My Name is Mike, and (sob) I’m a… I’m… (a writer)

[MikeyWrites]

Hi. I am new to freelancing full time, but I’ve been slaving in the content mill salt mines for 10 years. Texbroker, Demand Media, Constant Content, Writer Access, Freelancer, Odesk, Elance, a whole bunch more that aren’t even around anymore.

Originally started with this stuff just for a little extra money for parts and tools to support my habits with collector cars and computer graphics. Then Gulf War Illness ruined my career and my savings, and I turned to writing out of desperation. If you followed my profile link to a website, you’ll find there’s nothing on the blog there. That’s because I just registered the domain about 24 hours ago.

I do have another blog with stuff on it, several actually, and there are hundreds more posts, unpublished because I use my blogs to compose what I write on the mills. I’ve only just realized in the last couple of weeks that some people actually make real money at this stuff without a degree in literature or journalism.

So now I’m going to sell my own writing direct. Places like this are my first foray into the world of actual freelancing as opposed to selling stuff on brokers and job agencies.

Most writers seem to dream of living in the country, writing for a living. In my case, it was necessity. I am the kid that always waited until the night before the report was due, did it overnight under the blankets with a flashlight and still got an A. We moved onto bare acreage to build a homestead in order to cut our expenses to the bone.

Now I have to learn to love writing. Not easy for me.

[SARubin]

Welcome aboard Mike,

Yeah, I’ve never been a big fan of those content mills. I call them “freelance farms” because they pack freelancers in like cattle, and sell their services by the pound.

That’s part of the reason I started this site. I want to give freelance writers a place where they can show their stuff (by contributing to the forums and submitting guest articles) and at the same time earn credit towards free advertising for their writing services.

Hopefully this site will become a valuable resource for you. (and who knows… with any luck, the atmosphere of this community might just help you learn to love writing)

[Rhonda]

Welcome MikeyWrites,

It is wonderful to have you here