media's going hyper on Obama and Abe Lincoln.

Such is the power of symbolism. Obama makes a speech from Springfield, and writers are tripping over themselves writing about what 'Obama has to do to live upto Lincoln' and how 'Obama can't hold a candle to Abe'. What these writers don't realize is that every additional mention of Obama and Lincoln in the same breath takes the Obama camp even closer to their desired result, and solidifies the image association in the minds of their numerous readership.

Let's go back one stage. All the articles about Obama not being black enough? What effect did they have? Reminded the audience that Obama, is indeeed, not white. And if he ain't black, what the heck is he? Black and white. White as in what people look for in a white caucasian male President. Black as in the color of his skin. But this isn't about something skin-deep, or a question of percieved impressions.

Thing is, Lincoln fought for, and gambled everything on, a fight for liberty - On behalf of freedom. He's in the history books today because he won. So can we call Abe the 1st Black President, Bubba the 2nd one and Obama the 3rd? Because end of the day, Obama's blackness, and his Lincolnness, will be measured not against his oratory. It won't be measured against a big pile of bills which he pushes through Congress. It will be measured against what he does to fight for and win, whether it be against an external enemy or the rot inside America. Black and white is fine by me, but what I'd like, more than Obama becoming a President, is for Obama to enter the history books.

Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen. He is destiny's child. But he's got a vital flaw. He does not gamble. And I don't mean in Vegas. If you ever watched a Mika Hakkinen vs. Schumaker F1 race, you'll know what I mean. Hakkinen would gamble all his chips on a stroke of genius or daring, believing in himself, while Schumaker just concentrated, race after race, on the efficiency of his car and his crew. That edge that Hakkinen had over Schumaker, sad to say - But Obama does not have it. I don't know if you can acquire such an edge, but here's hoping that Obama goes from being Black and White to being a gambler....

Oh yes. One more question. Has anyone asked Obama what he plans to do if he ends up losing?

Freelance Workers - Exploited and Stupid

Question time. Do minimum wage laws apply to freelance gigs? Nope. Why not? Stupid question. It's free market enterprise at it's worst - And best. Worst because it screws everyone, white or black, male or female, out of anything resembling a decent wage. Best because the online freelance market makes no differentiation based on the color of your skin or sex or any of the other factors normally applicable in a job market.

So here's a suggestion for the powers-that-be on Craigslist and other online job markets. Implement a minimum wage structure before it's forced on you. Make it mandatory for employers to pay a minimum level of pay. And if you want to argue about free enterprise or fiddling with market forces, I refer you to the minimum wage bill, which, after having cruised through the House, is now scheduled for debate in the U.S. Senate.

Craigslist has always been a trailblazing center for online entrepreneurs. I would like to see them kick off something like a minimum wage model for online workers, which could then spread across the internet.

You can poke your head into a hole in the sand and pretend that nothing's happening, but nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. And the time to implement an online minimum wage model is now.

Words That Work, by Frank Luntz

Following up on yesterday's 'Old rules for new writers', today we have 'Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear', from Republican pollster Frank Luntz.

Interestingly, I bumped into this book right after I read Robert Novak's column about how the Republican leadership has ostracized Luntz for ringing warning bells before the 2006 elections. Uh...Make that warning bells for the past decade.
"When Luntz in October 2005 publicly warned of rejection by voters in 2006, he was forced to deliver an abject apology before he could speak at a retreat of House Republicans held at the Library of Congress. After seven straight years on the program, Luntz was kept off last week's 2007 session at Cambridge, Md., by Boehner."

What's all the intra-party politics got to do with writing, or writers? Uh...Nothing much, so let's get to the point. Point is, look at the friggin title of the book 'Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear'. Right. So what's inside the book? Putting it simply, it's a must read - For every active political conservative....Meaning that what Luntz says, and what his audience is hearing, are two different things. He says that his book is meant for both sides of the aisle, and will help people put their words more succintly. What people are hearing is some more gospel for the right wing.

One would think that, by now, Frank Luntz would have conducted a poll to find out that people are not hearing what he intended to say. Or maybe the book says exactly what he wanted, and people are hearing exactly what he intended to say. In which case he's a liar or a hypocrite. Either way, he's toast.

