Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Finally, the update we've all been waiting for...

I've been somewhat cryptic in my latest status updates on Facebook, and they have basically been alluding to what's been going on in my writing world of late.

Let me start this off by making as clear as possible the pure and undiluted, and really quite distilled, fact that it is 6:40AM here and I have been working at the kitchen table for the last 10 (ten) hours. Not straight, because I get up every hour or so to stretch. And I had to go get some Rockstar.

Am I getting ahead of myself? Can't tell.

Okay. So my client in Korea keeps feeding me lots of work. I could probably work on it full time two to three days per week. But there's so much other stuff to do during the daytime that I end up doing the lion's share of the work at night. So I have just finished something in the realm of 20 hours of work for this client. This is, of course, at my hourly rate of $25.

So that's nice. Tasty in fact. It's a lot of questions and extension activities, but I'm getting pretty good at it and I think it plays right into my strengths as an educator and writer.

I have to say right now that I am extremely grateful for this work. How wonderful it is to do something you love. Sure, this gets a little tiring and tiresome, but it pays and it is essentially what I love to do.

That's not all. I landed another client: it's basically a partner company of WeXL, the company I market for right now--which is another day job. And that day job is going okay, although with the recent goings on, I've had to keep the time I spend on that one to a minimum since it doesn't deal with deadlines so much.

So I wrote a website and sales letter for that new client, am in the process of tweaking that copy as they finalize things, and have already been paid on my invoice. Sweet!

I have a good friend who works with this new client as well, and he passed on the name of a fellow who was looking for a ghost writer to work with him on a large-ish instruction manual. I met with them three weeks ago and it went well. I spent some time with the material needing written up and sent along a sizable (very!) estimate, which is, albeit, negotiable.

Wow, I haven't slept in 24 hours (almost) and I think I just used 'albeit' correctly in a sentence. I'll just soak that up for a second.........................................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Okay, I'm back. That should be able to be parlayed into good work, and ongoing work with that company as well, since the main client is a marketing company that specializes in web marketing. Funny, I specialize in web copy!

That's not all! HA!

I sold an article on Helium.com's marketplace. Incidentally, if you want to make some extra cash (it starts small but snowballs with diligence and patience) check out:
http://www.helium.com/marketplace?placement=CL45690

That article sold for $32. Not terrible. It was about how to make homemade bread.

I cashed out over $100 from Helium.com this last month. That was the result of my large collection of articles on there, about 8 or 10 new articles, and one sold marketplace article. Considering I spent about ten hours over the month on Helium, that's not terrible for a writing website.

Dang, my Pandora's playing U2's Mysterious Ways. I love this one. Actually, it's pretty much my favorite U2 tune.

But that's not all!

I got an e-mail from a publication out of Canada, one that has a print and online version and a readership of over 250,000 (does that mean they have 250,001?). This was the editor of this magazine that e-mailed me. She invited me to contribute regularly to their American offshoot. It's about gardening-- one of my favorite subjects to write about!

But that's not all!

But that IS all I can say right now. When the deal happens or doesn't happen (that's all the detail I can give right now, sorry!) I'll pass it on. But it could be big. I mean... uh... insanely big.

Kristi. Melinda. Kaye. Mike. (Amy too).
I owe you a huge thanks. Your advice (mostly Melinda and Kristi, but the others' support of this advice) to maybe focus on non-fiction was inspired. I know it. I am not abandoning fiction, but there's something I need to do in the realm of non-fiction. I can feel the shivers of excitement right now.

I'm not kidding. I'm trembling with this right now. Maybe it's partly the Rockstar, maybe it's the lack of sleep. I've simply got a certainty that I'm going the right way at this point. No doubt about it. And as I write that, the HOLY GHOST, who is the teacher and Comforter, confirms this certainty.

Why does so much of society, including me far too much of the time, discount our most important sense? I mean, our physical senses can be deceived so easily. But our other sense: the one many of us call soul, or spirit, or heart, or intuition is actually not so easily deceived. Yet we so easily mistrust it.

That's all for now.

Or not. Actually, the WeXL thing is going well too. It's neat to be marketing something, and beginning to be successful with that something, that actually helps people. I'll actually help a client save over $650,000 in interest alone over the next eight years!

Now that's all. The update I'd been needing to post for a while.

My head's above water now, so I've got to go leap in again. I'll do the bed thing first, though.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! How amazing! I'm so glad things are really coming together for you. Thanks for the update!

Melinda said...

That's awesome. Keep us posted.

I think Kristi thought of it first,she kept telling me that you had the makings of a freelance writer and would fit well in writing for magazines, but we were both praying to know how to best help you in your writing. There is no doubt that it was inspired. I love to see things coming together so quickly for you. Couldn't happen to a better guy.

Hoontah said...

I am so excited for you! It's just more evidence that when we listen to the spirit things fall together. You deserve so much success and every happiness. I got the chills just reading. Hurray!

Hoontah said...

Okay, I'm not sure if the internet ate my last comment so, I'll try to write it again. Hurray! I am so excited it is all coming together for you. You deserve every happiness. I have the chills. My daughter Kate and I are doing a happy dance for you (I had to stop to type). Congrats!