Guide Site Needs for Week of May 12, 2008 for About.com

About.com posts a list of the most needed guide sites every week. For your viewing pleasure, I always post this not-so-top-secret information here at The Writer's Block. So, without any further adieu. for the week of May 12, 2008, here you have it:

• Insomnia
• PDAs
• Bladder Cancer
• Exotic Cars
• Hardscaping

Wow, I don't even know what hardscaping is? If someone has a clue, please inform me! If you are an expert in any of the above fields, and want a fun and exciting freelance writing opportunity, be sure to visit About.com at www.beaguide.about.com and apply today. Please tell us how you did!

Writers: Make Money Online With Shvoong

I received an email advertisement today from a website that I have never heard of before. I don't know much about it, but it looked rather interesting if you are a freelance writer and looking to make some extra money online. Check it out at Shvoong and let The Writer's Block know how it goes by sending me, the Cranky Editor, an email with your review. I will guest post your review and include a link to your blog or website with your guest post. Good luck!

Week of May 5, 2008: Guide Site Needs for About.com

For the week of May 5, 2008, About.com is looking for guides who are experts in the following topics:

• PDAs
• Smart Phones
• BlackBerry
• Ear, Nose, and Throat
• El Paso, TX

For a fun and exciting freelance writing job with unlimited potential, check out the qualifications needed and apply online at: http://beaguide.about.com/ .

Let us all know if you get accepted into prep by posting a comment. Good luck!

New Guide Needs for About.com

Ladies and Gentlemen!

About.com currently has a need for the following freelance guides:

• Senior Money
• Kids and Money
• Mutual Funds
• ENT
• Cystic Fibrosis

If you are an expert in any of the above fields, and are an avid freelance writer looking to advance your career, visit http://beaguide.about.com and apply today!

Websites for Young Writers

If you have a little one at home who has caught the writer's bug at an early age, here is a great hub with a list of websites for young writers that you may want to check out with them:

Websites For Young Writers

Freelance Writers Needed

Hey guys! Are you a doctor, nurse, health educator or journalist who enjoys writing? Do you consider yourself an expert in specific areas of heath care? Are you looking to make a few extra bucks with your writing to supplement your income that could lead to something BIG! If so, the Cranky Editor has the most perfect job for you! Freelance writers are needed as guides at About.com for the following health channels:

• Arrhythmias
• Bladder Cancer
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Downs Syndrome
• Drugs
• Headaches and Migraines
• Schizophrenia
• Skin Cancer
• Testicular Cancer
• Urology
• Uterine Cancer

If you have excellent writing abilities and are an expert in any of the above topics, be sure to check it out to see if you have what it takes to become an About.com guide. It is a GREAT opportunity for freelance writers and health care professionals who may be getting burned out on traditional health care. Spots are available for many non-health related topics, as well. Be sure to leave a comment to let us know how you did!

What Should I Write About?

This is the question often posed by the writer to himself in an attempt to find his own true, unique voice. Without it, writing is futile, at best.

If you have found that you are an excellent writer, but aren't sure what to write about, writing about topics that you are passionate about is always an excellent choice. Not only does it make writing more enjoyable and interesting, but when you are filled with passion about a subject, your readers will almost FEEL the energy that transcends from your soul to your pen! Without a passionate voice, you may as well put the pen and paper down and with your tail between your legs, turn around and go home!

The bottom line, you must have purpose and passion in what you write about. The benefit of this is threefold:

• It will drive you on your journey so that you will always strive to accomplish your goals.
• It will keep you going when times get tough and you open the mail to read one more rejection letter.
• It will allow you to not only be true to yourself, but to the rest of humanity, as well.

A writer's passion can only be found by searching deep within himself to find what moves the spirit. If you are still confused, don't worry, it will come to you. Perhaps you need a muse! Mine has always been nature and the ocean. If you are blocked about what direction your writing should take you, take a stroll amidst nature and let the earth answer your calling. The answers can always be found within your own heart, if you have the courage to ask the questions!

Tooting My Own Horn: Dreams Do Come True!

I am a freelance writer. I am also a nurse. As an RN, I am often frustrated with the current state of health care. Being a nurse just "ain't what it used to be", and I often wonder why the powers that be can't see that the nurses of today would better serve patients if they actually took care of them instead of the paperwork. I really despise it, and decided to do something about it when I started focusing more on my writing. I did not want writing to be merely a "hobby". I wanted it to be a job, something that I could make money doing, while working towards getting away from bedside nursing. This mind you, is not because of patients, but because of bureaucracy.

And so I did just that. I have been working night and day for months on end doing different freelance writing jobs that focus on health care. And, it has not been that lucrative, until now. I have just become the guide for About.com's COPD site and could not be happier. About.com is owned by the New York Times Company! Finally, a real freelance job that allows me to use my knowledge of health care while helping people in an online forum.

The job is perfect for me and I just wanted to tell everyone about it. I have been working for almost 3 weeks developing the site, and when it goes live, I will of course provide readers with a link to my new site. I am so excited!

In the meantime, I will not forget The Writer's Block or my other blog, RN ONline. Just remember if you are a writer, don't give up. Your dreams can and will come true!

ODesk: Global Marketplace for Writers

To guide you in your quest for landing a freelance writing job, you may want to check out ODesk, a global marketplace for writers looking for remote work. They have a large daily selection of jobs available, and, after signing up and posting your profile, they will even email you with a list of prospective daily jobs that match your qualifications. The bad news, you compete for the jobs with other writers and there are ALOT of them! Good Luck!