Old Rules For New Writers

Stephen Wilbers, writing for the Star Tribune, Minnesota, laments the loss of a proper education for would-be writers. And he's right. Being magnificiently illiterate, I have to marvel at the great article he's put together.
"There are four rhetorical sentence types: periodic, loose, balanced (or parallel) and antithetical. If you know those sentence types and when to use them, you are more likely to write with clarity, emphasis and style. If you don't know them, you might get lucky now and then, but you are less likely to create the desired effect dependably."

If you want to know more, go read the whole piece. Or you can click here. Or here. Or here. On the other hand, to learn why a happy scribbler should be blissfully unaware of sentence structures, click here.

According to the ContraCosta Times, "Freelance videographer and blogger Josh Wolf became a full-fledged media martyr Tuesday, surpassing the U.S. record for most time spent in jail by a journalist who refused to comply with a subpoena...".
I'm sure Judith Miller, formerly Miss Run-Amok at the NYT, now a freelance journalist, must be tearing her hair apart...

And Manufacturing Talk says that "More and more people are opting to live the life of a freelance worker as businesses choose to 'flex' their skills needs...self-employment at a 10-year high, at 13.1% of the working population - a total of 3.8 million people"
Maybe more and more people are simply not able to land a regular job, and so they end up as freelancers. It's better than starving, but not by much. Just a teeny-weeny difference...So maybe just before you fall asleep tonight, think about why you wanted to be a freelancer.

Freelance Jobs 5th Feb

Here's today's freelance jobs:

Resume writers wanted. ( $80 to $100 per project )

Mortgage writers who can do a bit of research wanted. $40 per.

Wanted one creative ghostwriter. Christian writer preferred. Preferably undernourished. ( Alright. Alright. I made that one up. )

Ever been to Paris? Want to write about it? And get paid? $50 per.

Uh...Are you a business writer? There's two banks duking it out, and someone wants to do a hit piece on both of them. $600 only.

Renaissance magazine wants freelance writers to write something like this - "Hollywood or Bust! A mini-guide to relocating to Hollywood on a budget,where to live, work, eat and hang."
Muahhhaa! Ack! Cough-Cough! Sorry. Let's move on to the next job....

Got any previous experience with writing online coursework? Someone needs a freelancer to give their course material a bit of polish.

Transcriptionist needed to transcripe audio to ms-Word using express scribe. This is the kind of gig I'm looking for, tell you the truth. Unfortunately, every poster seems to want someone who's 'been there, done that'....

Tech / Gadget blogger wanted. $200 per month. This is a great gig. If you can get it.

Women's mag looking for a columnist to bloviate on stuff like marriage, troubles with in-laws, cheating boyfriends, throwing the perfect party....

Web content writers wanted.

Pundit blogger wanted. They want someone to take down Washington politicians and blowhards. Where do I sign up?

A million writers wanted for a million penguins

This 'wiki' thing is going a bit too far. Granted, it's a brilliant piece of software, which maximises the output of a collaborative effort. But can it be applied to writing? I mean, people buy a Harry Potter book because it's written by J.K. Rowling. Would you buy the eighth Harry Potter book if it was written on a Potter fan site modelled after wikipedia? And how would it compare to the previous seven by Rowling? I have no friggin clue, but the Penguin publishing house is about to find out.

A million writers wanted for "A Million Penguins"
"'Wiki' software, the force behind online encyclopedia wikipedia.com, will allow budding writers to write pieces of fiction together from all around the world.
The publisher says the goal of the software is to see if strangers can create a piece of legitimate piece of fiction together."

Go figure!

Obamamania is in full swing. The Weekly Standard, has a magnificient book review or reviews ( since it's a tale of the rise and fall of Obama as a writer between his two books ), by Andrew Ferguson. I would, under normal circumstances, avoid linking to something which belongs to Bill Kristol. But this one is different. It's poignant. It's a naked plea. A plaintive call for Obama ( The writer ) not to be buried under the weight of Obama ( The politician ).

"Has there ever been a better display of the destructive effects--the miniaturizing effects--of professional politics? For the only thing that separates the writer of the one book from the writer of the other is ten years of life as a politician..."

