A Freelance Writer's Journey

The Journey Continues....

2015-10-13T15:43:00.000-05:00

All this time since my last post and I still don't have a good handle/firm grasp on this blogging thing. Oh, I've learned quite a lot on how to do it, why it's important to do it for me as a writer, and much more. But mostly, I haven't been able to justify spending a lot of time actually working on it. Instead I've spent a lot of time chasing leads for paying gigs and juggling financial chainsaws to stay afloat. Neither of those projects have been working out very well. While I've made a few dollars here and there from one-shot writing gigs and "odd jobs", and have deftly juggled debts and finances for the past few months, I'm still drowning. I've never been closer to the end of my rope than now. Meanwhile.....

It's difficult for me to separate what I'm willing to disclose publicly via this (or any) blog from what I write for public consumption. There's a fine line between the two. There is still a very pressing need to keep some things private, mostly so as not to offend anyone. But there is also a passion to write and share knowledge/info/experiences with others.

Generally, my life isn't getting any better. In fact, it has gotten measurably worse. I've lost 30 pounds in the past 4 years since I moved from Chicago to Las Vegas in 9/2001. Losing 30 pounds might sound like a good thing for some. For me, it means I'm down to 74 pounds. That's not a healthy weight for ANY grown woman. I look like a walking skeleton. I only have enough money to last another month or so. I'm receiving welfare/food stamps and Medicaid, but no other assistance because I don't have kids/dependents. I've been living with my mother and she gets SSA but it's not enough for both of us to live on. So as my life circles the toilet bowl .....

I'm hoping for a miracle. But I haven't heard of one happening for many decades. I don't know what I can do to save myself anymore. I struggle every day to answer "What's the point?"

Yeah, it's one of THOSE days.....

Why I Started Freelance Writing

2014-04-26T16:15:00.001-05:00

The short answer to this question is: In 2010 I had an epiphany; a light-bulb moment. After spending nearly 10 years looking for a corporate job as a Tech Writer (and many other full-time, steady jobs), I realized that I was wasting my time on that endeavor. Corporate employers wanted someone much younger and willing to work for much less pay than I could afford to accept, given my several years of experience in the field. In my last corporate job I was making $25/hour as a Tech Writer in the IT industry. The jobs I was seeing paid about half that. They also wanted a candidate to have some programming experience and other skills I didn't have at the time.

Frustrated, but knowing I had a marketable skill - writing - I decided to pursue freelance tech writing gigs. I found a a few website where I could post a profile, look for jobs and also have employers find ME. It wasn't a whole month before I was getting offers. One that I accepted was for some creative writing for a travel website, then another for technical writing for a franchise consulting company. The latter proved to be a long-term contract - 3+ years. It ended recently because they decided to go from hourly to fixed-rate contracts only. I got another hourly contract right away, but it's been a rocky start so far. Two weeks of a lot of work; 2 weeks of NO work.

Still, freelance writing has given me the freedom of working virtually/from home, wherever that home is. No need for a car/transportation or proximity to an office location. Have laptop/internet connection, will travel is the standard. That kind of freedom has it's own downside. Stay tuned for a separate posting on the topic!

Learning to Blog Properly

2014-04-26T15:41:00.000-05:00

I'm still trying to getting a good handle on blogging. This one was my first. But blogging has evolved and expanded quite a bit since I started in 2010. These days, anyone who wants to be found on the internet for any reason needs to have a blog. Especially those who are trying to build a following and/or a business. I am still surprised at how many job postings I see for hiring a blogger for a company's website, and how many job sites there are where one can look for such a job. Like other forms of written communication, the blog has evolved as an art form.

A New Home for Some of My Articles

2014-04-26T15:12:00.002-05:00

So far, I have four (4) articles published on Ezine Articles. Though I've been a member of the site since 2010 and had submitted a few articles back then, none were accepted. But this week, all 4 were accepted/approved and published on their site within 24 hours. YAY!! Here is the link to my "Expert Author" profile page which includes a list of my articles and links to them: My Ezine Author Profile

Ezine Articles is one of many sites I've found where a writer can post articles for exposure to the public. No pay. But if a publisher is looking for content for a newsletter or for their own website, they can snag your article for it and they must include your name/byline as the author.

While I am on hiatus between paying writing gigs, I plan to get more articles written and posted there. Stay tuned!

