Articles To Sell

I've got about 13 articles to sell. These are magazine articles, well written and researched.

Here are the titles - Please email me if you are interested, at lizakollman.writer@gmail.com

Bicycle's Big Comeback (A look at the ever growing bicycle trend)
Concert Security (Are you really safe at concerts? What else can you do?)
How To Make It Work With The Pack (More than one dog? You need to read this!)
Kids at Concerts (Should you take your children to concerts?)
Myspace Versus Facebook (What's the difference, and which one is better?)
Snow Patrol (A Look at the hit band)
Picking A Theme (When decorating, choosing a theme is one of the most important things you can do)
Big Surprise! (Beauty Secrets Shared)
Dime Store Decorating (How to decorate on a budget for any room of the house)
Concrete Basements (how to turn them into a living space)
Men's Fashion Must Haves (The things every man needs)
Online Safety For All Ages (How to protect yourself online)
Time With Your Dog (What's important about it?)

Slow Work Weeks

Anyone else having slow work weeks? I find myself with way too much time and not near enough money. I've been sending out samples and checking my job boards, it just seems like it is slow going. Anyone else having that problem? I sure am.

Hi there!

I've been away from this world for what seems like forever! First was my wedding - spectacular - and then our honeymoon, which was great as well! Now I am back at writing full time - and I hope to be getting lots more clients soon. I am still available to take on more work - remember that if I work for you I can get you anywhere between 50 and 75 articles per week, no problem. Especially now that I'm done with wedding and travel planning, I have even more time to do writing! Please contact me if you need a good, solid and reliable writer!

New Blog Up and Running

Hello - There are many instances where you might find someone trying to take advantage of you. There is now a friendly writers to writers warning board - located at http://writertowriterwarnings.blogspot.com/. It is run by a friend of mine. You can go there and read the warnings that have been left thus far against clients who do not pay. I'm not talking about huge amounts here - the site is maintained by people who will post any amount of scam - even 5 dollars. I helped them get in started, and now I look at it all the time, just to check. Go there as well.

Watch Out For...

Please watch out for the following three names while taking writing work:

"Den Miller"
"Promo Basics"
"Sarah Small"

These are the three names of clients who have not paid me. I have seen others post this kind of things on writing blogs and have prefaced it by saying "I wouldn't normally do this but...." however I think that this is something writers should do. All three of these names have been contacted, over and over again, threatened with lawsuits, told of politely and then told off not-so politely, and at last, told that I was going to be posting their names out there for the world to see.

Taking someone's work and failing to pay them is completely despicable, and I will not stand for it. This is not a crap-shoot, I am a professional freelancer. My time and my work are worth something, and should be treated as so.

End Rant.

Ups and Downs

Had a great week two weeks ago - almost more work than I could handle. Now it seems to have tapered off again so I'm looking for more gigs. Anyone with anything to share should let me know! I've still got my basic work, but I'm looking for one or two new gigs to round out my paychecks. I had a steady job taking work where I was getting over 400 every two weeks - but then they hired a bunch of people and now I'm lucky to be able to take enough work to get 150 or 200. So, any suggestions, throw my way.

Oh, and I took the offer on those articles that lady failed to pay me for. I sold them non-exclusively so she's the one who will get in trouble if she's used them, not me. I'm done dealing with her, and I haven't heard from her now since February. So yep, I'm done!

We're a little sick here, so things have been cloudy. We'll be all back to normal next week!

I have been dealing with this woman off and on since before Christmas. I did some articles for her - some long, well researched, and excellent articles, and sent them off on the 17th of December, 2006. I received one reply from her, about the 18th of December, telling me that payment was on the way. And after that, nothing. I wrote her, about once every two days, asking for payment. After awhile, I wrote her to tell her that her actions were completely shameful in the world of freelancing - taking someone's work (and obviously either reselling it to make profit or getting paid as if you had written it) and not paying the person you hired to do your work is completely unacceptable to me. It is the same as walking out of a store without paying, or taking snapshots of another person's paintings and then passing off the prints as creations of your own. I did not receive a reply from her, until I notified her on February 1st that the articles I had written and not been paid for were currently under contract to be sold to another buyer, who would open a lawsuit against her if the articles were found elsewhere. Apparently, the word "lawsuit" caught her attention, because the very next day, February 2nd, there was an email from me, explaining that she had been ill with personal problems of some sort, and had (what a coincidence!) not checked any of her email until the night of February 1st. instead of quickly forwarding the money to me to ward off any other reselling, she promptly began to lecture me about how I dared to suggest tarnishing her name, and how she had a reputable business and demanded to know who I had talked to her about (yes, I converse with other freelancers, and sometimes warn them about deadbeats), and who the articles were to be sold to. Unfortunately I wasted a good two days of my work week emailing back and forth with her, still demanding money. She wanted to have my bank account info to transfer me money - sure, like I would fall for THAT! - and swore up and down that she could no longer use Paypal even though the email with the origional assignment had stated payment would be made THROUGH PAYPAL in less than 10 days. It was a ridiculous conversation, and I am sad with myself for having wasted my time on her. On February 2nd I was told she was transferring money to her paypal account and that as soon as it got into her account she'd pay me. Big surprise, I haven't seen a thing. My emails requesting payment for the past month have been met with long, whiny emails about how paypal just isn't working and how she initiated a transfer and it just hasn't gone through. Can you believe this? And the payment itself is a measly 52$. Pathetic and ridiculous.

Get a contract. Or be paid in advance. And spread the word. When you get screwed over, tell other freelancers. People are completely shameless and will do whatever they can to get out of payment.

there was a discussion I read awhile back on a freelancing blog - they were talking about writing samples, and whether or not you should send a sample in for a job inquiry. At the time, I said that I would, but only if it was a sample unlike anything I'd ever done before, and something they absolutely needed in order to see if I was a good fit. But, I decided that I'm done now. In the past month, I have written an article about a TV show for a job interview, a blog for a blogging site, a rewrite on homes in a certain state, and a rewrite of one page of web content. Each of these contacts were very nice to me and told me that If I just completed the rewrite or the article or the blog, I'd have the job and all would be good. However, each of them took the work I had done, and never got back to me. This is four pieces of work that I did in order to get jobs, and all four times it was obviously a scam because I never even heard back to tell me I don't have the job. How long do these people think they can get away with stuff like this? I am no longer writing samples for job interviews. I have a website where I direct potential employers that has samples of my writing on it - and from now on, I have learned my lesson. That's it. No more free work from me.

Tracking Down Deadbeats

I have been busy chasing down customers who do not pay me. I have gotten several suggestions, which are great, but have yet to find a surefire way to actually get paid. Everyone I manage to get a hold of gives me the runaround - oh, we thought we'd paid you already - oh! I actually have one lady right now who is extremely upset with me because in some of the 30+ messages I've been sending her requesting payment, I'd mentioned that I was giving her name to other people as a customer to stay away from. She thought that I actually *owed* her the names and email of any of those people, so she was aware of who I was talking bad about her to. I explained to her that I am allowed to say anything I want, as long as it is true, and I don't have to tell he who I have mentioned her name to. I actually think that went a bit overboard - considering I have been trying to get her to respond to an email since December 17th, when she promised payment - All the excuses in the world non withstanding, she's been arguing with me via email now since last Friday, and I STILL haven't gotten paid. I wish there was a manual about these things....

I decided to start a writing blog, after being inspired by so many other freelance writers who have writing blogs of their own. Here is where you will find information about my writing career, what I've been up to, and even a few tips for any of you who think that freelance writing might be something you'd like to do. I promise I'll write often - it will save my fiance from having to listen to me talk about my job all of the time!