Generally, when I read the first few lines of an article, I know exactly where it's heading. But somewhere mid-way through the 2nd page is where this book review grabs you by the scruff of your neck and gives you a powerful jolt of the electricity which is more commonly known as 'Obamamania'. To Washington, Obama is a politician. To Andrew Ferguson, he's a writer. Now you know what that this means. "People had a way of hearing what they wanted in Mr. Obama’s words..."

In other news, Darren Zenko, writing for The Star, CA, relates a tale of reality TV, where he meets his wife. "When the clock coughed up those final minutes, the manuscripts had been handed in, the champagne had been poured and our stretched-tight psyches snapped back and launched us back into the world, we dropped back to earth on the 200-count sheets of a double in the nearby Delta, falling impossibly in love."

Ack! Tell you the truth, half-way through the piece, I kind of lost the plot. I'm still trying to figure out what's reality, what's TV and what's the story. But never mind, so long as he's a writer who went to a reality show for writers, met his future wife there, ended up in bed with her and he's now happily married to her. And all's well that ends well.

A delightful take on writers writing by Andrea Doty, writing for the Kingston Reporter. "Their creative inner writers were bursting forth, while mine was shrinking further into oblivion, contemplating a plot dominated by me curling up in bed beneath layers of down duvets, sipping a hot toddy to the sounds of my rhythmically purring kitties..."

Read the full piece. Instant cure for writers block. Guaranteed.

Freelance Jobs 2nd Feb

This you need to read, if you came here looking for freelance jobs. "Use a little common sense when looking for writing work, and don't think you have to accept whatever posters are offering. Set your rate and stick to it. Emphasize that you offer quality work at a fair price. Clients who bargain don't necessarily have bad intentions; they just don't want to pay more than they have to, and you can't really blame them for that. If one writer throws out one quote and another specifies an amount that's three times higher, of course the client is going to focus on the numbers."

Without further ado, here's the jobs:

Let's start small. $2 for one article. If you want it...

This gig doesn't pay squat, but I'm still listing it, beacuse the words 'Al Gore' and 'Presidential Campaign' are written all over it. If you want to end up as a foot-soldier for Al Gore, this one's for you.

Political blogger? Got blog? Got visitors? Want $200 / week?

Ghostwriter for blog wanted. I did fire away an email, but nothing yet...

Designer handbag bloggers wanted. Whatever...So long as they don't ask you to go around hunting crocs in Florida...

TV addict? Here's the perfect gig for you.

Gossip reporters (paid). This gig is right up my alley. In fact, I just fired off an email. You know, what I really want to do is opposition research for political campaigns.....Sigh! Well, never hurts to dream, huh?

Freelance press release writer wanted.

Are you a ghostwriter? Seriously? Not just a wannabe? Then you need an agent...

I wanted to make a seperate post for discussing foot-in-mouth serial plagiarist Joe Biden's articulate comments. Unfortunately, this is not a political blog, and I don't have the time to maintain two blogs, so this brief comment will have to do. It started off with a ruckus over 'clean', but it's gradually shifting over to 'articulate'. I predict that this is not the end of the fall-out. Neither for Biden, nor for Obama. It's going to drag on and on until the MSM squeeze every last drop of life out of Biden's campaign.....

Telecommuting Meet Career Advancement

Brian Reid, a.k.a RebelDad, writing for the WashingtonPost about this survey, asks a couple of good questions. "So if this is an arrangement that could work for so many, why the conviction that telecommuting is a career-imperiling choice? Is this just a matter of changing attitudes, or is there some hidden truth to the anti-telecommuter argument?"

I guess it depends on your definition of what a career is. If you're a writer, or columnist, and you get to work from home, are you going to be able to go up the food chain and become an editor if you still stay at home? Publishers expect their editors to report to the office and make sure that everything's hunky-dory. Let's say that you and one of your co-writers, who continues to commute everyday, both apply for an editorial position. All other things being equal, who's the one with a better chance of being promoted?

Your job definition may be to perform a set of particular tasks, but there are some things which you necessarily have to prove you can do, before you get promoted. One of them being the ability to take care of stuff which falls above your pay grade. That is something which you can't do or generally won't do, if you're sitting in your mom's basement. I mean, a telecommuter's notion of a job is to complete assignments. You have no idea what's going on, or what problems who is facing in the office. How are you supposed to help out if you have no idea that something needs to be done, which is not being done, and which you can do.

