Writing

I wrote and collected rejection slips from about age 19 till age 55.  I sent off my first manuscript when I was a college freshman in 1970.  It was an angsty short story which had no particular meaning or direction.  I wrote some things for school publications, which were accepted, but had no money involved.  I married, had children, got a job…writing pretty much took a backseat for a while.

In 1988 my mother passed away at the age of 58, leaving a legacy of a odds and ends of costume jewelry and several unfinished manuscripts.  I realized then that if you don’t work on your dreams, sometimes you run out of time to realize them.

I wrote my second novel the following year.  (I wrote my first one while in high school; the less said about that bit of literary ambition the better.)  It wasn’t earth shatteringly brilliant, but it had a beginning, a middle and an end; and it was fairly readable.  I promptly set to work writing another one.

About the time I completed my second novel, the world came apart for me again.  I moved, changed jobs, and went to graduate school to get my MA in library science.  Carrying a full load of graduate courses and teaching full time pretty well consumed my entire focus, so writing again took a back seat, except for some short stories and poetry.

Another move and job change (more or less) brought me to my current situation.  I had discovered by this time that a teaching position is not the road to riches, so I was searching the Internet for money-making opportunities.  I tried various websites that started out “WE CAN MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!” in various formats, that would then go on for several pages touting all the goals you could reach for and then wind up charging 34.99 for a packet that didn’t guarantee you anything but the paper it was printed on.  I tried surveys and found that you really don’t make that much in return for the time invested.

I tried writing for Poetry.com–and of course, I got a poem published.  I received the packet in regular mail for approving the publication; I was excited till I got to the part where they say, “And for _____ you may purchase a copy of the book with your poem in it. 

I swallowed my disappointment, and shelled out the cash to subscribe to Writer’s Market.com.  Now this website is a mixed bag.  It has some good stuff, but you have to be careful to pull your sources from the lists not the advertisements.  Still, I will count it as an investment well made because it was from this website I discovered Triond.

Once I began writing for Triond, other opportunities opened up.  You see, writers often talk about writing.  Some of them are more authoritative than others.  Some like to share, and some are secretive.  Some would send a tidbit by message, some would post lists of good places to write online, with a mini-review of each.  Whenever I would get a good tip, I would go to that website and check it out.

At the end of 2008, Triond was the only company from whom I had actually recieved a pay-out, and I was able to record a legitimate business loss by subtracting my income from the cost of my Writer’s Market subscription.

By this time, writing for Triond was fun, if not profitable.  Nothing succeeds like success, as they say; I was as happy as a pig in an apple orchard.

With writing for Triond providing a steady $2.00 to $5.00 a month (better than manuscripts going brittle in a drawer, folks), when summer vacation arrived, I began to branch out to other markets.  I was delighted to watch my income grow!  I couldn’t live off it, but it paid the electric bill in November, and I was able to record a small profit on my income tax instead of a loss.

The trend toward success continues, to the point I’m beginning to wonder what it might be like to actually have the 60-second commute and to make my primary income from my computer.  Haven’t quit the day job, but definitely wondering.