Put On A Happy Face

I've been MIA the past several days working on Last Comic Standing ( doing locations). Sunday was the mother of all days this week...as all of us worked a 22-hour day.

I was able to do some writing on the set that day, here and there, but sometimes that's difficult because although you could have a good chunk of down time, you must be ready to bolt at any given time. In other words, if something comes up, you've gotta be on it pronto. It's the old case of hurry up and wait, well known in the entertainment business.

On the up side, the creative juices really start to flow after indulging in coffee and tea--and then following it all up with Diet Coke chased down with Red Bull. I really try to avoid bombarding my body with such extremes, but then again, that's how I get through a 20+ hour day. Every production day is like at least three "human days." It's like living your life in dog years. I was evidently determined to be the Last Human Standing.

I finally caught up with my e-mail from the last 2 weeks--just in time to find two additional "passes" from scripts and projects I'm shopping around. I'm excited to add these rejections to my collection. No, seriously, I am--- I'm moving up in the writer's world. I used to be ignored entirely, but now at least people are taking the time to respond. In fact, some have gone so far as to compliment positively ( and in detail) as well as state specifically why they are passing. More often than not, the "pass" has had very little to do with the actual writing. I'm starting to get some of the most encouraging rejections I've had yet!

"Put on a happy face", I tell myself, "it only takes one Yes."

*Photo in the post by Jean Says*

Alternative Sources Of Income

A Bout About Blogging

When I began this blog, a friend of mine excitedly exclaimed, “Welcome To The Blogosphere!”

I was already a writer, but blogging was uncharted territory-- an entirely different animal than anything I’d done before. I was hopeful about this new blog, albeit a little nervous at first. Would I be able to keep up? Could I come up with enough content? Would my content even be interesting? At first, the enormity of the entire blogging community overwhelmed me. But fear of the unknown has never stopped me before. In fact, the challenge continues to both motivate and intrigue me.

Although, I didn’t think that I would dive into blogging nearly as much as I have in the last few months. However, this blog has been a nice venture away from my other writing. Through blogging, and networking through other blogs, I’ve also discovered alternative sources of income that I never would have known about otherwise. Alternative sources of income are what writers like myself need to keep us going while we peddle our writing…a tough job in and of itself.

Just recently, I finally qualified for the site: http://www.payperpost.com When I first learned about Payperpost.com, my blog was too young to qualify. (You’ve got to be up and running for at least 3 mos. and have a minimum number of posts.) Yet, I remained really excited about it and kept a memory of them in the back of my mind for the day when I did qualify.

I love writing anyway and the idea of getting paid for posts that I would write anyway seemed like a fabulous idea…and well, it is a fabulous idea.

Through Payperpost, you never get forced into hawking lame products just to make $. You just peruse their opportunities to find something that you’d like to write about. You submit your post, get it approved, and BOOM! there’s money in your Paypal account…anything from $5.00 on up, depending on the opportunity. I've also been able to discover some websites through them that I might not have found on my own.

I’d also highly recommend registering as a content producer at http://www.associatedcontent.com. They pay people to write articles for them--pretty much any topic of your choosing. I’ve had tremendous success with them so far and since I’ve certainly gotten my share of rejections for my writing along the way, it’s nice to make even a token bit of money for writing.

With either of these opportunities I’m certainly not going to be retiring early, but it’s nice to make $5.00 here, $10.00 there…along the way doing something I love to do anyway. My goal for this year was to write something every day, and I’ve accomplished that so far. I’m planning to use the bit of money I’ve made to continue to reward myself for writing. Through it all, I’ve encouraged myself to make writing not only a priority, but a daily habit.

RESOURCES:

payperpost

Secret Spy Stash

You think you’re anonymous there sitting on the bus. You briefly glance up from your Margot Kidder paperback and see me benignly working on a word search. I look focused on finding all the Greek mythology figures that begin with the letter “H.”

Ah, but you’re missing out. I’m a writer and this is my ruse. I’m watching you with your reading glasses, your brown trousers, and those dress socks you've folded neatly to accentuate your boring, brown loafers. I imagine you're a librarian with all the free paperbacks you could ever wish for. I nickname you "Marian The Librarian" in my head and wonder silently why (with all those free books) you look so irritable and unhappy. You see, it's not just today. I see you often on the bus, and you always have the same unfriendly demeanor.

And this, is precisely why I take the bus…in L.A. even though I have a car and ( at least for now, I have money for gas.)

Writers are sly. We eavesdrop, we stare, and we viciously write down details about you and the little conversation you’re having on your cell phone. We take note of what you’re reading, what you’re wearing, and your most interestingly charactery mannerisms.

You think that you’ll never be famous, but we write about you -- well, parts of you, merged along with swirls of color from other people we’ve met along the way… names changed, of course. We fill notebooks with character information and observations-- our secret spy stash for later.

Taking the bus is more than just an eco-friendly journey toward my day job – it’s an encapsulated experience to observe people I’d otherwise never come in contact with --if I limited myself only to the Californian ‘car culture commute.’ ( And yes, I also take the subway)

Writers must go out of their way to experience more than just the celebrity smut-ness and reality-obsessed television and fantasy-land of L.A. All that Hollywoodland sugar takes us further and further away from the plights of ordinary people. And believe it or not, those we deem as “ordinary” actually have the most interesting stories--which is why I pay attention to you, sitting on the bus by yourself…

Someday you might actually smile.