End of the day, a telecommuter's future prospects are limited because you do not take the time to listen to your boss. Listening might involve being at the receiving end of a tantrum, offering support over personal problems or just offering to help out with something. This is something which a telecommuter is unlikely to do. So, if you're a writer, a writer you will remain. Unless you develop a close working relationship with your immediate boss and your co-workers, which enables you to tackle all the above mentioned points, in your pyjamas.

So now you what you need to be, in addition to being a telecommuter, if you expect to get that raise....An agony aunt.

Browser's Wrist

What happens when you spend too much time typing in front of your computer? Your wrist gives up on you. I'm typing with my left hand, and it' a pain in the ...wrist. So if you wandered in here looking for some freelance jobs that aren't stale and a week old, you can curse my wrist. I've been doing the same since yesterday. And I have a deadline for 4 articles by Sunday....

Anna Quindlen - Uber WAHM

Anna Quindlen's biography in brief:

• 1981-1994 - New York Times Columnist and Op-Ed writer.
  
• 1992 - Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
  
• Author of 4 best selling novels Object Lessons, One True Thing, Black and Blue and Blessings.
  
• Another book A Short Guide to A Happy Life has sold more than a million copies.

And she ain't done yet. She's still a prolific scribbler. But that's not why I zeroed in on her. Any one of the above listed achievements would be enough to make her a success story. I mean, how many work at home moms you know are columnists for the NYT or Newsweek? And how many of you have sold over a million copies of your book? And any talk about a Pulitzer would be a pipedream.

But is this enough for Anna Quindlen? Nope. She wants to deliver some more, and she's does it. In spades. Everyday, for the past two weeks, I've read at least 5 columns about the 2008 Presidential elections. What's McCain doing, what's Hillary not doing, what Obama should be doing, and what the heck is Biden doing?

Today I bumped into the first truly sensible column focusing on the wannabe Presidents. And the writer is one Anna Quindlen, writing for Newsweek.
"As winter turns to summer, Iowa to New Hampshire, candidates to nominees, many myths could be dispelled, or harden into the stuff of conventional wisdom....

Print and broadcast are full of pundits, most rooted deep in the Metroliner nexus of Washington and New York, who are asked to say what it all means."

What's impressive is that inspite of being trapped in the ivory tower amongst the NYT and Washington bloviators, in spite of being a best-selling author, she's prefectly attuned to reality. I'd like to see her debate Hillary....

Man Of Letters

Are you a script writer? Maybe a non-fiction writer? Novelist? Essay writer? Copywriter? Uh...Blogger? Why do you have to be any one of these? Can't you just be a writer?

This is British writer Jonathan Raban's main gripe against the new century, as told by Anna Mundow, writing for The Boston Globe.

He seems to take particular joy in being a 'man of letters'. Well, I looked it up a bit, and it seems that it's meant to refer to anyone who doesn't want to ( at the risk of sounding like John Kerry ) end up as a grunt in Iraq.

But I do get the point. Writing is not like building a furnace or assembling a microchip. There's no defined methodology. If anything, writers are rewarded for breaking the mold. So today you have the urge to respond to the latest thesis on middle east politics and neocon principles, put out by the Council on Foreign Relations. Tomorrow you may have the urge to write about spaceage ninja turtles. End of the day, you're still a writer.

Self Publishing - In Vain or Vanity?

Ambrose Musiyiwa, writing for BlogCritics, writes about the future and the realities of self-publishing. The grey line between POD and vanity publishers, readers' response to self-published books and comments from self-published writers. Makes for some great reading.

"Irving Karchmar says, "It can be done! It just takes work, like anything else in life."

Writers who are contemplating self-publishing need to investigate the industry thoroughly and make sure their work has been sufficiently edited and critiqued before they take it to the printers. They should also be prepared to market and promote their books aggressively."

See ' Print On demand - Free ' if you want some more information about POD publishers.

Suggested course of action:
1. Write book.
2. Post an ad on Craigslist that you need a pro editor to go through your book with a toothcomb.
3. POD
4. Promote

The dificult parts are 1 & 4. And I can't help you with either. Well, maybe a little bit with 4. Promoting a book is nowadays more of a science than an art. Just check if you're doing it all. Flooding book reviewers online with emails touting your book. Even a ratio of 1:10 will get you a huge number of reviews. Youtube video promos. Do it the old-fashioned way. Word-of-mouth.