Virtual Tours of Chicago

2010-10-14T10:03:00.001-05:00

Chicago has hundreds of ways to tour the city – bus, walking, trolley, Segway, bicycle. And any tour might highlight any category of them – history, architecture, theater, food, film, pizza, cemeteries, etc.While doing research for another of my writing projects (Street Advisor reviews), I've found links to many sites where you can actually take a virtual tour from the comfort of your computer! The tours include a set of MP3 audio files along with an annotated map of the locations on the tour. The idea is to download and print the map, and to download the audio files to your favorite listening device. With those two items, you are fully prepared to walk (or in some cases take a taxi or public transportation) to each location. However as part of my research, I used the interactive map (when available) to travel to and listen to each audio clip from my laptop. I highly recommend doing a virtual tour in preparation for your own in-person tour. When you do it virtually, you'll see a small photo of each location and its address, so that you'll know where you're going and what you're looking for when you go in-person. You can also design your own tour – albeit manually – by visiting locations that are close to each other but on different audio tour tracks. (See notes in the list below.)

All the audio clips are narrated by professionals and include commentary by local subject matter experts such as Tim Samuelson (Chicago Historian), Ed Uhlir (Millennium Park planning expert), and Buddy Guy (Blues legend).

I have yet to find a central website for all these tours, so in I'm in the process of building my own, starting with this list. Stay tuned. I'm sure I'll find more as my research continues!

Source: Chicago Loop Alliance
All three of these tours are in Chicago's “Loop”/Downtown area, and they are the easiest to combine since they cover the same basic area.

1 Public Art Tour
http://www.chicagoloopalliance.com/loopthe loop/artloop/

17 stops; approximately 2 miles.

Full review at http://www.streetadvisor.com/illinois/forums/loop-public-art-audiovirtual-tour

2 Landmarks Tour
http://www.chicagoloopalliance.com/loopthe loop/landmarkloop/

23 stops; approximately 2 miles.

Full review at: http://www.streetadvisor.com/illinois/forums/loop-landmark-architecture-audio-tour

3 Theater Tour
http://www.chicagoloopalliance.com/loopthe loop/theaterloop/

10 stops; approximately 2 miles.

Full review at http://www.streetadvisor.com/illinois/forums/loop-theater-audio-tour

Source: Enjoy Illinois “Onscreen Ilinois”

This is a FABULOUS site for movies made in Chicago and throughout the state of Illinois. The Chicago film tour is narrated by Bill Kurtis (famous newscaster, and narrator of TV and Cable documentary shows). Site includes info and photos scattered throughout the state (Peoria, Galesburg, Galena).

Chicago Film Tour
http://www.enjoyillinois.com/movies/home.a spx

15 stops; about 10 miles between Uptown (North) and Bridgeport (South).

Full review at: http://www.streetadvisor.com/illinois/forums/chicago-film-tour-podcast2

Source: Explore Chicago (www.downloadchicagotours.com)

These tours are available from the Explore Chicago website.

1 Millennium Park Tour

Gives you the “backstory” and history of this jewel on Michigan Avenue, and its infamous icons.
http://www.antennaaudio.com/millenniumpark.shtml

Full review at: http://www.streetadvisor.com/illinois/forums/explore-chicago-audio-tours-millennium-park

2 Chicago Blues History Tour

Best to take this tour virtually or with a knowledgeable tour guide as the locations are in a “dicey” neighborhood. Narrated by blues legend, Buddy Guy himself!
http://64.78.16.63/citytours/chicago/blues.html

Full review at: http://www.streetadvisor.com/illinois/forums/explore-chicago-audio-tours-history-of-chicago-blues

3 Chicago For Kids Tour
Yes, there is even a tour designed for the young (and the young at heart)! Narrated by a “tween”, this was a fun tour even for this “pre-senior”. The website also has 8 interactive, low-tech, Chicago-centric games.
http://www.chicagoforkids.org/ChicagoKids/
Full review at: http://www.streetadvisor.com/illinois/forums/explore-chicago-audio-tours-chicago-for-kids

Source: Macy's/Marshall Field's
An inside and outside tour of this iconic State Street landmark. So much more than a retail store!
http://www.visitmacyschicago.com/tours.cfm
Full review at: http://www.streetadvisor.com/illinois/forums/macysmarshall-fields-virtualaudio-tour2

New Street Advisor Reviews!

2010-07-11T08:22:00.000-05:00

Chicago neighborhood reviews posted last week: Goose Island, Bronzeville, Chinatown, and Hyde Park. Stay tuned!

