Whatever Wednesdays-Freelancing: The First 6 Months

So, I "officially" started freelance writing regularly on Thanksgiving week of last year and thought I would do a "6 month review" and share a little about what I have learned so far. I signed up for the Yahoo! Contributor Network and submitted "Teacher Insights: Students Think Cheating is 'No Big Deal.' I was frustrated on this day because I had just shown my students a video about the UCF cheating scandal (see more information here), so writing this article became an outlet for me. It was so therapeutic, so uplifting to be able to write about something that I was passionate about (in this case, passionate about stopping!). I felt like I was DOING something, even if it was a small something. I went on to write six more articles that week and haven't stopped since with nearly 50 articles written to date with the majority through Yahoo!, my weekly "Music Matters" column for Savannah Morning News, a few for Suite101, and more through DemandMedia/Ehow.com. I'm going to quickly break down each of these outlets for you:
Yahoo! Contributor: They have an "assignment desk" where you can claim assignment titles (essentially prompts), and you get paid basically pennies per page views (I know peanuts right?!). Sometimes they pay you an upfront payment of $10 or $15 if it is a hot topic that they want claimed quickly. Your "clout level" also slowly rises based on the number of people that have read your stuff and you get paid a little more the higher your clout is. The best thing about writing for Yahoo! is that it has helped build up my portfolio and made me polish my writing and get into the habit of writing daily. I also think these pieces have helped strengthen my writing "voice." Time=about an hour per article, sometimes more for travel-related articles that have to be hyperlinked researched. I am going to apply to be a Featured Contributor for travel which means getting paid per article upfront plus by page views every time instead of sometimes, so wish me luck!
Savannah Morning News: I was writing a lot of articles about Savannah, so I figured I would see if I could get a gig writing for our local newspaper. I sent the entertainment editor a few of my Yahoo! clips, and thankfully he liked what he read and offered to let me do a trial piece for the weekly Music Summary column that ended up as my first piece about the band Lubriphonic. He even let me rename it from "Listening Notes" to "Music Matters" (get it? Music is important AND I am writing about the local "matter" aka content?) This is a set payment per week that is not very much right now, but I am hoping for more in the future, and I am so thankful that I am part of an actual print publication (although I'm sure more people read the online version...). Time=about 5-6 hours (including selecting the band to feature and conducting an interview, researching all live music venues to list who is playing where and when (the most time consuming part), and the actual story writing)
DemandMedia/Ehow.com: Demand is the umbrella company, and they serve as a hub of information for Ehow.com, Livestrong.com, and a few other outlets. They have very strict guidelines about formatting and style, and they also have an assignment desk. They pay a one time upfront fee of usually $15 per article. They also have actual editors that scrutinize your articles before publishing which is nice, and you actually have to submit a resume, and they have to "hire" you. My goal this summer is to write one of these per day...yeah that would be an extra $450 a month...SWEET. Time=about 2 hours (actual writing time probably about an hour, but searching for pictures/writing captions, and doing the revisions).
Suite101: Just like Yahoo! except no assignment desk. I rarely write for them because I already have a good sized portfolio with Yahoo! and feel like these two compete. Some of my articles I could post both places but I haven't had a chance to do that yet. I like how the articles look, and I will often do more personal articles and reviews here. I'm not sure why I do that--I guess trying to separate mushy from non-mushy?Time=about an hour per article/get paid pennies per click/pageview.
Blogger.com: I LOVE LOVE LOVE writing this daily blog. It gets me excited to wake up and start my day. Again, it is like pennies per pageview, but they pay extra if people click on the ads (that's why most blogs have ads) and even more if someone actually buys something that was linked from your blog (hence the reading suggestions via amazon that you see via the slideshow and in each post). In the research I've done, publications also like to see writers maintain a blog because it shows discipline, a willingness to self-promote, and makes you show up higher on Google and other internet searches because you always have new "stuff" out there in the internet world. Time=anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour usually.
As you can guess, I will not get rich off of freelance writing by contributing to these outlets. However, I have gained discipline, am improving my craft, and I feel accomplished, excited, and downright proud when I see my articles on actual websites or the newspaper. Ultimately, I hope any and all of this writing leads to big, wonderful things like magazine columns, novels, screenplays, travel writing...and the best part is that I feel like I'm doing what I'm meant to do. Those of you that know me might be saying, "Wait. Aren't you a teacher?" Yes, yes I am. I'm in my 4th year as an English teacher for American Literature (11th grade), Creative Writing, and Research Writing. However, like I wrote about in my recent Yahoo! article "A Teacher's Perspective: What I'm Looking Forward to for Summer Break," I feel like writing is an extension of teaching. The difference is I don't have to discipline my readers, give directions (except to beg you to share and post my stuff and leave comments/feedback!), or maintain order. I just get to share my thoughts, advice, feelings, and perspective about things I have experienced and learned. It's like the greatest teaching gig of all time! And I could do it in my pajamas every day!
But that is for a day in the future when I have earned it. Right now, I will keep writing my heart out each day before and after school, on the weekends, and sometimes even during lunch or my planning period when I'm all caught up on my grading, all the while hoping for great opportunity and a big break. I don't have it all figured out yet, but I will continue to do a "6 month review" to track my progress and stay motivated. It's nice to do some self-inventory by stopping to review everything I have done so far, but even more important? Looking ahead to where I want to go and making plans/setting goals to get there.