End of the day, if your book is good, you have a good chance of hitting the mark. But it is true that with a crush of self-published books hitting the market, it will take time to weed out the trash from well,...your trash.

Freelance Jobs 27th Jan

The focus of the previous post was how people are making money off wikipedia. Well, here you go: Grant Writer needed for Wikipedia documentary.

Freelance copywriter wanted.

Web content writers wanted.

Looking for a ghostwriter.

Work at home, surf the web, google to your hearts content, do a teeny-weeny amount of research and get paid for it.

SEO article writers wanted.

Some more web content writers wanted.

Writers wanted.

Pay per post gig for bloggers. More like pay per article, but what the heck...

In other news, NYPost Page Six blacksheep Jared Paul Stern was told he would not be facing charges for supposedly demanding payment in return for favorable coverage. And journalists in China are supposedly on a blackmailing spree. The business, it seems, is so lucrative, that people are posing as journalists, just to be able to squeeze some money out of some hapless evil personality.

One, we can conclude that this is not a good time to be a high-profile white collar criminal. Second, a lot more people are going to want to become journalists. Before, the only reward was the joy of bringing the truth out into the open. Now, it seems, journalism is a really rewarding profession...

Have Cash - Will Pay For Wikipedia Writeup

If there's anything John Kerry and Microsoft have in common, other than bundles of cash lying around, it is a tendency to shove their own feet solidly into their own mouths. The latest online smackdown? Microsoft offers cash to a blogger, Rick Jelliffe, to edit wikipedia entries. End result? No edits, but a new entry in wikipedia, which says that Microsoft offered cash to Rick Jelliffe.

AP writer Brian Bergstein asks a stupid question "Should Wikipedia writers be paid?" Of course, they shouldn't be paid. Can you make money as a wikipedia writer? Another stupid question. Of course you can. Isn't there something wrong here? Stop being dense, huh? This is the real world.

If it's good, people start looking for ways to make money off it. It's called the support or service industry. Same as adwords consultants and ebay consultants, there's bound to be 'wikipedia' consultants. Debating if it's right or wrong is all fine, but just like with the US congress, reality is far ahead. Wikipedia is no longer an innocent virgin, but digital real-estate soiled by massive egos and a hint of over-reaching. Their arrogance is breath-taking. 'We can do no wrong because we are the voice of the people.'

Far as I'm concerned, wikipedia is a great help for getting all your information on one page, instead of googling it and looking up a hundred pages. But it's by no means indispensable. Dmoz is lying in ruins today. Tomorrow, someone else will come up with a brighter model, and wikipedia will be toast, not toast of the year.

Mini Freelance Jobs Post

Wanted to do some political steam venting, but just to stay on topic, before I start unloading, here's a few jobs:

A Non-American charity is looking for a writer who can pull at heart-strings ( and purse-strings ). In short, a grant writer for a con job.

Wanted blogger, who spends all his time behind a wheel, parenting. If you do that, and you still have time to search for, find, apply and work on a blogging gig, go for it.

Freelance writers wanted for entertainment industry mag. Most likely you'll have to be a paparazzi disguised as a freelance writer.

Data entry gig.

Non-US citizen living in the U.S.A.? This writing gig is for you.

Virtual assistant wanted to answer calls and schedule appointments.

Wnat to have people slam the phone down in your ear? Telecommuting, work from home, juicy, pay per call, uh....marketing position available.

Just one more. Hypnotherapist wants a telecommuting home based personal assistant to make and take calls. Should be fine, so long as he doesn't start practising on you....

That's it. I wanted to unload about the Iraq war, Army Lt. Gen. David H . Petraeus, Scooter Libby and scapegoats, but I guess you get the point, so I'll leave it at that.

Health Plans For Freelance Contractors

Time's Joe Klein says that he bought health insurance on his own. "Sorry, but I did, during two extended and pretty painful periods--as a free-lancer in the early 1980s and as a New Yorker staff writer--yes, the venerable old mag doesn't bestow health insurance on its writers--in the 1990s. It was ridiculously expensive, with limited coverage--group plans like Time-Warner's have a lot more benefits--and a mind-numbing, ultra-skeptical bureaucracy."

