MONEY IS NOT ROLLING IN, BUT IT IS DRIPPING IN

This week I have received payment for two freelance articles. One was the home remedies piece. The other was an astrology newsletter for December. I hope I get picked to do another of those. It was a lot of fun. I really did research to write it. I know a lot of you probably think astrologers just pull their forecasts out of their asses. No me. So I will hereby warn you all to look out for the evil full moon on December 12th. Everybody is going to be in their crabbiest holiday stressed-out frenzy and looking for someone to dump it on. Don't be the dumpee. Avoid crowded shopping malls. Do your Christmas shopping before December 10th or after December 14th just to be safe. Try not to let critical, temperamental words fly out of your mouth during this period or they will fly right back in your face with a vengeance. Good news you ask? Yes, there is a brilliant Jupiter-Venus conjunction on the 1st that is ripe for romance and holiday festivities. Too bad it's a Monday. Make your own fun. Grab someone you like a lot, love, or would like to know better and go look at holiday lights or go cut down a Christmas tree in legally sanctioned woods. Don't waste this beautiful aspect on the mundane. And, BTW, Sagittarius, get ready for one fabulous birthday month. You deserve it because you are just so lovable. That's all true. I swear. Now I am on to bidding writing an e-book on the meaning of baby names and six articles on diet and health, something I've written about frequently. I am still bidding on the the low side, but bids that allow me to feel good about myself as I do the work. I tell you there are some ugly things going on in the freelance writing help wanted world if you've looked lately. Have you seen something like this: "Wanted 100 articles in three days, all spun from one article that I will provide, must pass plagiarism test and all must be original. Publisher can only pay $1.00 per article. SEO knowledge and experience crucial. Keywords will be provided." Sickening, huh? Who calls this writing? I am thinking of dumping Elance because they let these a-holes sign up as publishers, and I only recently signed up with them. Until very recently I didn't even know what spinning meant or that you could actually purchase a device that would spin an original article into a copy that could be tested for plagiarism and pass. I say it again. I am sickened. I see these sort of disgusting faux apologies for low rates in help wanted ads posted everywhere. Five dollars an article for a regularly written 500-600 word article is common. What kind of chimps do they think we writers are? I tell you I delight in the TV/movie writers' strikes when they stop production and make viewers realize that the shows and movies they love so much are created by writers. We need stronger unions for the little guys. We need to let these publishers know that we won't be working for $1-10.00 per article and that they are very rude to even take out an ad suggesting such a thing. I know I didn't go to college for four years, earn ten years of print and Internet writing experience and take extra writing classes on my own to earn a slap in the face rate. What about you?

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