Street Advisor Neighborhood Reviews

2010-07-08T08:23:00.000-05:00

I have my own "Local Expert" page on this site! It contains my reviews of Chicago neighborhoods. Did you know there are 77 different neighborhoods in Chicago? Listed below are the reviews I have written so far.

Week Ending 6/26/2010: West Loop, Central Loop, Magnificent Mile, New Eastside

Week Ending 7/3/2010: Streeterville, Near North, Gold Coast, Near South

Stay tuned!

New Portal on Street Advisor!

2010-06-24T14:04:00.000-05:00

My newest writing gig: writing reviews of Chicago Neighborhoods, starting with the Chicago Loop/Downtown area! Here is the link to my first post, West Loop Review.

New Post on Chicago Examiner!

2010-06-08T12:58:00.000-05:00

My 4th article: "Temping for a living as a trade show staffer"

Another Article Completed for the "Tech Guy"

2010-05-30T12:54:00.000-05:00

This one is about using Web Typography in designing a web page. I'm getting quite an education from writing these "web design" articles!

New Post on Chicago Examiner!

2010-05-30T12:42:00.000-05:00

This is my 3rd post as a Chicago Career Transitions Examiner/Internet Columnist, hot off the keyboard: "WAH Gig: Scoring Exams".

Rosie Knows LLC

2010-05-27T16:28:00.000-05:00

"RosieKnows" is an online learning center that caters to the new internet user. This was my very first freelance technical writing assignments. The owner of the company (Rosemary Blandford) hired me to write the "storyboard content" for 4 video lessons on the website. The written content was used as the script for narration of the lessons, and for the PDF companion documents which can be downloaded for reference. This is a "Members Only" site so you must be a member to view the lessons and documents. Membership is FREE.

Profile: Since this is a private client, I do not have a profile on the site.

My Content:

Using the NIH Senior Health Website (9/2008)
Using the USA.gov Website (10/2008)
Introduction to Mozilla Firefox (11/2008)
Introduction to LinkedIn (1/2009)

New Hub Page!

2010-05-27T09:06:00.000-05:00

Posted yesterday: "Won a Trip, Made a Friend". A memoir of winning a trip to England and making a lifelong friend!

New Post on Chicago Examiner!

2010-05-27T08:58:00.000-05:00

Posted yesterday: "Creative Transitions". Read and share!

Writng-dot-com

2010-05-25T13:19:00.000-05:00

I've forgotten how I found this site. It was back in 2005, after winning a contest to write an essay for the company that managed my apartment building. They had a resident newsletter, and the winning essay (Mine) was published in it. The prize was a $500 AMEX gift card. Anyway, winning the contest inspired me to test the waters of creative writing. I posted several articles and lived to read the feedback from other members. It was mostly good/positive, but I didn't stick with it - got distracted by the pursuit of a "regular" job. Long story short - I still have the account, still post items there occasionally to get feedback, and refer other budding writers there to test their mettle.

My Profile and Portfolio/Content Page

My Recent Content

Back to My Roots
The Epiphany

Tech Guy Web Solutions

2010-05-25T12:54:00.000-05:00

I was hired for this client through oDesk.com - a site where you can sign up as a provider of a service, and bid on various virtual gigs. As a former/sometime Tech Writer, I focused on the writing gigs. I heard about the site a year or so ago from an Eons member. I signed up but didn't pursue any gigs - until a month ago. I saw an interesting gig to rewrite some tech articles so I placed a bid on it. The buyer (Brad Traversy, owner of TechGuyWebSolutions) hired me to rewrite 3 articles to be posted on his website. I completed those, he posted them on his website, and he has already hired me to write 3 more articles for his site.

Since this is a "private client" I don't have a profile page on his site, but you can find my articles (with photo and bio) on his website under "Miscellaneous Web Design Articles" Stay tuned. This client has already said that he's interested in a long-term working relationship to write content for his site!

My Content

1	Web Typography
2	Designing a Website for All Screen Resolutions
3	How to Communicate Your Needs to Your Web Designer
4	Tips for Designing a Profitable Webpage
5	Hire a Web Designer or Build it Yourself?
6	An Introduction to Ecommerce

HubPages

2010-05-25T12:29:00.001-05:00

This is an interesting site for a Blogger at heart, in my opinion. "Say what you want, how ever you wanna say it". Very few restrictions on content and how it's written. Most of the other sites where I have content posted require at least "good English" (including spelling, grammar and usage).