So is there a special health plan for 'freelancers'? I mean, there should be. There's a health plan tailor made to con just about everything and everyone. Here you go:

1. Flexible health freelance - What is it?
2. Health insurance coverage options for contractors
3. The necessity of health insurance for freelancers and the self-employed
4. Health insurance for freelancers

And here's what Medicaid has to say about freelancers in the media:

"Representative of the news media means a person actively gathering information for an entity organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the public. News media entities include television and radio broadcasters. publishers of periodicals who distribute their products to the general public or who make their products available for purchase or subscription by the general public, and entities that may disseminate news through other media (e.g.. electronic dissemination of text). We will treat freelance journalists as representatives of a new media entity if they can show a likelihood of publication through such an entity. A publication contract is such a basis, and the requester's past publication record may show such a basis..."

So....Let's say you want to be treated as a journalist rather than a freelancer. You know what to do, right? Cough up a couple of past contract agreements, get letters from a few prospective publishers and you're no longer an outcast freelancer. You're a new-media journalist.

Leszek Kolakowski

It takes great courage to write what you truly believe. It takes an extraordinary writer to inspire others to believe. Leszek Kolakowski, polish writer, carrying the torch of freedom, has been gifted with both courage and inspiring prose.

"Kolakowski's copious works include The Priest and the Jester (1959), a collection of essays that criticize all orthodoxy and dogmatism, and Towards a Marxist Humanism (1970), in which he stresses human freedom of thought and choice as essential to life." - The Jerusalem Post

Leszek Kolakowski ( born 23 October 1927 in Radom, Poland ) is a Polish philosopher and historian of ideas. Kolakowski on religion and the meaning of life, "A hypothetical world from which the sacred had been swept away would admit of only two possibilities: vain fantasy that recognizes itself as such, or immediate satisfaction which exhausts itself. It would leave only the choice proposed by Baudelaire, between lovers of prostitutes and lovers of clouds: those who know only the satisfactions of the moment and are therefore contemptible, and those who lose themselves in otiose imaginings, and are therefore contemptible. Everything is then contemptible, and there is no more to be said" - Wikipedia

Tells you that he's more of a philosopher than a writer or social activist. That is what lies at the core of his strength and character. He's got his sticky fingers on one hand dipping deep into the abstract, from which flow his conviction, his faith and his love of the individual and freedom. And all this while the fingers on his other hand are busy noting down the flow of history and the surrounding reality.

The result is a writer whose work is a fine blend of real-world problems, with a bedrock of unshakable faith and respect for the individual. Which is why Leszek Kolakowski was awarded The Jerusalem Prize. He is also the winner of the first John W. Kluge Prize from The Library of Congress for 'Lifetime Achievement in the Human Sciences'.

Recommended Reading

Perks and drawbacks of becoming a freelance copywriter, By Mario Churchill
"Freelancers are their own time-keepers, the best advantage they have over the ones tied inside a cubicle..."

Serial freelance contracts don't benefit anybody, By Jeremy Sice
"Unfortunately, permanent middle and senior designers are becoming a rare breed as swarms of freelances fly around."

Art Buchwald - A Jew, a writer, a celebrity and a mensch, By Dov Burt Levy
"At the end of the talk I knew for sure that this man, beside doing his work well, loved and enjoyed it."

Who would want a writer for a brother? By A N Wilson
"Not all writers are pleasant. Many would have echoed A L Rowse, who was rightly beaten for shouting, aged five, 'You're all fools, and I'm not' to his working-class brothers."

Notes from north of the border, By Times Online, UK
"Writers and musicians have always been drawn to each other’s disciplines. The latter have repeatedly found inspiration in literature, just as authors have drawn on music to influence their own work."

Freelance Jobs 21st Jan

A recent ad asking for a writer in Craigslist said "Even if you're not published, you need to have passion". How do you inject passion into a 'howto' for reducing credit debt? Because that's the kind of article requests I get.

Well, you could take inspiration from the mystery visitor who leaves "a half-empty bottle of cognac and three red roses at the grave on Poe's birthday".

Anyway, here's today's freelance jobs:

If you're unpublished, but the passion's bubbling out of your nose, this gig is for you.

