Spinning

I do not understand why people agree to spin their content. As a writer, one of the most frustrating things in life is being forced to rewrite something that you've put serious time and effort into. I don't mind editing based on someone's notes, but spinning is just tedious and silly.

It's a product of greed. Spinning means rewriting the a sentence without changing the content. Example:

-Dave wrote a story the other day.
-The other day Dave wrote a story.

A lot of people pay good money for crap like that. It's baffling to me. I suppose the point is so they can resell whatever you're providing them so it will pass Copyscape. Could you imagine being commissioned to not only write a 1K word blog article, but then having to spin it five times? Yeah. FIVE. I just came across an offer to do that exact thing.

To that I say, "Sit on this and spin."

WWiR

Another really busy week, and would you look at that? I actually managed to fit in some original writing (and sold some of it, too).

Did a bunch more content for Epic Polls, and four short stories. I'll only talk about three of them, though, because who knows what will ever happen with the fourth. If something ever comes of it I'll bring it up again, but I won't be holding my breath. These were all done on commission, but I'm not always able to determine what happens to these things once they leave my email.

First, we have "The Ravaged Earth." This little piece is concerned about just how desperate a man can get when the end of the world has actually come to pass. He's linked up with a group of survivors, but the story is more about how he's able to continue getting up every day.

Next, we have "The War for Internatioanl Intelligence." I was asked by a repeat client to pen the first in a potential series of shorts that feature a new government team of spooks. This particular team is called MTU and populated by six agents, three American and three British. It was a fun piece to write and I hope he places another order soon.

Finally, we have "The Wolf of Black Creek." It's technically unfinished, and I doubt that I'll ever get back to it. The client wanted me to write this story 1,000 words at a time so he could review the progress. I sent him the first portion and he complained that it was double-spaced instead of single-spaced. Anyone who has ever opened a modern word processing program knows what an easy change this is to make. He demanded that I change it and when I offered to walk him through the process so he could know how to do it in the future, he got really rude with me. Haven't heard from him since. So...yeah. It is what it is.

WWiR

Wow, what a week! Lots of work happening around here, so let's run down the list, shall we?

Lots more content for Get Exlcusiv! Go and comment, please, because this guy pays me very well. He's also hooked me up with some friends of his that are going to launch a new site soon, and I've been talking to them about providing web content.

Working on more content for Epic Polls, which is about as basic as my services get. This is easy money, and the guy that owns the site seems to enjoy my work, because he keeps ordering more. I found this guy through Craigslist, which goes to show that all those listings aren't out to get ya.

Wrote up a petition for Amazing Mutts, another regular client. Some serious stuff here. There's a guy endorsed by Animal Planet that is making a lot of people angry. I researched it, and they do seem to have a case here. But...I'm just the writer. I don't know anything about this legal stuff.

I edited some brochures for DistincVision Marketing. Nice guy, but I don't really get how his company can do what they claim if he needs someone else to edit his material. Maybe he just needs a second set of eyes to catch his mistakes.

Designed a sales page for Legs Gear, which seems like a great deal if you live in Australia.

Got a commission story finished called "The Ravaged Earth." This guy is putting out an ebook and asked me to pitch in a story. No word on when the ebook will come out, but I'll be sure to announce it and promote the crap out of it when it rolls around. The story is set ten years after your typical infection-wipes-out-population scenario. Just a quick piece that the buyer plotted himself.

Also started up my NaNoWriMo entry for the year, but there is just no way I'll get it done. Absolutely none. But, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I just like getting the emails from famous writers that I respect and read. My story, "MonstroCity," is about a seven year old necromancer with her undead bodyguard as a supporting character. His name - Frank the Tank. He's an undead mob legbreaker that the little necromancer has coerced into helping her defeat a larger magical problem.

On the audio production front, I cut a spot for some Balaji guy who wants to help you with your karma, worked up a spot for List A Business, another spot for Mintmicro Computer Repairs, a spot for Movember, a spot for Rate Locking,