Earning with Blogspot

I've got some new work sub-contracted to me this month. From now on I'll be posting on some other blogspot blogs as well as this one. I had  been writing some of these anyway with someone else doing the posting, and now this has been passed to me as well, and will earn me a few extra pounds each month.

I'm able to do it because I am so familiar with blogspot through writing this blog. I started this week actually after being passed the log in details. For one of them I wasn't able to log in immediately and got a message asking me to verify my identity because I was posting from an unusual location. Although it was hassle, I found it quite reassuring that Google actually does have some security practices.

The most time consuming part of this is finding relevant images that can be used for free. If you are a regular reader here you'll know that I use pics from Wikimedia Commons quite a lot, but I don't always find what I need there. I signed up for Dreamstime and bought some credits when I found a pic I wanted thinking I could buy it for "as little as 49p" according to the blurb. Of course it actually used up nearly £3 of my credit. Once my £10 or so is used up I probably won't fall for that again.

One of the blog posts I drafted had a doggie element (surprise, surprise) and I was able to use one of my own pics of Jade. She'll be famous soon.

Hospitals Again

Boy, do I need a break.  I've just finished writing 350 words all about plastering, and now I have to get my head around another 350 all about tiling. Feeling a bit tired actually, having been up since 0530 today, which is at least two hours earlier than usual for me. Well, I am supposed to be retired, you know.

The reason for the early rising was to take my hubby to the local hospital where he is to have a lump removed from a salivary gland. I thought they'd let me stay a while with him, as they did when we took my son for his last operation, but to a different hospital. But we spent about five minutes standing up in a busy waiting area where all the seats were taken, then his name was called and I had to leave.

If I'd known that was to happen I'd have left the car in a no pay zone and not had to pay £1.80 for 19 minutes in the car park. Once when I had day surgery and had to leave the car in the hospital car park for just over six hours it cost nearly £10, which we thought was really extortionate, so we avoid parking there when we can. When I go back to see hubby after his op, I'll probably leave the car in the Sainsburys car park and walk the rest of the way. On my return, if I spend a fiver in the store, I'll get £1.60 back for parking.

Anyway I'm left waiting for news, so I thought I ought to try and get on with some work. I still have three of these 350 word site pages to write by Wednesday.

In the meantime, here's what I see behind me if I turn around when I'm working at my computer - one silly, up-side-down dog - who's promised a bath after her afternoon walk.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Boy, am I getting writer's cramp. Of course that is now a figurative expression. It used to apply to pen pushing, now it's more a case of RSI - repetitive strain injury - or Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.

Last week, in addition to my normal workload, I had to think up, and write up, topics for five articles for a customer's website. They had to be at least 400 words and had to be littered with keywords from supplied lists.  This week I have to write 5 blog posts on the same topics at around 300 words with different keywords from the same lists. Next week it's rewriting each of the original articles twice. Not terribly exciting, but fairly representative of a freelancers lot.

I'm not having much time for Constant Content these days, with all this going on.  But some exciting changes are happening over there.  They've introduced writer pools for specific categories, and I've got myself into several of these, which are throwing up some interesting requests.

It's not easy to write much for this blog either. But one of my pals at Writelink might do a guest post for me, which will take off some of the pressure. It will be a refreshing change for my readers, too, to have a view from someone else. He doesn't write non-fiction but has quite a few books for sale at Amazon and Smashwords, so here's hoping he'll follow through with his offer.  Watch this space.

Working Through a Cold

I didn't get to do my Friday post this week. That was because I spent the whole day, until about 10 pm, researching and writing about Salzburg, a city that I have never visited. It was in response to a public request on the Constant Content site, from a customer that I have sold to before.

I love doing this kind of work, where I learn a great deal about my subject. As usual I got fired up about it and wish I could visit myself. At least it's easier to get to Austria than China from here.

This is the third article I submitted to CC this week, all responding to requests from customers. The first two were very easy, about products on a website, and they were snapped up overnight, along with another which has been sitting around on the site for a few months. I hope this one goes that way as well, though I know this customer generally takes his time selecting what to buy. Of course it has to go through the site review process first, so I hope my own editing and proofing wasn't too impaired by my rather long working day.