Got delusions of grandeur? Well, here's your one and only chance to get paid for it, unless you happen to be a member of the US senate.

SEO guys who blog wanted. Or Bloggers who can do SEO. I think.

Someone wants you to litter the internet with traces of their product. Forum and message board poster wanted.

Some more buzz marketers wanted. Well, I prefer that to ' swarm of locusts', which is what I heard one bunch of forum posters referred to as, by the regulars of the forum.

Wanted a humor writer for sketches.

Get paid to blog. $5 per post.

Web content writer wanted. Small pay, bulk work.

65+ writers wanted. Yeah, that's what I thought too. Unfortunately ( depends on which side of the hill you are ), he's looking for writers over 65....

Writers who know a thing or two about international students can get hold of a writing gig here.

Want to earn $100 per week for sending emails from home? No, this ain't a scam. It's a real CSR job. You have to respond to customers' emails. Catch is that you need to know a lot about New York.

Essay writer wanted. Make sure he flunks if you do get the gig.

Another copy writer wanted to con international students.

Audio transcriptionist wanted. $200 gig.

Writers needed. ASAP. And that's all the ad says. Nothing else.

More delusions of grandeur. They want hacks who can see the big picture.

Freelance writers wanted for women's lifestyle mag.

Hillary Clinton jumps into the ring. Going to be a really, really great year for political columnists. I don't really care who's going to be the next President, but the media is going to make a lot of hay while Hill and WhosYourMama duke it out.

Literary Fingerprint

No one is safe. Shakespeare has been caught red-handed, ink-stained fingers and all. "A team of researchers that includes scholars from the University of Massachusetts Amherst is using computerized analysis of the writing of William Shakespeare to dispel lingering doubts about his authorship of many works and to trace the outlines of his total body of compositions... The Shakespeare 'fingerprint' also provides strong evidence that he, and not other authors, wrote the works generally believed to be his..." - Physorg.com

So now we know that Shakespeare is the perp responsible for 'Arden of Faversham'. I think there should a national 'literary fingerprint' database. So any writer who refuses to acknowledge his crappy novel can be held to account.

Margaret Boyes writes about wannabe author Skip Hollingsworth's quest to get published. 42 rejection notices and counting...

And in other news, medical transcription work outsourced to consultants in India has landed King's College Hospital into a steaming tub of hot water.

A Big Pile Of Rubbish

Who's the biggest slob, living in the middle of a massive pile of rubbish? That would be 'you', as in Time's Person Of The Year. The internet has become a big pile of rubbish. Nobody reads anything except news and geek stuff. And yet, we all navigate and gingerly step over the billions of pages of rubbish, and leave it to someone else to clean up the mess.

Well, Hello - There is no one else. It's you that made the mess, and it's you that needs to clean it up. According to a survey of technorati results, 50% of blogs for 'E-Consultancy' were spam blogs or splogs. A quick google search for 'work at home' gave me the following first 100 results:

Number of scam alerts and government advisory results: 13
Number of services asking for money to get you a work at home job : 22
Outdated news : 3

That makes for 38 results, out of a total of 100, which are absolutely unnecessary, in the sense that if there were no scam sites asking for money, there would be no advisory listing to avoid scams, thus eliminating 35% of unwanted rubbish, leaving space for 35% more genuine and informative sites.

Let me ask you something. If you had 10 keys which looked the same, at first glance, in your pocket, and you had to try each one everytime you wanted to open the door, what would you do?

What we need to do here is clean up the internet. Why does wikipedia rank so well in google? Simply because there is no page on wikipedia which is not what it is meant to be. And who is it policed by? You. Unless the internet, as a whole, follows this principle, it's not going to be in business much longer.

There are over 1 billion internet users in the world, and that number is going up rapidly. The U.S.A. has exported many dirty habits, including gas guzzlers and junk food, to various parts of the world, and we're just beginning to understand the implications. Let's not make the same mistake with something as magnificient as the internet.

Telecommuter? You're toast!

According to a new survey by Korn / Ferry International, "So-called 'telecommuters' are less likely to advance than peers who work in traditional office settings, according to 61 percent of the 1,300 global executives surveyed."
Aargh! I give up my tiny office cubicle for a perch in my mom's spacious basement, and now they tell me I'm a deadbeat without a career.

