Busy, busy, busy

A rough week around these parts, as I lost two days of productivity due to a family funeral. It was a sad event, but we're through it now and it's time to get back to daily living.

Today turned out to be an awesomely awesome day full of sales and surprises. I've scored a steady gig writing web copy for a real estate marketing company based in Florida. I've been working up page content for brokerages around the country (from South Huntington Beach to Brainerd), and it's proving to be quite lucrative. So much so that I'm thinking of outsourcing some material. There's a lot of writing to be done here, and it's getting paid for, but I don't have all day to get it done anymore.

I also got a lovely e-mail alerting me that three stories I wrote last year were purchased by All Access HD, LLC. I call it lovely because it was more money than I was expecting to get, with a promise to look at any more material I send over. Stories sold include the following:

Citizen Cog and the Vampire Society
One Life to Lose
Midnight Mistress; Dangerous Damsel

When the releases come around in the associated anthologies I'll put the word out. And have you noticed the LLC attached to the end of the buyer? I'm thinking of going that route myself, but I'm not sure on what all the benefits would be other than not getting destroyed by the government for tax reasons.

Hey! I'm still here!

So, all of the commission writing has been taking off. I'm writing short stories, articles, and SEO material for more sites and ebooks than I can name. It's becoming quite lucrative. So much that I'm actually thinking of outsourcing. Not sure if that's plausible right now, as I would have to find some efficient writers that I trust, but we'll see how it goes.

Freelancing work has tripled in the last two months. That's not blowing smoke. I'm running out of free time, and my day job is only getting busier.

The latest thing I've worked to see the world wide web thingy-ma-bob is a nice compilation of work. I wrote two short stories for this Facebook page, which is a business selling computer hardware. I also was comissioned to record and produce audio version of my stories, plus three others. Check it out, some cool stuff (even if it is technically propaganda for the stuff they're shilling).

Lots more stuff brewing right now, and lots of submissions sent out recently, too. I'll get around to talking about them when I get the time.

Ah. Time. Where does it all go? I think as a people we ought to consider going to the 27 Hour Day.

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,

NaNo Alert!

Holy crap...NaNoWriMo begins in just over an hour. I need to get my head in the game. I need a character. I need a plot. I need to find that bean counter link.

50K words in one month. I can do this. I have done this. Several times. I can do it again!

Maybe a book about invisible secret agents that have an affinity for cookies. Or a novel featuring a murderous ugly duckling looking for revenge against those who marked him with him unfortunate moniker. Perhaps a book about a horse. A zombie horse.

WWiR

Lots of sales this week, a few commissions, and a bunch of web content. It's another busy week at this casa, and the new job is putting some straing on my writing time.

At my old job I had all time to write. I was able to do two things at once, but now I'm limited to just working on my writing during my lunch hour. I've been staying up late, often until 2am, to get production squeezed in as well as some writing time. It's rough, but it's worth it.

I did more content for http://www.getexclusiv.com/, http://www.mintmicro.com/, and a few bits of research for a collection of places that aren't worth mentioning. I produced spots for a few UK companies, and even got in touch with some of my old DJ coworkers at Forever Broadcasting to do some lines for me. It's nice to have a network of productive, talented people.

"Stranded With A Killer" got an overhaul and I'm starting to look for places to sell the story to once it's done. I'll take suggestions! Keep in mind, this is a space noir murder mystery pulp adventure...with chicks. Got to have chicks, man, or Joel McHale won't pay attention.

BY THE WAY - Stay far away from The Rag. I inquired about their submission process and the editor, Daniel Reilly, wrote me back to tell me that online submissions must pay a sum of $3.00 for consideration. WTF? Are you serious? You want me to pay for you to take a look at something you're thinking of buying?

Oh, wait, it's cool because they offer people who make online submissions $4.00 off a yearly subscription! Well, that makes it all better, doesn't it! You still have to pay the remaing amount for the yearly subscription, of course. They claim to pay their writers upwards of $250 per piece, which I find highly unlikely since they've only had one issue released.

This is obviously a scheme to get novice writer to give them money. I doubt a third of the submissions are even looked at. Don't waste your time, save your money, and send your hard work into a site that will actually take you seriously as a professional.

WWiR

Scored another recurring gig, this one writing web content for Epic Polls. The clients are racking up enough that I'm now offering some of them a labeling of "Preferred Client." Basically, if you're on the PC list and you need me to do something for you, I bump all of my other work back and focus on your needs. There's no cost associated with this labeling, it's just an incentive to keep the decent paying clients coming back.

Did more work for Get Exclusiv!, Mintmicro Computer Repairs, RE Cloud, Rock Weddings, and some research for a guy that's looking into black magic (not kidding on that last one). Once again, I didn't get much done in the way of original writing this week. With the new job and all I just haven't had time. The paying gigs come first these days.

NaNoWriMo is coming up in under two weeks. Any takers? I've done it for the last four years, and usually had a great time. It's a little stressful, but it is a lot of fun and very motivational. I might need to use it for a way to get through the rest of my novel. Lord knows I need the motivation to get it done.

My own personal social network

I've been pulling more and more work out of Craigslist ads. There's a high volume of competition, but I've managed to sign a few recurring clients on a monthly basis. This week's pulls include writing some polling questions. Boring as anything, but the money is right, and we all know how much of a sell-out I truly am.

I also got a real nice lead from my best recurring client. The guy that runs Get Exclusiv! hooked me up with some of his friends that are looking to launch their own project. It's a relationship site, and who knows more about relationships than me? No one, that's who. I'm da man. Yeah, buddy.

I think I hear my wife laughing at me from somewhere in the house.

Manic Monday

It's only Monday, and I've already gotten a lot lined up for the week. Two rejections (for Drunk Tank, and Citizen Cog), thus leading to two submissions. Drunk Tank was sent to The Drabblecast and Citizen Cog to...I haven't decided yet. But I will. Tonight.

I also began a short fiction piece that I was commissioned to write, entitled The Non-Life of Christopher Mahoney. Just a quick flash on the keyboard, really.

And I also signed a guy to SEO his realty site. Pays a hundred smackers, so hooray for $$$.