I've managed all this work while feeling very under par after going down with that cold on Friday night last week. The weekend was horrendous. I had to do laundry and go out to the shops on Saturday, after which I crawled back to bed, where I spent most of Sunday. It's been one of those really incapacitating bugs that first make you ache all over, especially your face and head, then settles in your chest and back, sets you off in coughing fits, and results in losing your voice.

One of the benefits of freelancing from home as a writer is that you can work in any state of dress or undress at whatever time you like. It's not necessary to be presentable or even to communicate with anyone else most of the time. Anyway, feeling unwell all week doesn't seem to have affected my productivity, even if I have been a little slower than usual, and the ironing board is still up in the living room with piles of stuff waiting in line to be pressed.

The one thing I regret is that this has been the first week since we came back from our hols that the sun has been beckoning me outside, and I just couldn't get up the energy.

Freelancing and Blogging

My last two articles about China sold within twentyfour hours of being showcased at Constant Content. I had offered them to a customer who made public requests for a) something on Chinese astrology and b) Chinese cultural articles, including travel. When I made my offers, I also queried another idea I had about Chinese culture, which was favourably received, so I’m still working with my Chinese hat on. And I’m putting in a lot of hours, far more than the fees I’m getting warrant really, because China is outside my experience. Really fascinating, though.

I’m quite happy about staying with China for now, but I usually like to flit from topic to topic and have the benefit of that variety in my working life. Researching different areas keeps me stimulated so I can produce my best work, and it’s one of the advantages of freelancing. It can actually limit my success, but I try to balance it with what seems to be hot in the market as well.

Being in the blog world definitely helps. I get all sorts of ideas for articles as I surf around the entrecard circuit and see what other people are getting up to. And since I’ve been blogging, I’ve hardly dried up at all. I mean no more writers’ block since I’ve disciplined myself to think up something to post in one of my two blogs at least five days a week.

So I’ve more than one reason to love blogging.

Do Writers Ever Switch Off?

I’ve just read an article about freelancers and holidays. It seems that most acknowledge they a) need their breaks and time to switch off, and b) fear the results of taking holidays away from their homes and computers, ie losing out on potential work because they are not there to answer the phone or collect emails.

Many people find ways to do this anyway, even when they are half way across the world. When I was away recently I resolutely walked past the internet café every day, but I admit it was tempting. I did turn on my mobile for a short period each day, to check for messages and texts, but that was really in case family wanted to get in touch.

What I did have with me, and use, was a notebook and some pens. The writer in me simply has to record what we’ve done and where we’ve been. And at some point I have to write out the ideas that I’ve been thinking up during the day.

Another item of writing equipment is my trusty camera. It’s a lightweight digi SLR, and I’m actually thinking I also need a little compact that’s even easier to carry everywhere. But that won’t get further than my wishlist for a while. Anyway I try to have one with me most of the time, and I’ve recently transferred nearly 200 holiday shots onto the computer.

So here’s yet another holiday shot from Minorca – the taula at the Torralba d’en Salord. The human figure shows the scale of the tablet, which we are told was used for worship. There are a number of prehistoric settlements on the island, and it is known as an open-air museum.

Freelance Finances

Things are definitely looking up for me. Today I’ve sold one article for €30, and had a positive response to a query for one that will net $300. Which turns my mind in a couple of directions.

The first is about how to deal with being paid in multiple currencies, especially at the moment when the conversion rates to sterling are pretty dire. And when I receive a cheque, even for a small amount, the bank charges a hefty commission and I’m left with just peanuts. Should I set up different bank accounts in different currencies? Have to admit, I wouldn’t know how to do that, although no doubt I could find out.

I already have different accounts with Paypal, but that doesn’t mean a lot, except that I can avoid conversion charges if I buy things in different currencies on-line. As soon as I withdraw cash to my bank account, the conversion rates kick in.

The next tangent for my mind is a bit of a rant, really. When I first started freelancing in the 1980s, people paid a reasonable amount for the time I put in to produce my work. Now, $300 is a very rare offer indeed for less than 1000 words. (Of course, it’s not in my pocket yet.) Much more commonly, if I work out my time and effort, I can see that I’m earning far less than the minimum wage. Must be one of the only areas where rewards have gone downwards over the years. You can see why so many people (including me before I got my pension) can’t give up the day jobs.