My Profile/Content Page

My Content

My Mother The Chatterbox (posted 5/24/2010)
Won a Trip, Made a Friend (posted 5/26/2010)
A Woman on the Edge (posted 5/31/2010)
The Time Bank (posted 6/22/2010; moved from Triond portfolio)

AllVoices

2010-05-25T12:16:00.002-05:00

One of my newest content sites. I joined and posted my first item on 5/23/10. I think I found them from an ad on my Facebook page. They seemed to be just the right place for a piece I wrote about applying for Public Aid (Constant Content rejected it; Associated Content offered me $5 for it - I declined.) Already, 91 people have viewed it and I have 6 fans! Stay tuned!

My Profile Page and Content

My Content

CityGal226's News

Chicago Career Transition Examiner

2010-05-25T12:02:00.002-05:00

On 5/18/2010 I was accepted as a freelance contributor to this site, as their newest "Chicago Career Transitions Examiner". My first article was the one I submitted with my application. They gave me my very own web page! Now I just have to add more content. Earnings are based on readership (as usual).

My Home Page and Content on Chicago Examiner

My Content

Volunteering to Find Paid Work
Creative Transitions (posted 5/26/2010)
WAH Gig: Scoring Exams (posted 5/30/2010)
Temping for a living as a trade show staffer (6/8/2010)
WAH Gig: Freelance Writing (posted 6/26/2010)

Triond

2010-05-25T11:32:00.000-05:00

This is a site for freelance writers. You submit your content to them and (if accepted), they distribute it to their partner sites, based on the topic of your item. My items have been posted to sites I'd never have found on my own! I posted my first article here in 6/2008 and have 6 articles there so far - 5 in the past month! They also accept photos so I've posted 5 from my personal collection. Earnings are based on number of readers.

My Profile and Content Page

My Content

My Fabulous Year
Holiday Orphans
Volunteering to Find Paid Work
Free Walking Tours in Chicago
Explore a Hidden Gem (Chicago Cultural Center)
Memories of Charley

Helium - "Where Knowledge Rules"

2010-05-25T11:15:00.000-05:00

Started posting content here in August 2008 and have 6 items there so far. (One was rejected as being too generic, but I found another home for it.) Earnings are based on reader reviews but someone did purchase an article for use on their site.

My Profile Page

My Content

Alternative Holiday Traditions (Holiday Orphans)
Aging in Modern America (a variation of Miss to Ma'am)
Cats That Have Changed Our Lives (Memories of Charley)
Public Transportation in Chicago (sold as "stock content" in 09/2008)
Walking Tours of Chicago
How to Create a Custom Photo Calendar for Free

Demand Studios

2010-05-25T11:00:00.000-05:00

Demand Studios is a site for freelance writers. You pick a title from their vast list of categories and write an article about for a flat fee. If you don't find a title you can write about, you can submit one of your own on a "revenue share" basis. Once your item is accepted, they find a home for it on one or more of their partner sites.

I've written 4 articles so far and all have been posted on eHow.com: 2 earned a flat fee of $15 each; another 2 are earning a revenue share based on readership.

My Profile Page

My Content on eHow

How to create a customized cable Channel guide
How to copy a Voice Mail to your PC as a WAV file
How to get a Free Greeter Tour
How to Recycle a Swiffer Mop

Constant Content

2010-05-25T10:43:00.000-05:00

Posted my first (and only) article here in March 2005. I've submitted other items but they are pretty darn stringent about what they accept for publication! They've rejected the last 5 of my submissions. So I posted them somewhere else.

My Page and Profile

My Content

From Miss to Ma'am (This piece has actually been sold to 2 different content buyers.)

Original Articles. Constant-Content.

Associated Content

2010-05-25T10:33:00.000-05:00

I started posting here in March 2005. Main page is at My page and profile

Titles:

My Fabulous Year (2004)
Ethnic Hair
From Miss to Ma'am
Uncommon Sense (sold as "stock content")

Introduction

2010-05-25T10:17:00.000-05:00

About a month ago I decided to re-launch my writing career. So far it's been more successful than the past 3 months of looking for a traditional job. At least I'm making a few dollars here and there from several articles instead of making nothing from the various iterations of my resume.

I'm setting up this blog to a) try to keep track of where all my works are published, b) so my friends and followers will have a "one-stop shop" to read my articles, and c) to make some money from it (of course).

Stay tuned!