Arthur Black, writing for the Parksville Qualicum News, asks a good question. "So you want to be a writer?....Being a writer isn’t like being a structural engineer or a biophysicist — or even a long-distance truck driver or a TV repairman. You have to go to school to get those jobs. You have to take examinations and pass rigorous tests. On the other hand, anyone can be a writer. All you have to do is … write. Right?"
Riiiiight, and it helps if you ran away from your own wedding or if you're Britney's ex-husband or if you're an un-convicted murderer or a candidate for President.

Speaking of Presidential candidates, Obama-Take-That-Mama just made it official. It's going to be a heckuva ride. Bring out the popcorn.

Freelance Jobs 17th Jan

Paid forum posters wanted.

Freelance writers needed to do ghost writing.

Writer wanted to write-up descriptions for real-estate website.

Garden writers wanted to write up short paragraphs.

Real estate copy writer wanted.

Transcription gig. Data entry into word from audio interviews.

Freelance translators wanted. Continuous jobs.

Freelance writers needed. Upto $100 per article.

Reality TV show review writers wanted.

Got blog? Get paid.

NYC Publication looking for a freelance writer.

Snarky non-fiction writer wanted.

First person essays about garden & hearth wanted.

Laptop Correspondents

The MSM is doomed. It's the dawn of a new age of citizen journalism, where politicians are blogging and every blogger is a local correspondent. With a camera in every mobile phone, wireless internet and laptops, everything from Saddam Hussein's execution to Britney Spears' new boyfriend is being reported live by 'laptop correspondents'.

As of now, it goes straight to youtube, and spreads virally. There's not much pay involved. Just fame. But that's about to change. Where the audience goes, so do the ad dollars. And where the ad dollars go, the jobs follow. Just as blogging and google news pulled away ad dollars from print magazines, laptop journalism is peeling away jobs from MSM magazines to local writers.

Time, Inc. is about to cut a 150 jobs across it's array of publications. All these 150 jobs are about to land in the hands of local correspondents working from home with a laptop and a mobile camera. No office expenses, no heathcare, no retirement benefits. Only a fat check per story, pictures and videos blogged in.

My point with all this bloviating? Get up off your butt, get a mobile phone with a camera, if you don't have one already. Go wireless. And start writing and submitting stories, pictures and videos from in and around your neighbourhood to various print magazines. It's the in-thing. And you'll be the latest recruit to the army of laptop correspondents, working from home for Time, USA Today, US weekly and of course, your own tiny blog.

So just who is hiring laptop correspondents? Click here and here to find out more.

Dear Limey Writers

No, I didn't make a mistake. This is about English writers who managed to stuff their own feet solidly and completely into their own crevices.

"Visit an American university, bump into random students in the corridor and loudly call each one ‘asshole’. Then measure their reactions. This is what a team of psychologists did in a controlled experiment at the University of Michigan". Paul Robinson, starts off with inside the frying pan, and quickly jumnps into the fire.

Comments to his above post:

"This is complete and unadulterated Bovine manure. I'm from the North and if I was accousted and sworn at by a stranger I would feel compelled to give some instruction in manners, and I would do it with my boot."

"Hmm, another conclusion to the study could be that Northerners 1) accept that they are assholes or 2) they are too wimpy to stand up for themselves."

And in yet another case of the Brits landing in hot water, just before the 2004 elections, The Guardian organized something called Operation Clark County, trying to get their readers to send letters to voters in Ohio and convince them to vote Democratic. Here's a few choice responses to the letters:

Dear Limey assholes

"...Each email someone gets from some arrogant Brit telling us why to NOT vote for George Bush is going to backfire, you stupid, yellow-toothed pansies ... I don't give a rat's ass if our election is going to have an effect on your worthless little life. I really don't. If you want to have a meaningful election in your crappy little island full of shitty food and yellow teeth, then maybe you should try not to sell your sovereignty out to Brussels and Berlin, dipshit. Oh, yeah - and brush your goddamned teeth, you filthy animals..."

Consider this: stay out of American electoral politics. Unless you would like a company of US Navy Seals - Republican to a man - to descend upon the offices of the Guardian, bag the lot of you, and transport you to Guantanamo Bay, where you can share quarters with some lonely Taliban shepherd boys.


To read all the replies to the letters, visit The Guardian.