Jobs in Journalism

Just when you thought you've looked everywhere to find a writing job, finally, your prayers may have been answered! If you are looking for freelance writing jobs or other types of journalism jobs, try journalismjobs.com. They have a variety of hot job listings including writing gigs with newspapers, magazines, television, radio, to name just a few. With a convenient tool allowing you to search by specific job and location, you may just get lucky tonight after all! Be sure to post your comments to let readers know if you found anything of interest on this site. Good Luck!

Freelance Writing Tips

If you are looking for a freelance writing job and don't know which avenue to venture down, here are a few places that will pay you per article for your invaluable efforts:

• Hubpages pays you $25 for producing a flagship hub consisting of 1500 words. There are strict guidelines to follow and if interested, you will have access to a list of flagship topics to choose from. After approval, you have 7 days to produce the content.


• Ask Men will pay you $50 for articles written about dating, sexuality and other related topics. To apply, you must send a current resume, along with a sample article for the channel you are applying to. It takes them quite a long time to answer and sometimes they don't, but it is worth the wait if you are chosen.


• About.com pays a monthly minimum and per performance amount if you are accepted to host a guide site with this online company. To apply, you must pick a topic you consider yourself to be an expert in and write an article pertaining to that topic. They do have strict guidelines that you must meet for each topic to be considered an expert. You also need to send a resume detailing your experience and work history. They do not take a lot of time to get back and if accepted, you will spend 2 weeks in a prep program building a guide site from the ground up using their tools. You will compete with up to four other people for the spot. You are not compensated for any of the time you spend in prep, but if you get chosen to run the site, you will be paid a bonus upon completion. It is a lot of work, but well worth it if you are an excellent writer and lucky enough to be chosen.

Remember, becoming successful as a writer takes a long time. There is no overnight success. You must be perservering and dedicated and if you are, you will be rewarded in the end!

I will add to this list as time permits. Gotta run and do some writing!

Freelance Writer Jobs

If you are like me, you are always looking for ways to make extra money with your freelance writing abilities. If you have a Bachelor's, Master's or PhD and you like to write, you may want to try getting a part or full time position at EssayWriters.net.

EssayWriters.net typically pays anywhere from $3 to $16 per double spaced page for your work. They have a list of approximately 100-200 assignments that you can choose from, with a wide range of subject matter, including art, biology, health, nursing, psychology and much, much more. Most jobs are either in essay or research format, and you should be a bit familiar with the APA or MLA citation method, although they do provide basic guidelines to follow if you are not at ease with this style of writing.

To be hired, you must fill out an application and wait for a week or two, or maybe even three before they get back to you. In the meantime, if you have any questions, they do have customer service that you can chat with online, if you want to call it customer service!

Ultimately, the bottom line however, is, making money this way has its frustrations. For example, many times, the customer places an order, but does not give clear instructions on how he/she wants the paper to be done. When they don't return the writer's emails, which is often the case, the writer may be unable to complete the assignment in a timely manner, ultimately causing the order to be released back into the que. Consequently, if done to close to the deadline, this can cause the writer to be fined. There seems to always be a down side to everything, don't you agree!

The way to get around this dilemma is to pick a relatively simple subject and paper that gives you clear instructions that you understand from the get-go! If you follow this advice, you should be ok and many times, you will get a customer who actually responds to you.

On the plus side, in my first 2 weeks with EssayWriters.net, I made about $150 and could have made much more, had the customer and customer service been more responsive!

Give it a try and be sure to leave me a comment to let me know about your progress!

Make Money Online with Hubpages

Attention all Writers! For further details on how to earn money online by self-publishing articles on Hubpages, check out this article by affiliateprograms:

Get Paid To Write Online Articles

Make Money Online Publishing Your Writing

If you are eager to get started as a writer, but are having trouble figuring out how to do so, you may want to begin by writing articles on topics you are familiar with and publishing them online in forums that share the revenue with you! I have composed a list that I started with, to help you along the way. The process is simple. You will start by creating a user name and password and signing up for an account at each of the places below. When writing, pick topics that best suit your knowledge base and simply start writing. Publish your article on these sites and you are on your way to creating a nice, residual monthly income. The more articles you write, the more money you will make. This will also help you when you are ready to look for a real freelance writing job, as you will have some published articles to add to your resume.

• Hubpages-Sign up and publish articles on any topic you want and earn a share of the revenue when you also sign up as an affiliate for Google Adsense, EBay and Amazon. Get started today with their easy to follow instructions that guide you through the entire process, as well as an online forum whereby you can gain knowledge from more experienced hubbers!
• EHow-Share your knowledge and expertise on any topic by signing up to become an EHow writer. EHow is quick and easy and publishing articles is a breeze with their easy to follow instructions.
• Helium-Another online forum to publish your articles, with Helium you will get somewhat of a share of the revenue when you publish articles here, but beware, if you want to quit the site, the content belongs to Helium FOREVER AND EVER!
• Associated Content- Write your own articles here, or answer calls for exclusive content. Either way, you will get paid an upfront payment for exclusive work and/or per performance, when people visit your articles.

This should get you started. If you are looking for more places, do a web search under a variety of search terms associated with the topic "writing" and you will find tons of other websites that do the same thing.

Best Writer's Guides

Hi, and welcome to my new blog, The Writer's Block! This blog will include a wealth of information that I have found along the way to becoming a successful writer. For my very first blog post, I would like to include a link to my latest article on Hubpages that lists the top 5 writer's guides on the market today.

Top 5 Writer's Guides

I hope you check it out and make sure to leave a comment.