Lingo - WASTE sites.

*Waste sites are what I call Paid Writing or Freelance Project Search websites that either require you to have
1. No life - it pays well... if you stay at home, never sleep blink or leave the computer. Ever.
2. Nothing else to do with your money - because u pay them first, then they will pay you. Which doesnt make a drop of sense unless you are starting a business. (And trust me, I know - a business needs WAY more attention, time, fine print, money, attorneys and commitment than clicking the "I AGREE" button and paying a nominal fee. Dont let the ads fool you!!)
3. No talent - you could be any schmoe off the street, but they promise you big bucks working from home.
4. Overload - First you need the best presentation - home page, sample clips, links, established blog page, credentials. This alone could take 3-6 months. Then you need to get your work out there for people to review. There are so many other people, jobs, resources, etc. on the site that it would take a whole month at home (see #1 ) to sift through the junk, scammers and dead projects - not to mention competing with other people for these jobs.

Overwhelmed - Kind of

It's taken me from scratch - no degree or formal ed in writing - so far about 8 months.. to
-Figure out what I want to write. (2-4 months)
-Enroll in a writing class.(1 month)
-Land my first clip. (7 months) ( still waiting on my first clip to publish so I can link it.Huzzah! Coming Soon in September! The long awaited PayPal message!!)
-Realize I need one and actually set up a Paypal account. ( 5 months)
-Sift through Job Search sites to try to find a writing jobs. ( ongoing..)
-Look for a job on a paid writing website (8 months...Land the job - 2 days. lol )

Everywhere I look now, there's a freelancing oppurtunity. It's like all the searching, signing up for random sites, and digging for any little mentioning of paid writing assignments is finally catching up with me. I should be happy and take every chance I get right? But now it's like its threatening to be too much. I have to thoroughly read and leaf through every job offer and "paid writing" site to make sure its not a scam, or a waste* site. I just got an email from some site congratulating me for being 1 out of 25 people chosen from thousands, or hundreds what ever the latest flattering lie is, and I have 48 hours to claim my "stay at home writing job". Supposedly I will be paid for blogging, writing articles by OTHER companies, not the one sending me the email ( which sends a RED FLAG that they are sponsoring me, and get a CUT off the top of ALL my earnings - when I could just market mySELF to these companies for FREE.. ) and that I have to pay a FEE before I can even "accept" this job. I'm like ok... why would I PAY you to PAY me?

I wont even go into the fine print I read, talking about all the fonging I'd be enduring, should they choose to terminate my contract for NO or ANY reason, not refunding my money and claiming all rights to any work I submitted. WOW. So if I'm making bookoo bucks, they can just pull the plug on me, take my work, and make money without me. Riiiight.

Besides the waste sites, there's just so much out there. Right now in my writing class, my teacher is just thrilled and tickled with all my writing, and she says I'm ready. Now she wants me to choose - non fiction or fiction. EEEK! I dont know!! Both!! I want to make money. GOOD money. Which one?? I dont know. Fiction I guess. But no one wants to read fiction anymore unless its about graphic sex or CSI. Unless it's Harry Potter quality, no one's buying. And nonfiction is even worse. If people dont see that they have an immediate need for your book... no sales. Should I
a.) put my humor and creativity to the test with fiction or
b.) put my wit and writing agility the test with non fiction.

God..? Are you listening? Its me again. *Le SIGH*